Pub. 12 2013-2014 Issue 1

N e w J e r s e y C o a l i t i o n O f A u t o m o t i v e R e t a i l e r s 27 new jersey auto retailer w w w . n j c a r . o r g Top Tips From Social Media Award Winning Dealers By Alexi Venineri Most dealerships are learning the hard way that there is more to success online than simply getting people to “like” you on Facebook. If your social media strategy isn’t engaging or interesting to your target, it will get “blocked” or “disliked” pretty quickly. Dealerships need to find unexpected and engaging ways to get audiences involved with their business. Only the campaigns that drive loyalty and interest will start to take on a life of their own and become successful Social Media Campaigns. What follows are some creative campaign ideas you can try from a few of the 2012 Automotive Social Media Award-winning dealers. One dealership’s New Year’s Resolution Campaign, which won the Most Creative Facebook Ad Campaign Award, challenged their Facebook fans to come up with the most compelling way that a $500 gift card would help them realize their New Year’s resolutions. Submissions by Facebook fans were then voted on by other Facebook us- ers, and the entry that got the most “likes” won the gift card. The contest was heavily promoted in the local market with Facebook Ads. This campaign drove nearly 700 new “Likes” and had a viral reach of more than 272,000 impressions. Another dealership, located in Arizona, gave away four VIP tickets to the Phoenix Open and also donated $10 for every new Facebook Liker to the Juvenile Diabetes Re- search Foundation. The 3 week contest was promoted heavily in the local market using Facebook Ads and Sponsored Posts. This campaign resulted in an incredible 6,340 clicks, increased the dealership’s “likes” by more than 1,300 and led to more than 1,000 market leads. Having a solid strategy for reputation man- agement is also a big part of social media marketing. A study of more than 1,600 car buyers and 600 dealerships found that nearly 70 percent of recent car buyers said review sites influenced where they shopped. Many buyers were also willing to drive long dis- tances to purchase vehicles fromdealers with positive reviews. Your dealership’s reputa- tion is crucial to driving sales and loyalty. A California dealer, winner of the Best Online Reputation Award, has done an outstanding job generating high volumes of positive reviews nicely distributed across the most important review sites in their market, and they are benefitting from significant traffic to their website. How did they do it? They started tracking customer reviews just like they do sales and challenged their staff to get their happy customers to go online and leave reviews. They also regularly survey their customers to fix any issues and ensure excellent service. The dealership generated 305 positive reviews, with a 4.4 star average for 2012, resulting in nearly 2,500 website referrals from the top 5 review sites. It is hard for dealerships to stand out in social media, but creative campaigns and a great on- line reputation can improve customer loyalty and generate more leads and sales. Alexi Venneri is co-founder, CMO, and COO of social media at Digital Air Strike and has been in the automotive industry for over 15 years. She can be reached at alexi@ digitalairstike.com. Having a solid strategy for reputation management is also a big part of social media marketing.