Visit as many car dealers’ social media accounts as you want and you’re going to find basically the same thing for all of them.
While it’s important to have the inventory of vehicles, pricing, and some of the features, it can be even more important to differentiate your dealership from the others. This may simply mean putting a twist on the typical posts you see.
How Can You Spin Automotive Terminology?
Sharing industry jargon and the various names of the parts of a vehicle might sound boring, but did you know that different countries have different names for things. For example, the hood of a car in England is called the bonnet and the trunk is called the boot. You could share some of these terms or make a game out of them as a poll on some of your posts.
Encourage Follower Silly Videos
Videos are certainly used often to market to the online audience and you can have a contest or simply encourage your followers to share their own silly videos. Whether your audience wants to submit videos, just look at them, or both, they can easily enjoy this activity. Showcase some of the funniest videos on your social media accounts and let the world see the fun personalities you get to work with at your dealership.
We’re Not Too Old for This…
One of the biggest misnomers of social media is that it’s only for younger users. Share posts that identify items that mostly only your older users will know, invite those over a specified age to share fun things they have done, and let your older followers join in on the fun. There are many online users that enjoy sharing on social that would love to get in on the action.
Over-Celebrate the Holidays
You want to showcase your dealership team and let your potential customers get to know some of the people on your staff, but let’s get away from the boring salesperson profile. What makes your team who they are? How do they celebrate various holidays? Considering there are holidays every month and many cultures share different ones, you could easily make this a monthly way for your viewers to get to know your team.
Make an Event Out of a Customer Handoff
You will have to find willing customers, but when you hand them the keys to their new ride, you could make an even bigger deal out of it by playing a game or creating a presentation. Imagine knighting your customer with the keys to their new ride, creating an escape room with the keys being the hidden prize, or simply having confetti and balloons during a handoff. These are fun ways to show your customer celebrating their new vehicle and can be an easy share on social media.
Add More Zing to Your Trivia
One of the most common posts you’ll see from other car dealers is trivia based on the automotive world. If your customers aren’t “car people” but simply car drivers, they might not want to join in. Change the trivia to items including pop culture, current events, history, famous celebrity activities, etc. Once you change it, you can also add more pop to it with a prize for a drawn winner in a raffle format.
Get Creative With the How-To Videos
How-to videos are some of the most-watched online and are often especially useful. Even so, you could spice them up, especially if you have a couple of people in the service department that love to dance and get into a video. Create a song out of basic maintenance tasks that are played to a popular tune and let your team showcase their personality. This is a great way to offer a fun and informative way to do something and will certainly grab the attention of many in the social media world.
Events Should be Easy to Make More Fun
You’re having a sales event; get excited. You’re raising money for a worthy cause at your dealership; get excited. You have new models coming in; get excited. Show your excitement and enthusiasm for the latest event or newest models on your posts. Start with invitations to the event by telling your audience when it will occur and then turning it into as much fun as you can. You can let it become similar to Animal House, but in a family-friendly and professional way, and have a great time with your event.
Social media can be an amazing tool for you and your car dealership team to reach your audience, especially if you take a more fun and interesting approach to the typical dealership posts you see your competition offering.
