“Social media is the ultimate equalizer. It gives anyone a voice and a platform to engage.”
(Amy Jo Martin – author of “Renegades Write the Rules”)
When it comes to buying just about anything, social media has become a major influence in decision making.
Most automotive advertisers understand that social media should be part of their strategy. We all know we should have a company page and be posting lots of pictures and videos. With more and more time being spent with social media, marketers need to fine tune their strategy and get fully engaged.
This article will share a few ways that you can get better results from your social media marketing efforts.
Prefer to watch & learn? Check out this video:
Understand social media: Starting with the obvious – you need to come to the realization this is social media. With the main emphasis on the word social.
While some users do use these platforms to look for products & recommendations, most are there for the social element. They’re looking for pictures of family, friends, reunions, sporting events. Fun stuff.
They did not log in to hear about your new shipment of whatever just arrived. Unfortunately, most marketers are guilty of the product dump. Every post screams a new arrival, just in, lowest & best price. And those same marketers quickly get frustrated when no one engages with their content.
You must resist the urge to participate in the product dump and take a more personal approach. Instead of featuring your products, showcase your customers. People relate to other people. Share a story of how you helped that customer. Chances are pretty good others are in the same situation and can relate. You’ve now made a more personal connection.
Showcase your people. You know this – people buy from people and the places they know, like and trust.
Social media is a great platform to showcase your people and connect with consumers. You could create and schedule a weekly “get to know this team member” type post. Your engagement rate will be much higher than the typical product dump.
You must participate. If you want better engagement, participate before you post.
Automotive marketers have a lot of stuff on their to do list. And all you want to do is publish your post and get on with it. Before you create that post and publish, spend 5 to 10 minutes engaging with your customers and your audiences’ posts. Show your customers, and the algorithms, that you care. Like a few posts. Share some of their content. Make a few comments. You’ll see that the platforms will start rewarding you for your participation.
Quality over quantity. Quality content beats quantity every time.
We all want to jump on every platform and post as much as possible. You will find much greater success when you focus your efforts by really understanding and participating with one or two platforms and providing really good content versus trying to be everywhere with posts no one is engaging with.
Video. It’s time for marketers to commit to a video strategy.
With most of the population being visually oriented, and most of them preferring video, it’s time for you to give ‘em what they want.
With video, consumers get to watch a video which is what they prefer while also satisfying the search engines and social media platforms as they are putting a lot of weight behind video.
Tell stories. It’s not enough to just post and broadcast content. Consumers are looking for a human connection.
Storytelling on social sites is a perfect way to interact with your audience to develop relationships. Use social platforms as a conversation channel rather than an advertising channel. Stories will help you sell a lot more.
Create social-only promotions. The goal with social is to create content that will engage consumers. And since everyone loves a deal or special offer, this can prove very effective.
Just don’t over-do it or your “deal” won’t be believable. Get creative and reward your social followers with promotions and contests that are only available on your social pages.
Curious what the top social sites for automotive are? Here are the platforms automotive marketers should be using:
Facebook.
Facebook continues to be the top social media site and has gotten extremely sophisticated. And just like Google, you can target your ads to specific audiences.
Instagram.
As hard as “Team Zuckerburg” continues to try to kill this platform, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z are spending their time on Instagram. Instagram is about a visual experience. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, this is a great way to share your story.
YouTube and TikTok.
Consumers love (actually prefer) video, and these are the two top video sites. Targeting is much more robust on YouTube, but you’ll find engagement higher on TikTok (provided you have good content).
If this sounds like too much work, you do have another option: Just buy an ad.
Every platform would be more than happy to take your cash and share your post. You still might not get a lot of engagement, but people will see it.
If you do it right, social media marketing will provide you with many benefits including more visibility, more leads, and ultimately, more sales.
Need help? I was hoping you’d ask.