Did you know that RV Social Media now has a Twitter feed that provides rv-oriented marketing tips all day long?!  It’s true!

Follow us on Twitter under the handle @rvsocialmedia .

We cover all sorts of social media and digital marketing tips and news.  Plus, we provide tweet ideas, blog content ideas, and resources that you can use to connect with your own audience.

Give us a follow and drop us a tweet.  We’d love to say hi and converse with your dealership in Twitterland!

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable

R = Realistic

T = Timely

Be Specific:

When stating your goal, make sure it’s very clean and states exactly what you expect.  You can achieve this by answering the Who, What, Where and Why.

• What: What are you trying to accomplish with social media?  Get fans?  Find followers?
• Why: Specific purpose or benefits you’re hoping to achieve.  Are you trying to get more on site traffic?  More web traffic?
• Who: Who needs to be involved?
• Where: Does your goal take place in a specific area?  Facebook?  Twitter?  YouTube?

Measurable:

Social media goals need to be measured. It can be anything from: “We need to sell at least 5 units with this promotion” or “We need to reach XX number of people”.  To effectively measure, you’ll need to track your efforts.

Attainable:

Make sure to set your goal at an attainable level.  To get 1 million video views isn’t an attainable goal.  To get 10-25 “likes” on Facebook is something more realistic.

Relevant:

Does this goal make sense for your dealership?  Do your social media efforts fit with the overall direction of your dealership’s marketing?

Timely:

When are you going launch your social media campaign? When should you have it completed? If your answer is more than a year or two, you should break it up into smaller attainable goals.  What could you accomplish in 6 months?

Learn more about SMART goals here.

As I was reading over an article on Facebook timelines by Dave Fleet, I started to realize how a company’s online reputation is directly related to how that company is viewed in social media.

Facebook’s new timeline for brands  gives companies a little less control over what appears on their timeline. When someone posts a status update they can tag your dealership. That tag then appears on your company’s timeline.

The good news: If someone tags about how much they love your company’s product every person who visits your timeline will see how thrilled another customer is with your company.  The bad news: If a tag related to your business has a negative angle, like a link to an article that someone about your horrible customer service, everyone who sees your timeline will see a negative review of your dealership, until that is, you have the opportunity to hide it.

This new setup makes it all the more important for you to monitor your dealership’s online reputation.  Create plenty of positive content (promote giveaways, email coupons, create discussion, etc.) and find those negative reviews.  Listen and respond (offer apologies, help, or customer support).

As social media continues to evolve it becomes more and more important that your dealership manages its online reputation.

It’s great when customers write love notes on your Facebook wall or Twitter feed but what do you do when they write some, well, less than favorable reviews? I know there’s no way someone would think that your product or service was less than legendary, but mistakes happen. Below are five steps to dealing with uncomplimentary comments on social media.

1. DON’T IGNORE IT! Don’t just assume the negative comment will get lost in the feed or other customers will come to your rescue.  Not only is the angry customer expecting you to respond, but all your other customers will be watching to see how you handle the issue.

2.  Comment and Apologize RIGHT AWAY! No, you don’t have to admit you were wrong but you do have to apologize for the experience your customer went through.  A number of times, customers just want to be heard.  If you comment “I’m really sorry to hear about that! I can understand your frustration’, you are demonstrating that their comment is a concern of yours and you heard it.

3. Be Quick About it. One of the most important things to remember is to respond right away! Consumers using social media to express their concerns are looking for a response within hours! YES HOURS! Keep an eye on that feed/wall and make sure to respond as soon as possible.

4. Get Details in Private. Ask the customer to ‘explain the experience in an email to info@issue.com (your email) or by phone 555-123-4567’ so you can fully understand the situation. If they don’t email or call, at least other customers see that you are trying to fix the issues and you’re dedicated to your customers. Also, this way they don’t hear all the negative details.

5. Fix the Issue. Is it something as easy as apologizing and promising to look into the situation? A good way to not give away the bank, is to ask the customer what you can do to fix it.  Most of the time you were willing to do more than they need.

photo by Life As Art

One of the most powerful outcomes when you use social media regularly is the virtual following you have. There are so many opportunities to communicate with your followers and entice them to visit your dealership. Social Media is a perfect way to tell people the perks of visiting your location. Here are a few ideas on how to turn your virtual traffic into actual customers in your dealership.

