Social Media for Dealers

With advances in social media happening a mile a minute and changes to the platforms moving just as quickly, tools to make things easier have and will continue to appear. For instance, linking your accounts. You can find ways to link your Facebook to your Twitter Account, your Twitter account to your LinkedIn Account, your LinkedIn Account to your Facebook account… you get the picture. Post once, distribute infinitely and lessen the amount of time and effort you put in. It seems, on the surface like you’re getting more bang for your buck, but in reality, you’re probably not.

What you’re ignoring when you auto-post and auto-link your accounts is that these social platforms are all different. They have different goals, different audiences and your consumers will expect different things from you, depending on where your dealership decides to go social. When you post on Facebook and have it automatically feed to your Twitter account, you’re ignoring the premise of Twitter completely different. It’s like showing up to a formal dinner party dressed in your workout clothes.

Let’s take a look at the basic principles behind the big two: Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook:

Facebook is personal – your customers are letting your dealership into their life and are being asked to participate. Posts on Facebook have to be more intimate, provide incentive to the follower as well as add value. Your post show up on their wall, and depending on the number of friends they have, could be present from several minutes to several hours.

Twitter:

Twitter is an informal, quick and up to the minute social site. You have 140 characters that you have to try to pack with whatever it is you want to say. It’s not for lengthy monologues, launching the sales price of your new unit or for mirroring what you post on your Facebook account. Since Twitter is a lot less visual than other sites, it requires engagement, focus and communication.
These two “big players” in the social media world are not the same, and can’t be treated as if they are. For instance, when you update your Facebook page, also update your Twitter page. But, don’t use the EXACT same thing. Make sure that whatever you’re transplanting to Twitter fits within the 140 character limit, uses hash tags to tag the appropriate topics and removes any unneeded phrases and/or words. You may also need to abbreviate in order to hit the 140 character limit. This what is expected of a dealership that uses Twitter.

If you can’t wrap your head around Twitter and don’t take the time to understand what the platform can offer and what you can offer the over 3 million people who use it… then it may not be the platform of choice for you dealership. Make sure you thoroughly understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it before hitting the easy button when it’s offered. If not, you will become white noise to your fans and followers and could quickly disappear from their pages.

*Image Credit: Urban Prowler

Filed under: Facebook, Twitter, Auto-Linking, Auto-Posting, Facebook Updates, Linking your accounts, Twitter Posts, Twitter promotion