Social media is no longer just for kids or for younger, more modern people.
Businesses are effectively reaching their target markets and generating sales with social media. Current popular sites for reaching car buyers are Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Answers, and forums dedicated to particular makes or models / makes, such as Ford Mustang enthusiasts.
To capture your share of this online market, you must have an active dealership presence at each online property. For Facebook, create a fan page for your dealership and then use your profile to invite people to be fans of your page. Find people who live in your city or nearby cities. Thank them for being a fan on your wall and post a link to your dealership website. Publish current sales, upcoming sales or latest cars in inventory on your page at least once a week. You can also upload photos and videos to your fan page.
Twitter is gaining popularity and is a great way to immediately communicate with buyers. It is also an excellent tool for reputation management. Create a Twitter profile for your dealership and follow people who tweet in and around your city. Tweet special offers just for your Twitter friends, like oil changes at a special price ending at 6pm that day. You can also search for people mentioning the brands you carry, waiting for service at dealerships near your location, and send a tweet. People can update their Twitter account from a computer or their mobile phone, so this is an immediate communication method.
Yahoo Answers is one of my favorite places to drive traffic and build followers. I look for open questions in the automotive category and answer them while using a link to the dealership website as my online source. This way, you get a high-quality backlink, drive traffic to your website, and connect with people in your area while helping them with a solution to their problem. There is no way to go wrong with this! There are many service questions related to specific makes and models, so promoting your service department and helping them will be of great help. There are also questions about which car should I buy, which car of the several I would like to buy, and there are also questions about where to buy or sell a car locally. Perfect opportunities to promote your dealership, link them to the cars that interest them, and invite them to your location.
Online forums are for enthusiasts of a certain make or model. This is another place to find people with questions and answer them with a link to your dealership. Also, when you get cars that have enthusiast forums, make a post with a photo of the car for sale and a link to your sales page.
As you can see, online sites are full of opportunities to generate leads and drive traffic to your site. Don’t waste any more time and take advantage of it now.