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!

We cannot stress enough how important it is to update your social media regularly. Social media is a virtual extension of your dealership. The values you portray in your dealership need to also be portrayed through your social media. Would you shut down your dealership for a week at random? Of course not! If someone came in to your dealership with a customer service question, would you ignore them? No way! You need to act the same way in your social media outlets. Here are a few tips on how to keep your social media current:

1. Make an appearance.  At the very least, post something weekly. If your last Facebook post was in September 2011 promoting your last sale, you have a problem. People need to see you engaging in their community. If someone walked into your dealership but couldn’t find a soul around, that would be an issue. It is the same way with your social media outlets. You need to show them that you are there.

 2.  Make it a customer service priority. More and more people are using social media, rather than an email or phone call, to resolve customer service issues. If someone posts on your Facebook wall or tweets you with a question or comment, respond! Even if you don’t have an answer right away, tell them that you will find out and get back to them ASAP.

3. Don’t be afraid of negative comments. You should always respond to comments immediately, especially negative comments or complaints. When you immediately respond, it shows that your dealership takes customer service seriously.

4. Have a current and quality profile picture. Your profile picture is the first thing your customers see, so make sure it represents your dealership well. If you have a 2009 model of a camper in your picture: change it. If you have a picture of your staff from five years ago: change it. If you have your old logo as your picture: change it. Your profile picture needs to describe the way your dealership looks today.

5. Keep your BIO and information current. Any time your dealership makes a change, think about how it could affect your social media. If you change your phone number, you may need to update your Facebook page. If your store hours change, update your information. If you have a new web address, change it on your social media.

Quite simply, if you remember that your social media is an extension of your dealership, then keeping current shouldn’t be a problem. You want to make sure that people can always reach you with as much ease as possible. The more they trust your social media, the more they will trust and recommend your dealership.

photo by Ias

Often, when dealers begin using social media, they become overwhelmed at the new vocabulary that is used on Facebook or Twitter. It’s confusing at first, for everyone!

One of the most common trip-ups is Twitter’s hashtag. Most dealers new to Twitter have no idea what a hashtag is, so they end up using it incorrectly or not using it at all. We are here to help you. Let’s begin with: hashtag = #. A hashtag is simply the number sign.

Hashtags are used in Twitter to categorize topics. Since Twitter’s setup is pretty simple, they developed the hashtag so people file their “tweets” under particular topics.

Example: You post a comment telling everyone to pop into your dealership this weekend. “Hey guys, check out our new inventory this weekend before you head out on your adventure! #camping”

What the #camping does:

1. Since you placed a “#” before “camping” it will automatically make it a link.
2. You (or anyone) can click on that link and it will take you to a page of every other Tweets that used “#camping”.
3. Your tweet will be held in this archive of all other tweets mentioning #camping.

The hashtag is a powerful tool because it allows people who are not following you to see your tweet. A person who has never heard of you but is interested in camping will search #camping and see your tweet. This helps expose your dealership to a wider audience, and it helps establish you as a key leader on topics.

Want to know more? There are tons of websites promoted to helping you understand social media vocabulary. If you are still a little fuzzy see how Twitter describes hashtags. Also check out this blog post that describes more Twitter vocabulary. Happy #Tweeting!

photo by ccsdteacher

Once you have developed your social media goals for 2012, building a social media calendar will help make sure you will stay on track.  Like traditional marketing, in social media marketing you have to be organized. If you take the time to plan out what you want to say and when you want to say it, your social media goals will more achievable.

Start by thinking about the important dates coming up at your dealership. Maybe you have an annual sales event or you’re headed to a big RV show.  You need to plan out how you will use social media during that time period to alert your customers and drive traffic. Social media is the perfect vehicle for gaining attention leading up to your sales and events.

Beyond sales, RV shows, and local events, be thinking about the seasons when you plan out your social media calendar. In the spring start posting about places to visit and fun things to do while camping. You want to get people excited about the camping season. When winter comes give tips on how to winterize.

On a calendar, mark down all of your dealerships upcoming events.  Then, mark down one topic idea for a blog post per week (thinking about events and seasons).  If you’re ambitious, go put your topics on specific days and challenge yourself to come up with two per week.  Putting ideas on paper and on a timeframe will up your chances of actually writing about key topics at the appropriate times.

