Social Media for Dealers

A resource from HuebnerPetersen's Dealer Marketing Services

The Power of a Video

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!

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Battle Mode

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.

Filed under: Strategy, , , , , , , , ,

How Facebook builds your business.

A great breakdown on exactly how you can use Facebook to connect with your customers and build your dealership’s online presence.  If you wondered exactly how to harness Facebook for your RV dealership, this quick video will help clear it up!

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Filed under: Facebook, Small Business, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t just post your RV inventory.

Build connections to sell RVs

Social media is not simply an advertising platform.  Businesses that are successful with tools like Twitter, Facebook, Four Square, and blogs aren’t simply pushing out an advertising message.  They’re connecting with customers.  Before you can sell, you have to connect.

Frequently posting your units and inventory in your Twitter stream or on your Facebook page will work against you.  Constantly shouting a sales message will bore people.  Failing to connect to your customers will make social media pointless.

Marketing through social media requires balance – to be successful, you must do much more connecting than selling. Pushing your inventory will do little to help you connect and build relationships with your customers.  Instead of posting an inventory stream, focus on getting to know your followers.  Listen to what they talk about, what they’re interested in, and learn how to contribute.  Be interesting (trust me, 20 inventory updates a day is not interesting).  Provide tips, join in conversations, and offer resources (Need topic ideas for Twitter or Facebook?  Check out this, this, and this).  Before you can push a self-serving message out in the social media world, you need to build trust and credibility.

Once you’ve established a bit of credibility, you can begin to sprinkle in promotions.  Follow a 10 to 1 rule.  For every 10 tweets/posts, 1 can be a promotion for your dealership.  And by “promotion” I don’t mean a piece of inventory.  Announce sales events, share images of special (unique, worthwhile, extra interesting) units, and highlight great deals.  Promote, but keep it interesting and do it in moderation.

If your RV dealership is simply using social media to post your inventory, you’ll never truly connect. In fact, you may end up getting blocked by many potential customers (a constant stream of inventory can get annoying).  Instead of trying to sell on social media, shift your thinking.  Connect first.

*Image via Bill Ward’s Brickpile’s photostream

Filed under: Quick Tips, Strategy, The Basics, what to write, Why social media?, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Step #4: Be “Findable”.

Do what it takes to make sure your dealership's social media efforts can be found!

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, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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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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