Step-by-Step « Social Media for Dealers

May 19, 2010 • 9:17 am 2

Step #5: Stay Active.

You’ve set up your Facebook business page, or Twitter page, or maybe you’ve started to blog. You’ve gotten up and running, but it’s so easy to get swamped or to run out of steam. Sometimes ideas can run a little thin (here, here and here are a few resources to jump start your idea generation) or sometimes things get hectic and your social media updates have to fall to the wayside.

It happens to everyone. BUT, if you want to be successful, truly engage your customers, and get returns on your social media efforts you’re going to need to stay active in all of your social media endeavors.

Social media success and community building don’t happen over night. You can’t create a username and hope it will all just fall into place. It won’t. As you build up your social media profile and interact with your customers and those in your community you’ll be adding value and building trust. Just like in any relationship these things take time, and like most things, you get out of it what you put into it.

There’s no way around this step, you have to do what it takes to stay active. BUT, we do have a few hints that might make it a little easier:

Schedule your posts in advance

If you anticipate your schedule is going to get crazy and you may not have all the time you need to keep things running, get ready to start scheduling your posts in advance. Most blogging platforms allow you to schedule your post instead of publishing immediately. You can also use a program like Hootsuite to schedule Tweets in advance. By anticipating your busy times and scheduling out your posts you’ll stay active without any effort.

Keep a running list of writing ideas

Start writing down all of those brilliant writing ideas that strike when you’re not writing (even if they seem silly). Even writing a short 140-character tweet is easier if you have a list of ideas to lean on. Get in the habit of marking down ideas and sharing them when you have the chance.

Set a routine

Use a calendar, schedule time into your day or assign tweeting as a task. Integrate social media upkeep into daily operations at your dealership. Assign someone different to post on different days of the week. Make Jimmy take ownership of Tuesdays! Find a way to work social media into your schedule.

We know that getting started and staying motivated are two of the hardest elements in social media campaigns. Keep on going and stick with it and you’ll begin to see results.

Filed under: Step-by-Step, The Basics, what to write, Blogging, community, Getting started, ideas, rv dealership, social media, social media ROI, Twitter

May 12, 2010 • 3:54 pm 1

Step #4: Be “Findable”.

With all the time and hard work you put into your dealership’s social media efforts it’s definitely worth doing everything you can to get social media exposure. There are some easy ways to make your RV dealership’s social media efforts more “findable”. Here are some quick things you can do to make sure you’re accessible to your desired audience:

1. Add yourself to Twitter directories
There are Twitter directories setup to help customers find businesses and people who match their interests. Taking the time to make sure your dealership is listed is important. Once you setup a Twitter account and start tweeting, make sure your dealership’s Twitter is listed on Twellow. Twellow searches through Twitter profiles for keywords that are in profiles (like camping, RV, outdoors, travel, etc.). To get listed under the correct categories, make sure your profile is complete and has keywords that work for you (AND, if you can’t find yourself on Twellow, submit yourself here).

In addition to Twellow, get your dealership listed on wefollow. At wefollow users can browse categories, do a search, and find people to follow. With wefollow, you have to manually add you Twitter account to the directory. Add your RV dealership under categories like (like camping, RVing, travel).

2. Integrate social into everything
Let people know that your RV dealership has gone social! Add your Facebook page and Twitter username to your business cards. Put a “Follow us on Facebook” call out on your website. Make sure there is an RSS feed button on your blog. Make a social email signature that links to your Facebook/Twitter/blog. List your Twitter and Facebook addresses on direct mail pieces and giveaway items. Let your customers know that they can find you where they do their social networking!

3. Submit your blogs
If you start a blog at your dealership (which we highly recommend, here and here), make sure you get it listed in blog directories. Setup a profile on Technorati, a blog directory, and claim your dealership’s blog. Visit Google Blogs and submit your blog. Make your blog as searchable as possible!

