Developing a Social Media Plan for Car Dealers
Automotive Social Media will continue to be a hot topic over the next few years. Many dealers are getting their feet wet using sites like Twitter, Myspace and Facebook. Some are seeing great successes using these mediums. I recently had the opportunity to meet with two dealers that are making great headway using Facebook and Twitter to reach customers.
At the Drivingsales Executive Summit there was some great speakers in and out of the auto industry. There was some great takeaways that I posted about at my Drivingsales.com blog but no speaker really delved in how to establish a social media plan for car dealers even though Arron Strout alluded a key point that dealers should take account when devising their strategy.
You are better off to be on your A game in one location such as facebook than try to be spread over many locations with nothing more than a presence. (Not verbatim but close)
It is in my opinion that the easiest way for a dealer to start their trek into social media will be with a blog and a facebook fan page. Not only will they be the easiest to work with but they will allow you to get your name out there to insure your online reputation.
Both will offer high rankings into the search engine if they are set up properly and the content is structured to match your audience. The question many dealers will ask is how long before we start to see sales and fixed opps ROI? The answer will really depend on your involvement.
Not everything in today’s social media world can be quantified into direct ROI, just as traditional branding messages are not easy to measure. With a blog and proper facebook management your number of direct inbound inquiries will rise if you seek to engage others using these mediums and you have the proper tools to measure results in place.
