As social media continually evolves, brands may find that the choices for marketing their products are never-ending. Car dealerships looking to run social media marketing campaigns will find that their best bet is to look towards high-traffic social media platforms. These tips will help your car dealership make the best of social media.
TikTok is All The Rage: Viral Challenges
Marketing your brand/company on TikTok is relatively easy with many benefits. Even boosting your account with TikTok promo is a simple process. In fact, many automobile manufacturers (most notably, BMW) have raised their brand awareness through the popular platform. This owes to the ease with which viral trends spread through the app’s community. Additionally, the users are the content creators in this context. Your dealership needs only to initiate the TikTok challenge or trend. For example, you could add a challenge of young users sharing the purchase of their first car at your dealership. This will boost sales whilst simultaneously marketing your company.
Instagram: Influencers are the Ultimate Marketing Tool
Accounts on Instagram with a large number of followers can be very influential, as users look to these ‘online celebrities’ for inspiration in their daily lives. Many users report that they have bought a product or visited an institution after learning of it from accounts on social media. Influencers are thus able to lead the general population with their opinions, and can significantly affect the market. The number one source of influencers on social media is Instagram. Car dealerships looking to expand their market should contact influencers to devise a marketing strategy together.
Facebook: Preferred by Automobile Brands
The social media network to first reach global popularity is Facebook, so it is no surprise that automotive brands prefer to run their social media campaigns through the platform. Furthermore, Facebook’s in-app marketplace allows businesses to streamline the shopping process for their customers. There are several car dealerships and private individuals that use the app to find buyers for the cars they wish to sell. Additionally, the comment section of Facebook posts is full of users’ opinions – so customers have access to real reviews in an instant.
It should be noted that following the purchase of Instagram by Facebook Inc., advertisements can be shown on both apps, which gives companies the opportunity to reach more of their target audience.
Youtube: A New Venue for Traditional Ads
Traditional advertisements that used to be mainly run on television can easily be transferred to Youtube. As the number of Youtube users is always increasing, it is certainly more cost-effective to place ads on Youtube. Of course, car dealerships may create their own Youtube Channel and use it as a marketing tool as well. All the other methods of social media marketing are applicable on Youtube, and as it is the second most used search engine globally – there is certainly a large audience to view ads.
Additionally, Youtubers with a substantial number of subscribers may approach your dealership (or vice versa) to work out a way for affiliate marketing through their channel. Simply, they would add a short promotional segment to their regular vlog, marketing your business every time a user watches their videos.
Spotify: Ads and Sponsorships
The audio streaming giant is a freemium app meaning that users who do not wish to listen to ads can opt to pay a premium subscription. However, most listeners on the app simply download the free version and never upgrade. The main revenue stream for Spotify is through advertising, and it is easy to contact them as a business to advertise on their platform.
Additionally, there are numerous Podcasts available on Spotify. Podcasters earn their money by being ‘sponsored’ by other businesses. Look for automotive-related podcasts to ensure you are reaching your target audience. Marketing campaigns run this way through podcasters are very cost-effective, because the listener is already inclined to be interested in your product.
Overall Strategy
Equipped with information about the different social media platforms, you can choose one or all the different venues to market your car dealership and increase traffic. Larger dealerships may want to hire professional social media and search engine optimization experts, to ensure your marketing campaign reaches its potential and is scaled appropriately. Keep in mind that successful marketing will result in an increase in sales and awareness of your brand. Although social media marketing can be very cheap – your budget should reflect the size of your business as it will proportionally affect your reach.
Whether you decide on devising a TikTok Challenge, employing the help of an influencer, or even just generally running traditional ads – social media is a great way to market your car dealership. With a little creativity, you can find new ways to tap into the potential of social media marketing.
