Social Media for Dealers

A resource from HuebnerPetersen's Dealer Marketing Services

October 12, 2011 • 9:49 am 0

Internet & RV dealerships

Many RV dealers think that the Internet is eliminating competitive advantage from the RV industry by providing customers a means to thousands of dealer websites looking for the lowest price on a RV.  Yes, this would limit your competitive advantage IF you only compete on price. There’s more to a buying decision and a customer experience than price. Using social media, you can establish your dealership in other ways and begin building a solid relationship with your customer that will be there before during and after their RV purchase. Are you ready to get started? Are you in the midst of your RV program and need a refresher? Here are six simple and easy to follow steps no matter where you are on your social media journey. Click on each link below to access that step in the process:

Step 1: Listen

Step 2: Establish your Angle

Step 3: Get Started

Step 4: Be “Findable”

Step #5: Stay Active

Step #6: Tracking

*Image Credit: Nina Matthews Photography

Filed under: Step-by-Step, , , , ,

July 19, 2011 • 11:25 am 0

Feeling Bogged Down?

Do you ever get the feeling that you’re drowning in a sea of social media sites and to-do lists? That you have ideas, but absolutely no time to get things done? That there are so many things to update and you can’t get to them all? This is what we hear constantly from dealers trying to tackle social media on their own. The good news? You don’t have to do it alone.

For starters, sit down and make a calendar. Take an hour at the start of each month and choose what topics you’ll cover and on what days, what sites you’ll update when and ideas to share that month. Trust us, it will help you take a load off. Once you have nailed down what it is you want to cover that month, start doling out responsibility. Your dealership is chalk full of people that can help and happen to be experts in their field. Why wouldn’t you capitalize on this talent and expertise? Give each person a day (or a few days) and have them write out some updates, blog posts, take pictures, or shoot some footage to fulfill the topic they were assigned.

Don’t assume that because you set up the accounts, that you have to be the only one working on them. Start a calendar and share the work. Your employees may not even see it as work and many may even find it enjoyable.

*Image Credit: DafneCholet

Filed under: Blogging, what to write, , , , ,

June 30, 2011 • 9:09 am 0

Six Easy Steps to Creating A Social Media Marketing Strategy

If you are unclear as to where to begin your social media marketing strategy, we can help! The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently published findings that suggest 58% of Americans say that they perform online research on the goods or services they’re considering buying.  At least half, if not more of the people that come through your dealership doors, check out their options online before they ever step foot in your RV dealership.

So the big question is, how do you capitalize on this and get your message out? A good place to start is with a good social media marketing strategy, and here’s how.

1.) Understand what Social Media is.

Social Media is best understood as one of many Internet marketing channels. It has the amazing ability to go viral; to interact and reach millions of people. If used effectively, social media can help you engage with your customers about your RV dealership, your products, your service and your brand as a whole.

2.) Listen to what is being said.

The best way to understand your customers is to actually hear what they are saying about you and your dealership. Most importantly, determine who is the leader of your online following, who are the main influencers and who is driving the conversations. When these people talk, others will listen. If no one is talking, social media will give you the steps to change that.

3.) Identify goals and objectives.

After taking some time to listen, start deciding what you want to accomplish, where you want to be and what your dream social media scenario would be. You will have a better understanding of where you want to go.

4.) Develop your plan.

First, decide which social platform (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, YouTube) you’d like to use to get started.  If you choose to use multiple platforms, make sure you have a plan for each individual one as well as a umbrella for the dealership as a whole. We recommend starting with one and working your way up.

It takes time, so be patient. Give it the effort it deserves and focus on building content.

5.) Create your content.

It’s key to be a creative in this ongoing step. Optimize your content with targeted keywords and be smart about what you post. When searching for an RV, what types of words or phrases do your customers use? Start there and then continue outward. Content can come from all sorts of places, like photos, interviews with staff or customers, news, statistics, etc.

6.) Track your success.

It’s extremely important to measure the effectiveness of your social     media marketing strategy.  Start with monitoring who’s reading you content and where they are from. From there monitoring fans/followers, readership and site views can give you a good picture of where you’re at.

*Image Credit: EssjayNZ

Filed under: Step-by-Step, , , , ,

June 14, 2011 • 2:17 pm 0

Be a sleuth.

By now we hope that most of you have gotten a start on your RV dealership’s social media programs, but if not here’s a great place to start. Listen, be a sleuth and pull out your inner Sherlock Holmes. Have you ever searched yourself as a customer would? Try these steps, starting with Google and follow-up with Bing and any other search engine popular in your area:

1.) Search for your dealership’s name. What comes up? Where do you place?

2.) Search for competitors in your area. What comes up? Where do they place? Do you seen anything that they’re doing that you want to be doing? Do they have social media sites up? Take a look.

3.) Check your website. Look at it as if you were the customer. Is it easy to find the key information? Are there things that are making it appear congested?

4.) Do you have neglected social media sites. Go take a peek at them. If you were the customer what would you think if you stumbled across these?

5.) Look at your Google Reviews. What are people saying about you? Have you responded?

Doing this is a key first step to figuring out where you are and where you need to go. Start listening and searching. The more you know when you start the more effective you’ll be when you get going.

*Image Credit: nathanmac87

 

Filed under: Quick Tips, , , , , ,

May 19, 2011 • 12:54 pm 1

How to set-up a Facebook Page.

Here on RV Social Media we talk about how important it is to use social media to connect to your customers and your community. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to set up a Facebook page for your RV dealership and how to effectively use the site.  Now is the time to make sure your RV dealership has a social media page. There are over 500 million Facebook users and these users spend more than 700 billion hours a month on the site. This is an easy way to get exposure, why wait?

Here are 3 quick take-aways from this article:

  1. Set-up your own URL – Once you dealership’s page gets 25 likes  you can create your own URL for the site. An example of this would be: www.facebook.com/rvdealershipname. This makes it easy for your customers to remember your URL.
  1. Follow Up and Take Measure — Facebook Insights is designed so you can see the activity that happens on your page. This is an easy way to measure the success of your RV dealership’s page.
  1. Don’t go it alone — You can assign admins that will have access to your RV dealership’s Facebook page. With this access they can post updates and keep track of the activity. There is no limit on how many admins you can have, so start enlisting help.

Facebook is an easy social media site that you can use to engage your customers. Not only is it easy to use, but you can connect to your customers and your community in new and exciting way.

For the full article and information on set-up/using your RV dealership’s Facebook page, click here.

Filed under: Facebook, The Basics, , , , ,

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This information is brought to you by HuebnerPetersen's Dealer Marketing Services and Front Lines Marketing Programs. Please visit http://HuebnerPetersen.com for further information.

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