Social Media for Dealers

A resource from HuebnerPetersen's Dealer Marketing Services

February 15, 2012 • 2:44 pm 1

Social media: How much is enough?

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.

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

January 18, 2012 • 8:00 am 0

The Importance of Updating

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

Filed under: Quick Tips, , , , ,

January 12, 2012 • 9:00 am 0

What Is a Hashtag? And Why Should I Use It?

 

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

Filed under: Twitter, , , , , , , ,

June 15, 2010 • 1:47 pm 0

Building an audience.

Building a social media audience

Starting out in social media isn’t as easy as it looks. It requires time and effort to get acquainted. There’s a learning curve, set backs, and time spent getting your “sea legs” (if you will) all before it starts to click and you begin seeing the pay off for your hard work.

As your RV dealership builds your social media base there can be moments that are discouraging, moments that make you wonder if you’re on the right track. You’ll wonder if you’re wasting your time.  Everyone has these moments, don’t let them slow you down.

Don’t be discouraged when your friends and contacts don’t immediately jump on the wagon and become a Facebook fan of your dealership — not all of them are truly interested in what you’re doing. Don’t be discouraged when every single person on Twitter doesn’t follow you back — they may have different goals than you for their Twitter, your posts might not be a match for them. Don’t be discouraged when you have a video that doesn’t get as many views as the last – it might just be an off day. It’s all in the course of events. People can be fickle, they can be busy and you might not always get the response you predict.

Finding your voice and developing your day-to-day social media activities is what will set the tone for your audience. You have to think quality not quantity. Be consistent and develop truly interesting, helpful, or unique content.  If you start with a strategy and maintain a constant flow of beneficial and interesting information you’re going to, undoubtedly, develop a following for your RV dealership.  Whether those followers appear slowly or your success snowballs after a couple weeks, know that social media isn’t something that will boast success overnight.

Building a following, an audience and a network takes time. As your RV dealership continues on it’s social media journey you’ll find the people that influence you, you’ll find the right customers for your content and they’ll find you. Just keep working and giving it your best effort.  Keep an open mind, be willing to learn, and be willing to share!

Filed under: Quick Tips, The Basics, , , , , , , , , ,

June 8, 2010 • 8:00 am 0

Lame social media excuses (that don’t stand up).

“Social Media doesn’t have a place in the RV industry.”

Yes, it does.  The RV buying demographic is the fastest growing demographic in social media.  The demographic with the most activity on social media sites is the 35-44 age range, followed by the 45-54 age range (see more here).

“We’re not into technology at our dealership, we’re old-fashioned.”

People said the same thing about telephones, fax machines, computers, and email.  Your customers will expect technology and it’s not going to go away.  You can’t bury your head in the sand and be successful.

“It’s just a fad.  There’s nothing serious here.”

Wrong again.  Social media usage is growing steadily (and rapidly).  It’s not just going to die.  Many businesses are offering powerful tools and easy access to their customers and building social media expectations.  Today’s consumer looks to connect to the brands and businesses with whom they buy from.  The world is not going to revert back to “push” advertising (shouting messages at consumers).

“I don’t know how.”

Learn.  There are millions of resources to help you figure out social media (this fabulous website being one of them!).  Here is a list of the best social media how-to books.  AND, if there is absolutely no way you can figure it out, empower someone else to take the lead at your dealership.

Filed under: Statistics, The Basics, Why social media?, , , , , , , ,

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