Many of the online marketing and SEO mistakes made by car dealers also show up in Facebook posts. Facebook is one of the most popular places for dealers.
This means a dealer could be making two mistakes with one entry. The first would show up on their website, while the other would be on the company’s Facebook page. Let’s take a look at some of the most common errors and see how some of these might end up on social media and cause problems for dealerships.
Default Page Text Shows Up in Social Media Posts
If the same message is part of your dealership pages and then shared on social media, it can quickly become redundant. Quantity is important in bringing customers to your pages, but quality means much more than quantity. It’s important that you work to entice potential shoppers with engaging content. If every post discusses the car warranty, you’re not offering your readers anything new and interesting. Focus on quality content that works well to bring customers in the door. Leave the boring stuff for the small print.
Some Posts Have Very Little Information
There’s nothing wrong with a couple of sentences in a post on Instagram, but that won’t fly on Facebook or in the SEO world. Search engines are pretty smart, and dealers that want to succeed with Facebook will ensure their posts work well for SEO and on this social media site. Save those short posts with lots of pictures for Instagram, which can then be shared on Facebook as well. You want shoppers to have the information they need, and two sentences won’t do the trick.
Some Dealers are Still Guilty of Keyword Stuffing
It’s been a few years since the practice of keyword stuffing was acceptable. Unfortunately, some dealers haven’t gotten the message or caught up with the new methods of doing things. They continue to push more keywords into their content, regardless of how it impacts the quality of the content. Search engines are better at determining the quality of content and won’t push a post to the top of a page because of a certain number of keywords. If you want your content to reach the top, produce better content.
Keywords are Stuffed into Meta Descriptions
Yes, a blog post that shows up on your website for SEO should have the keyword in the meta description, but only once. These blog posts are likely going to your dealership’s Facebook page and won’t rank high enough to matter if you stuff keywords everywhere. You should have a keyword in the title, meta description, and periodically in the post. Keep it conservative and focus on producing quality content with strong information for your readers.
Title Tags that are Too Much
Some URLs become ridiculously long because the page has every possible make and model from it in the title. The title tags don’t need to be overdone, and neither does the URL. These things don’t do well on Facebook and make your readers think that you’re trying too hard to pack more information into these areas than you should. Titles should not cut be off at the end of the page on search engines, which will translate to better Facebook page results as well.
Is Your Dealership Website and Facebook Page Local-Optimized?
All car dealers need to have their Facebook pages optimized for local content. This is a good idea for most of the content associated with your blog and website as well. Selling cars is still a static activity that requires some interpersonal engagement to complete the job. You and your team are part of the local community, and that needs to come through in your posts. Make sure you have some engaging local-optimized content that can assist you in creating pages that shoppers want to see.
Use Video in Your Online Marketing
You’ve got a few pictures of a car and several paragraphs of content, but you don’t have a video. Why? Many of the customers that see your pages will click on the video to see what you’re telling them long before they bother to read several paragraphs of content. Make sure you have excellent images and an engaging video to go with your written content. This will help entice your readers to stay on the page and see what you offer.
Don’t Use Auto-Generated Vehicle Descriptions
You can go over the list of features offered in the vehicles you sell when your shoppers close their Facebook apps and visit your dealership location. Until then, highlight a few items that make a specific model stand out and avoid the auto-generated descriptions that often come with a vehicle. These items are listed on the car window sticker and don’t need to be in your blog post. Let your Facebook page tell a story that will bring shoppers to your door.
Have You Updated Your Facebook Page?
Many car dealers forget to update their Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts with new content. This is one of the biggest mistakes made by car dealerships. It’s important to update these pages and ensure you have the attention of your next shoppers. Your customers expect to see fresh, new, and updated information when they visit your page. Give it to them and let them see what you have to offer. You might need a dedicated person to handle your social media accounts; successful dealerships have this assigned person.
Where’s the Content on Your Home Page?
The home page of your website and the banner image on your Facebook page should be the same. This offers some consistency to what your dealership shows your customers. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your updated blots on your home page and offering a link to this page at the top of the Facebook page. Let your website and your social pages work together to bring more customers to your dealership. This is a great way to engage your audience and show them what you’ve got to offer.
Are you guilty of some of the worst Facebook mistakes dealers make? If so, today is the time to change and give your customers what they desire.
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