If you develop a social media calendar for your dealership, it will help you follow the “Quality Rule” that we continually stress. With your calendar you can avoid the stress of trying to come up with something to say at the last minute.

If you are serious about using social media for your dealership, a calendar is an easy way to stay on track and get organized.  Happy planning!

photo by danielmoyle

With this new year, and the season of resolutions, we challenge you to set social media goals for 2012. Whether you are already cruising along or you hardly know where to begin, it’s a great time to set goals for how your dealership wants to use social media. Here are some tips on setting and accomplishing your 2012 social media goals:

1.    Be specific. The more specific you are, the more focused you will be. Don’t just say, “I want to use social media more”. How do you want to use it? What relationships do you want to build? Where should you focus your attention? When you have specific goals for your dealership it will be easier to keep on track.

2.    Aim high. Don’t be afraid to shoot for the stars. If you are just starting with social media for your dealership, you will find that once you get the ball rolling, it can really take off. When you are persistent in your social media habits, then it won’t be hard to reach those lofty goals.

3.    Write it down. They say that 97% of people who do not write down their goals fail to complete them. Don’t just verbalize your goals. Once you have it written down, share it with your team. Let everyone know your social media mission for 2012; then they can help you work toward accomplishing that goal.

4.    Make it a habit. Once you have your goal, practice it every day. Even if you aren’t posting something every day, be checking to see what people are saying. Get in the habit of getting on your social media daily.

5.    Use good judgment. When you set out trying to accomplish new goals for social media it can be very easy to get caught in the spamming web. It is something we always stress: Do not resolve to posting quantity over quality. Make sure that what you are saying is important and pertinent. For example, if your goal is to post onto Facebook x number of times per week, great! But don’t tell your followers what you had for lunch because you can’t think of anything better to say.

Once you have your social media goals identified, go for it! Jump right in and start talking. It might be very helpful for you to go back and look at some of our previous blog posts to get ideas. If you follow these tips in setting your goals, you are already starting 2012 off right.

photo by Nico Soler

When diving into social media, dealerships can run the risk of sounding like spam.  Nobody will want to follow your dealership if they can’t distinguish you from the junk mail they receive in their email inbox or the never-ending advertising messages in their social media streams.

You can get around sounding like spam by following a few simple rules:

1.    Quality not quantity. Social media is a tool for developing relationships with your customers. Make sure that what you have to say is valuable to them and promotes a conversation.  Is what you’re saying interesting to you?  Would you ignore, listen, or respond?  Go for quality posts.

2.    Use variety. Re-posting something you have already said can be a good trick, but sometimes people see that as spam. Work on rewording and repurposing your content before re-posting something too similar.

3.    Ask questions.  Remember that social media is a conversation with your customers.  When you ask questions, you are giving customers an easy opportunity to interact with you.  Ask them questions. Be personal.  A back and forth conversation is rarely seen as spam!

4.    Be careful with punctuation.  Nothing screams spam more than the overuse of exclamation marks. When you are overly enthusiastic in your social media it can seem fake. You want to be as real and personal as possible, so limit those exclamations.

5.    Don’t be too self-promotional. You want to use social media to build a relationship with your customers; social media is not like traditional advertising, it is not simply venue to sell your product, but a way to meet and learn about your customers.

As your dealership develops social media goals be sure that you keep these anti-spam guidelines in mind.  Remember: If it sounds or looks like spam to you, then it will definitely look like spam to your customers.

*photo by Robert Hruzek

An effective social media campaign works to capture the interest of a specific audience, and more importantly, creates interaction with that audience. A powerful way to encourage interaction is to provide information and tools that ultimately help promote a brand or product.

A great and current example is the Ford “Battle Mode” Facebook campaign, in which customers log into Facebook to customize a Ford Mustang. Customers build their dream Mustangs and then pit their custom Mustang vs. another, with Facebook users voting on the cars.

We like this campaign for several reasons:

1)  People love to customize. There are over 1,700 pages of customized Mustangs built from this campaign.  It’s obvious that the “Build Your Own” tool Ford has created connects with their niche Mustang audience.