1. Have a special promotion. Everybody loves a good deal. When you hold a special promotion and advertise on your Social Media outlets, you will likely have more visitors. Remember to make it conversational when you promote a sale. Ask your followers “Are you coming into our dealership this weekend for our annual sale? It is going to be big!”
2. Host a charity event. Even people who follow you, but wouldn’t necessarily walk into your dealership, won’t pass up the opportunity to help a good cause. There are many ways you could donate to charity but also bring in traffic. For example, broadcast through your Social Media that for every person that comes to your dealership this weekend you will donate $1 to a specific charity. Or say that x% of your profits one week will go toward a certain non-profit organization.
3. Advertise a contest. People love the thrill of winning. Hold a raffle. Have a BBQ cook-off. Host a family game day. Remember, the prize doesn’t have to be too huge or extreme. The idea is more about providing people with something fun and interesting to do on the weekend that giving away an extravagant prize. Promoting these kinds of contests on your Social Media outlets will not only bring in customers but it will show the fun personality of your dealership.

Remember to show your Social Media followers what your dealership has to offer without making them feel like they are being advertised to. In the end, you want to meet, in person, the people that you communicate with over Social Media. You don’t necessarily want to make a sale that day, rather you want to develop a relationship and potentially gain a lead. If you have this mentality when promoting your dealership, then you will find yourself with loyal and valuable customers.

One of the hardest aspects when using Social Media is coming up with new content that engages your followers. Coming up with new ideas on what to write every day can be a job in itself. In our “What To Write” series we try to give a few ideas on how to get your content going.

An easy way to create content is to form a theme then occasionally post something off of that theme. For example, use a camping packing list as your theme. Remember to not only make comments, but also ask questions. Here are some posts you you could build around packing for camping:

1. If you go camping this weekend make sure to pack extra blankets. It is supposed to be chilly!
2. What is one item that you can’t live without while camping?
3. Packing lots of hot dogs and marshmallows for this weekend’s camping trip. Can’t wait for some good campfire food!
4. Quick poll: What is the perfect way to cook a marshmallow? A. Barely heated, just a little warm B. A good medium, with a little brown all over C. It’s not a campfire marshmallow without some char!
5. Camping list for this weekend: Hiking boots. Check. Backpack full of trail mix. Check. Lots of sunscreen. Double check.
6. If you go camping this weekend make sure to pack a tank top and sandals. It is going to be beautiful weather!
7. At our dealership we are debating whether or not popcorn is a camping list necessity. What do you think?
8. When you go camping, do you bring your own firewood or chop it up lumberjack style?
9. Quick poll: What beverage would we find in your camper’s refrigerator? A. Lemonade, there is nothing like a refreshing drink on a relaxing camping weekend B. Water, with an active camping weekend like ours, it is important to stay hydrated C. Soda, camping is a party for us and it’s not a party without Coca-cola!
10. If you go camping this weekend be sure to pack an umbrella. It will be rainy, but there is nothing more soothing than hearing the soft raindrops on the roof of your camper!

photo by J. Paxon Reyes

Every business, large or small, feels the overwhelming obligation from consumers to be on Facebook.  They sign up, put all their information and get ready for the fans and posts to come flowing in! Wait… No one is commenting… what should I write…. BLANK PAGE! EEKK! Setting up a page on Facebook isn’t the hard part; thinking of content to get people to interact on your page is!  Today we have a delicious list of ideas to help you get your creative posting-juices flowing.  We used a recent post from the HuebnerPetersen blog as inspiration for example posts… DONUTS! They might just be taking over the world!

