With so many social media options and locations, it’s very important that your dealership drives an efficient and concise social strategy. There are many objectives and strategies that are available so clearly defining what, when, how, where, and who we will be targeting is very important.
What is my objective here? I’m trying to sell cars….
Primary objective: The primary objective is very clear – Drive sales. How do we drive sales with social media? The primary objective is only achieved with the secondary objectives below.
Secondary Objectives: Drive traffic to website and build awareness through thoughtful and relevant messaging. By socially engaging with the consumer, peaking interest and intent, and providing resources for them to make the car shopping experience more enjoyable.
Tertiary Objectives: With all social campaigns paid or organic, one of the most important objectives is to drive brand affinity and learn more about your consumer/audience. Social media is not a one-way advertising platform for your business; it is a way to connect with the public with a personification of your brand. Testing is a very important part of this process.
How can our dealership achieve this broad range of objectives for the best possible results? Just like all other marketing venues, social follows basic marketing principles. Broad to small funnel targeting is crucial to reach customers along each stage of their purchase path. Below are resources needed to achieve these objectives.
What do I need to successfully achieve these objectives?
- Content Strategy/Calendar – You must have a clear path of content to continuously and proactively engage with the consumer. Content consists of imagery, video content, professional literature and blogs, interviews, and other educational content. Without a variety of content, the consumer will see you as an ad-heavy company with no additional value to their car shopping experience.
Click here for an article on how to get your sales team to produce content: https://www.cbtnews.com/turn-time-digital-savvy-sales-team/
- Budgeting – Budget should be split between 3 objectives:
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Driving awareness and reach. (Broad funnel, high impression reach)
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Driving engagement and interaction with socially modern content and messaging. (Midfunnel, Pay for engagement)
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Driving Conversion (Low Funnel, pay for clicks and conversions)
- Testing Objectives – Basic testing should be built on a long-term basis. The minimum targeting/content test should be 30 days. Ideal testing objectives would run quarterly so there is enough data to analyze. Audience Targeting, platform capabilities, and content should all be tested.
- Relationship Management – If people are talking, you’re doing it right – regardless if it’s bad or good. If you have both bad and good sentiment from consumers it means that you’re mixing up the space and having successful engagement. Being able to proactively communicate with consumers and customers on a proactive basis is crucial for brand affinity and retention.
- Genuine Non-Sales Content – This one is self explanatory. A general best practice rule is 25% promotional content, 75% social content. Be social. Have fun with it.