2)  The fun connects to the end product.  Customers are utilizing the “Build Your Own” tool, which in turn helps promote the many features Mustang has to offer. This campaign encourages consumers to visualize their dream car and to aspire to purchase one.

3)  Everyone loves to win! Ford competition in their campaign to interaction. Contests and competitions are effective ways to drive traffic.

Ford’s “Battle Mode” is great case study.  The campaign is all about customer interaction.  Ford asks you to build a dream car, they ask you to decide which car wins the battle.  The takeaway?  Make part of your social media efforts about providing ways for your customers to interact with your dealership and your products.

One of the biggest mistakes made by RV dealers when starting out with social media is talking without taking the time to listen. Social media is all about creating a real relationship between your RV dealership and your customers. These types of relationships can’t be fostered when one party does all the talking.

A recent blog post by Eric Harr, “Myth: To Be Heard, Talk. Truth: To Be Heard, Listen.” is full of great information on the importance of listening. In his post Eric details the ways in which you can spend more time listening and still be heard. Here are some of our favorite points:

1. 80/20 Rule - You should be 80% listening and 20% talking. It’s hard to write back or produce valuable content if you’re not listening to what your customers are saying.

2. Quality Counts – Don’t stop talking completely, but when you do respond, make sure what you’re saying is valuable and engaging.

3.  Listen to Learn – You should be listening to your customers so you can know better how to improve their lives. You’re building loyal followers by offering information that makes them feel special or is valuable o them.

4. Get Personal – Ask questions about your customers. Make them feel like they are in a personal conversation with you. Social media is a great tool for making mundane conversation personal. Find out about your customers and engage them in conversations that apply directly to them.

5. Caring is Sharing – If you make people feel like you care about them, they’re more likely to spread the word about your dealership. And, we all know that it’s hard to beat good word of mouth.

Blogging can be an essential component of any RV dealersihp’s social media strategy… but sometimes coming up with great posts and getting yourself into the groove can be a difficult process. Here are eight great tips to help you find your way to writing great blog posts:

1.) Make a working list of ideas. Take some uninterrupted time to sit down and start compiling a list of blog topics, ideas for photos or videos and anything else that comes to mind. Even if an idea seems a little off base or silly now, it may be just the things to spur a genius post in the future – don’t immediately discount any of your ideas. Plus, having a big running list of topics makes it easy to get started each time you sit down to write.

2.) Jot down ideas and notes. Whether you keep a little notebook handy or just type little ideas into your phone’s notepad, make sure that you are always on the look out for ideas you can use on your blog. But, most importantly don’t forget to jot them down!

3.) Make (and keep) a calendar. Creating and maintaining a schedule for your blog posts is one of the easiest and most effective strategies you can use when you start writing. Plan out when you want blog posts to go out and coordinate a corresponding time to sit down and write the post. If you have extra time you can always use it to get ahead of schedule and crank out a few posts in advance.

4.) Make it conversational. Nobody likes reading technical journals and most people lose interest when a writer drones on. Write your blog posts as if you were talking to one of your customers or even better one of your friends. Make each post conversational and interesting to read.

5.) Use relevant titles. Sometimes the only thing people will read is the title of your posts – so make them good. Imagine scanning through a blog full of articles, you’re only going to pick out the ones that sound interesting (based on the title). Your customers are going to be doing the same thing. So get creative and keep your titles relevant to what you’re writing about.

6.) Add photos. Everyone loves a good photo, especially when it corresponds to or breaks up what you’re writing about. Seeing a page full of text can be daunting to some readers, use the photos you post to draw them into what you have to say.

7.) Use lists. Using lists in your writing makes it easy to quickly read through a post as well as easy to follow. You’ll notice that list formats are widely use across the web as well as in all different types of publications. Use this time tested technique to draw attention and make your posts stand out even more.

8.) Edit yourself. Every now and again a missing comma or misspelled word will slip through when you publish a post, but truly take measures to prevent as many errors as possible. Write your post, run spell check, read through it a time or two and if you have someone you trust, have them read it too!

Happy writing!

*Photo Credit: e_walk