• Fun: If you were going to eat a 200lb donut, what kind would it be?
• Preference: Do you prefer sprinkles on your donut or just frosting?
• Tips: Where can you find the best donuts in town?
• Contests:  We’re having a donut-eating contest Tuesday! How many donuts do you think you can eat in 10 minutes?!?! OR  The first 10 people to name this donut gets 10 free donuts!
• Photo: How many donuts can you count in this photo?
• Controversial: Do you feel it’s bad to give your kids donuts for breakfast?
• Yes or No: Are donuts better with filling?
• Finish the sentence: I ALWAYS crave donuts before I….
• Event: There is a donut expo this weekend… Who’s coming with us!?!?
• Responsive: I glad to hear you visited our store, Amy! How was your experience?
• Facts: Did you know, a 16 year old actually invented the whole in the donuts we’ve all come to love?!? Do you have any donut fun facts?
• Specific: What is your favorite kind of donut?
• Emotional: If you could send a donut with anyone special in your life, whom would you send one to?
• Opinionated: Do you feel donuts should be banned in the state of Colorado?

Do you have any ideas for posts that have worked well for you? Help others out by adding them in the comment section of this blog!

*photo by kimubert

With so many outlets for social media today it can be extremely overwhelming to keep up. Your dealership wants to have a strong presence in social media, but you also don’t want to be stretched too thin. This article from Jeff Bullas details how many outlets certain type of companies should be using.

For RV dealerships, we think an optimal number of social media channels is four:

1.  Blog – Your dealerships social media “home base”.  This is where you build content, boost SEO, and develop your voice.  A blog is a great tool to converse with your customers. When you utilize a blog you can show your customers how your dealership works. A blog provides a place where you can expand on thoughts from your Facebook posts or tweets.

2.  Twitter – Easy to use, easy to link to your blog, perfect place to listen to customers and build industry knowledge. Twitter provides a forum where you can easily communicate with your followers or customers. Twitter is a more abbreviated social media outlet and it is easy to tweet daily about the happenings at your dealership.

3.  Facebook – Facebook is a great place to get followers for your dealership.  More and more people are using Facebook as a place to take care of customer service issues or ask questions. Facebook is a very friendly atmosphere and is place where your customers want to see you interacting. The more customers see you making conversation on Facebook, the more comfortable they will feel talking with you.

4.  YouTube – We’ve talked about video many times before.  Video is perfect for an RV dealership because it allows you to show off your product and it gives customers a solid reason to stop by your dealership. When a customer researches before purchasing, you want your dealership to pop up on their radar. There is no better way to do this than to have a video showing what off what you have to offer.

In the end, the more you are using social media, the better your dealership will appear to potential customers. With these four channels, you will be able to keep up with Social Media without being stretched too thin on quality posts.

There are so many ways dealers can utilize social media to promote their dealership. One outlet that is often overlooked is video. Here are three reasons why YouTube should be part of your social media goals and a key player in your social media strategy.

1. The majority of RV buyers do online research before heading into a dealership. Every day, people are surfing the web to explore options before actually heading into a store to purchase, especially on big-ticket items. If you have a video showing the features on one of your best selling campers, people are going to be more likely to come in and see it for themselves. They want to know what to expect before walking through your door.

2. YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. This means that having a video for your dealership is just as important as having a Facebook page. When a buyer searches YouTube for a great camper, you want to make sure your name comes up. People don’t just want to see pictures of a unit, they want a virtual tour!

3. Having a video shows great customer service. You want to show people that there are friendly, knowledgeable people working at your dealership. Wouldn’t you be more willing to walk into a store if you already knew that the staff had great customer service? Having a video shows the “humanness” of your RV dealership. Video allows you make a connection with your customers before they walk into your dealership!

Making a video for your dealership can be a very easy way, to interact with customers online. When customers know what to expect before they even walk through your door, they’ll be much more likely to stop by your dealership!

photo by ukberri

One of the fastest growing social media outlets is video. Sites like YouTube and Vimeo have enourmous amounts of traffic.  YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine (Google is #1)!  For business, online video provides the opportunity to speak directly to customers and show a product up close.  Many dealers have found that giving virtual tours of their RV units helps drive traffic to their websites and dealerships.

Customers are increasingly turning to the Internet to research before they purchase any product, especially big-ticket products like RVs. That considered, producing a video for your dealership will help you connect with customers and influence their purchase decision. Online video is a powerful way to show customers why they should buy an RV from your dealership.

This week the HuebnerPetersen blog features a blog post on Blendtec, a small business who used video in a clever way.  Blendtec was able to engage customers and get them excited about an unlikely product, blenders.  Clever use of online video helped Blendtec become hit product overnight.  Check it out!