4. Claim your Facebook name
Once you have 20 fans (or “likes) on Facebook, you can claim a vanity URL for your Facebook page. Rather than the long URL Facebook assigns your dealership, you can specify what you want the URL to be. Make it http:///www.facebook.com/anynamerv Simply visit here to get this done. This will make it easier to share your Facebook page, and easier for fans to remember.

5. Participate often
More than anything else, being active and consistent on your social media sites will get you the most exposure. Participate in conversations and provide insightful comments/writing/ideas/tips. Don’t be sporadic, be disciplined and driven. The more you participate, the bigger your following will be and the more presence you will have!

Filed under: Step-by-Step, Strategy, Blogging, facebook pages, Getting started, Google, how to, promotion, Resources, RSS, rv dealership, social media, social media presence, tools, Twitter

May 5, 2010 • 3:57 pm 1

Step #3: Get started!

It’s a little ironic that “get started” doesn’t appear until step number three! The reality is, you need to take time to get comfortable with social media before diving in! Make sure to listen for a while and then take the time to brainstorm and establish your angle. THEN, jump on in!

1. Pick your platform
Start with using one social media outlet. See how it goes and how it evolves before adding others to your mix. You don’t have to jump in and start with Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and a blog all at once. Ease your way in.

We recommend starting with a blog or with Twitter. A blog allows you to start building content, to establish a voice, and it forces you to get in the habit of monitoring and writing. Twitter is just easy to use. It’s the easiest platform to build a following and with only 140 characters you don’t have to stress too much about writing.

Regardless of what we recommend, the best bet is to pick the social media platform that appeals the most to you. What’s most interesting to you? Where are you aching to get started. The more excited you are about the platform you start on the better you’ll do.

2. Build your profile
Regardless of the social media platform you choose, you’ll need to build a profile of some kind. Fill out your profile completely and think about what you want viewers to know about your RV dealership at first glance. Be clear and be interesting. We all know how important first impressions are, and in the realm of social media, you’re profile is where you make that first impression. Make sure to upload and image (your logo) and make sure it’s not blurry, it doesn’t get cut off, and it’s recognizable.

3. Start participating
Take the leap and publish a blog post, send a tweet, update your Facebook status, post a picture on Flickr, share a video on YouTube, or Digg something cool! Take what you’ve brainstormed and start participating in the conversation. Don’t do too much too fast, but be consistent. Set goals for yourself like 2 tweets per day, 1 blog post per week, 5 Facebook updates a week. At first, this might help ensure that you are consistently participating and getting the hang of it.

4. Expand your presence
Take the time to master your one social media platform. When you feel like you’ve got it down pat, then think about expanding and adding another platform to your RV dealership’s efforts.

You’ll do much better with social media if you have a focused plan going into it. Make sure to take the time to listen, learn, and understand how the social media conversation flows.

Filed under: Step-by-Step, Blogging, Facebook, Getting started, ideas, Listening, rv dealership, social media, Twitter

April 28, 2010 • 3:43 pm 4

Step #2: Establish your angle.

Just what exactly are you going to talk about when you start dipping your toes into social media? You don’t want to jump right in with nothing to say! An important part of developing a social media strategy for your RV dealership is to figure out your angle.

Your angle shouldn’t be a barrage of units and prices or a “sale sale sale” message. With social media, you’re not pushing a message, you’re engaging in a conversation, so it’s important to think about what kind of conversation your can initiate and how it will benefit both you and your audience.

Not sure on how to come up with an angle for your dealership? Here are a few quick starting points:

Focus on what you do best.
You can use social media to communicate your strengths to your customers (and potential customers). Think about what your RV dealership is known for. Customer service? Superior RV service techs? A huge parts department? Fair prices? Pick what you do best and drive that point home. Don’t try and run the gambit and be everything to everyone, think about your bread and butter and build your social media communication around that.

What are people talking about?
We covered last week how important it is to listen before talking in the social media world. When you know what people are talking about, it’s easier to make your message and content relevant. What does your target audience talk about online. Make a list, where can you add value, opinions, and ideas? What’s most important to RVers — not what you think is important, but what they really care about. Communication is easy when you know what people are looking for.

