Building a Great Social Media Presence (Part 2) – LinkedIn and Twitter

This article is part of a series on Building a Great Social Media Presence. Read Part 1 – Facebook here.

One of the most effective and complex ways to engage with your audience is social media. However, figuring out the best techniques and tools to build a great social media presence isn’t always so easy. There are different tools for each social media platform that sometimes aren’t interchangeable. So, how can businesses customize the techniques to best suit their needs? This article will be going further into how automotive dealerships can use LinkedIn and Twitter to enhance their social media presence and engagement.

LinkedIn for The Automobile Industry

In terms of a social networking for professionals, LinkedIn is THE top social network. In general, it’s counted as one of the giant social media platforms. It’s different to other social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as it’s more to do with professional skills rather than personal information. It was created to connect professionals with one another to create a network, rather than simply for socializing. Individuals use it for connecting with potential business partners, discovering sales leads, finding a job, etc.

The Facts

As of April 2017, it has over 467 million total LinkedIn users, with over 106 million being active on a monthly basis; with 133 million individuals being from the U.S. 80% of marketers claim that they use LinkedIn solely for professional purposes. So, while most of the world focuses on the social media platforms, emphasis on the social, automotive dealerships shouldn’t forget the value that LinkedIn carries. Their audience is engaging at a higher rate than it ever has before.

LinkedIn Tips for Automotive Dealership Industry

So, how can you enhance your social media presence on LinkedIn? Before we answer that question, we should answer why it’s important to have a presence on LinkedIn. The reason for that is that having a strong presence on LinkedIn can aid in building your brand’s credibility and expand your current social media presence. Below we’ll be listing six of the best tips to get your brand engaging with their customers.

1. Get Active
   1. It’s imperative for you as a dealership to have content that is relevant and appealing to your target audience. So, ensure that you have filled out all the relevant data fields and having an appealing company page. The saying ‘short is sweet’ really applies to the headings on LinkedIn
2. Regularly Update
   1. LinkedIn suggests that brands should show engagement through at least two daily posts. However, it’s best to do some trial and error to see what works best for you and your audience. Dealerships could choose to showcase other highly regarded articles that pertain to their industry.
3. Use Analytics
   1. LinkedIn’s built in analytics tool helps businesses understand and optimize their performance. It can be analyzed by various profiles to get a better understanding on how to improve. Automotive dealerships can use these to see which posts and content get the most engagement from their followers.
4. Long Form Posts
   1. Long form posts are as the name suggests: long. Their purpose is to provide enough valuable information in one place so that the reader will be well informed on all aspects of the topic. These types of posts can come in quite handy where the topic can get quite confusing.
5. Use LinkedIn SlideShare
   1. SlideShare is one of LinkedIn’s most under-rated channel. SlideShare has its own separate analytics tools which can be quite handy when posting these out to your dealership profiles.
6. Perform an Advanced Search
   1. The best way to learn about your audience is to perform an advanced search. These searches will help you further understand your target audience and their interests. With this information, you can then further customize your advertising and content to suit their needs better.

Twitter for The Automobile Industry

Twitter is one of the social media platforms that has gone through various ups and downs. However, through it all, it has survived and still has a large audience. Twitter users appreciate the real-time aspect of the content and its large international reach. The platform can support forty languages with the majority of the accounts based abroad. This online social networking tool allows users to post 140 character updates.

The Facts

As of August 2017, Twitter has over 328 million active monthly users. These users sent over 500 million tweets collectively per day. Though the interaction rate is considerably lower compared to the other platforms, there are still 65.8% of U.S. companies that use Twitter for marketing purposes.

Twitter Tips for Automotive Dealership Industry

There are several tips out there for you to try. But below we’ve listed the top six that are sure to completely revitalize your Twitter strategy.

1. Organize into Lists
   1. Most users follow countless other Twitter users. For businesses, it’s best to organize those users into various lists to better understand your followers. Dealerships can create separate lists for customers, industry personnel, social media trainers, individuals from other professions.
2. Follow Strategy
   1. Sadly, many profiles on Twitter are run by bots and spammers. Though it’s recommended for dealerships to try and follow loyal customers, they shouldn’t follow everyone. Anyone with an egg picture, poor follower: following ratio, repeated tweets, stated in their bio as a bot or no favorite lists/tweets – should not be followed.
3. Business Challenges
   1. The best way to find out information and solve business problems is to offer incentives to your followers. Dealerships can offer Twitter-only specials, or reward people who tweet/retweet you.
4. Listen and Follow
   1. Twitter is an excellent way for dealerships to see what is being said about them. Keep an eye out for any direct messages, mentions, and replies from your audience.  
5. Publicize Twitter Profile
   1. Ensure that it’s as easy as possible for a potential customer to find you on Twitter. Though it’s not as popular as Facebook or Instagram – Twitter allows a sense of truthfulness that the others don’t have.
6. Add Photos
   1. Photos truly can speak a thousand words. Even adding a simple picture to a post can make it stand out among the other tweets.

Conclusion

In order to use social media platforms effectively, businesses first need to understand how social media works. Each platform is different and has different pros and cons. The key is to find a platform that suits your business needs. No matter which social media(s) dealerships choose to have, they all need to be consistent with one another. The visuals and the text along with the frequency of posts should remain frequent to keep your audience engaged.

Sources: Expanded Ramblings, Venture Beat, Social Media Today