Think about what’s missing.
Don’t just listen for what people are saying, pay attention to what they’re not saying. After spending the appropriate time browsing and checking in on RV blogs, RV customers, travel talk, and camping wisdom, you’ll have a good idea of what information is missing. What needs to be said that isn’t? Where can you fill in the gaps. Make a list and put that information out there!

What do you enjoy conversing about?
When you talk about RVs or RVing to your friends and family, what does the conversation entail? What interests people? What interests you? Work to make your social media interactions feel like personal conversations. Next time you talk about RVing take mental notes, be aware of what people respond to and where they have strong opinions.

Once you’ve thought about an angle, make a list. Write down your topic ideas. Get a list going with many cohesive ideas. Once you understand what you want to talk about and have a bunch of ideas ready to go, it’ll be time to dive on into the social media pool!

*”Divide, and Concur” compass image by fangleman

Filed under: Step-by-Step, Strategy, what to write, Getting started, ideas, learning, Listening, planning, social media, social media strategy, what to write

April 21, 2010 • 11:15 am 4

Step—by—Step. Step 1: Listen

Over the next several weeks we are going to provide you with a step-by-step guide to getting started in social media. So today, step 1, the VERY beginning…getting started.

With Social Media, the first question is always ”Where on earth do we start?!”

The simple answer, start listening.

Listen and learn. Social media has a different structure than any other marketing medium, people participate differently, and it truly takes a little time to understand everything that’s going on around you. Finding your place in the social media world and figuring our exactly how you can add to the community and conversation is vital to the start of your social media program.

A common mistake made in social media is assuming that social media exists solely for promotion, for selling and for getting your message out. While selling can be a part of social media, it’s not the main focus. With social media, you need to focus on finding/building community and genuine conversation before you even think about integrating a sales message.

What should you listen for?

The key things to listen for and monitor are any conversations about your dealership(s), the manufacturers you carry, the RV industry, the specific RV products you carry, and any discussion on competing brands or competing dealerships in your area. Figure out what people are saying, what their tone is, what information is missing/fabulous/weak/incorrect, who is talking, and who is responding.

How do you listen to all of that?

1. Google Reader (or another RSS)

Google reader (an RSS reader) makes listening and learning extremely easy. You can subscribe to websites, blogs or other sites you’re interested in reading about as well as subscribe to Google Alerts and Social Mention. RSS readers, and especially Google Reader, make it incredibly easy to stay up to date and on top of what is happening in the social media universe.

2. Google Alerts

You can set your Google alerts to search for certain keywords (i.e. your dealership name, the name of the manufacturers you carry, your community, or set it to look up your competitors) and Google Alerts will scour websites, blogs, other social media sites as well as videos and deliver it all to your inbox or RSS reader!

3. Twitter Search

Twitter is a fast paced, constantly moving platform – and a great place to find just about any information you’re looking for. Go to Twitter Search and type in the terms you’d like to search for. It will pull up any tweets, mentions or conversations containing those terms. It’s a great way to introduce yourself to Twitter while figuring out how you’re going to fit in. Click on “advanced search” and you can narrow by geographic location, words that should be excluded, similar phrases, etc.

4. Nearby Tweets

On top of being fast paced, Twitter is also big. There are million of users around the world, which can often make the program a little daunting to you. Nearby Tweets is a website that allows you to pick your location and the topic you’d like to search for. You’ll get tweets and information from your community on the topics you want.

5. Industry Blogs

Learning from your industry and staying on top of industry news can be just as important as tracking what’s happening at your dealership. Using Google Reader is one of the easiest ways to track and learn from what’s going on from top industry reporters. Our favorite sites to subscribe to are:

RV Pro
RV Daily Report
RV Business
Go RVing
RV Social Media

Filed under: Google, Step-by-Step, The Basics, Getting started, Google, Listen, RSS, social media, Social Mention, Twitter

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Step #5: Stay Active.

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Step #3: Get started!

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Step #2: Establish your angle.

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Step—by—Step. Step 1: Listen

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