It’s fair to say we live in an online world now. There’s not a single day that goes by where we don’t use social media. To put things into perspective over 18 million Australians use social media. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or others that number shows no signs of slowing down. With that being said social media is now essential for all Australian motor dealers!
Years ago, your dealerships reputation and word of mouth were the main ways you got car buyers through the door. Now there is social media, which if used strategically can grow your sales and bottom line quickly and cheaply!
EasyCars has put together a quick guide to get you up to speed with all the essential pages your dealerships needs and the different strategies that you can use to grow your sales numbers. Let’s get started!
Set up a Facebook and Instagram business page
When it comes to social media there are two absolute must haves, Facebook and Instagram! Facebook and Instagram are the two most used social media platforms in Australia and using them correctly could put your dealership at the forefront of thousands of Australian Car buyers.
The first thing your dealership will need to do is set a business page on both Facebook and Instagram.
Setting a business page opposed to a regular account gives you beneficial business insights such as page reports, customer engagement statistics, bounce rates as well as advertising options.
Some of the benefits of Facebook and Instagram for Australian dealers include:
- Connect with customers in real time
- Increases your dealerships customer reach
- Advertising options to reach more buyers
- Links to Facebook Marketplace
- Free to create
- Ability to integrate data between Facebook and Instagram
Personalise your pages
Many dealerships often fall into the trap of not personalising the content on their pages. Some dealers use stock images or fail to include vital information such as “About Us” or your dealerships operating hours.
Leaving out or posting stock images from the internet looks sceptical. This gives the impression that the page is not professional.
The essentials for your Facebook and Instagram business pages include:
- Dealership Logo
- Landscape image of your dealership for your cover photo
- A bio of your dealership
- Dealership operating hours
- Address and contact information
- Messenger feature
Once the essentials are set up, its important to start posting content!
To begin with, you can start to post about some of the vehicles you have in stock, past customer reviews, any finance or promotion deals you may be running and everything in-between. The key to social media is posting engaging content that stands out to the eye.
Grow your dealerships following
There’s no point having a social media account if you don’t have anyone to engage with. As such, you will need to gain some followers. There are multiple ways to gain followers on social media. One of the most common beliefs is you need to pay for followers, however there are a few different ways you can grow your follower base without spending big on advertising.
Everybody loves a bargain! A great way to grow your dealership is by running a promotion. Have a great financing offer? Lowered the price of a car? Got new used car stock in? Create a post and let people know. When one person sees the post there is a high chance, they will tell their friend. No spend on advertising!
Consistent posting
A trap many dealerships fall into is creating social media pages and letting it sit there. Social media is a persistence game, you won’t just create a page and suddenly have 10,000 followers and a 10% increase in sales. It’s needs to be built. Dealers who are consistent with their social media will see rapid growth as opposed to those who don’t.
Social media platforms preference business pages who are active and engage with their users. For example, if your dealership posts frequently you will often be displayed higher on your follower’s timeline. This is so beneficial as it puts your positioning at the forefront of your followers timeline - growing your chances of gaining a lead and or sale.
Encourage customers to “check in”
One of the best strategies that can go along way to growing your dealership is encouraging visitors to check into your dealership. The benefit of this is when someone checks into your dealership all their friends and followers will see it. This builds your dealerships brand awareness and opens the door to future customers.
Ask your customers to leave a review
Research shows that 81% of car buyers base their buying decision on your online reviews, highlighting the power that online reviews has on car dealerships. A common misbelief is that Google is the only way customers can leave your dealership a review. However, Facebook also gives customers the ability to leave reviews.
After you have sold a car, all you need to do is ask your customers if they can rate the experience on your Facebook page before they leave. This way it gives potential customers the ability to see what you have provided to other car buyers in the past. Leads who come across your page and see you have countless positive reviews would be far more enticed to buy from your dealership then those who don’t.
Thank you for reading we hope you enjoyed the post!
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About EasyCars
EasyCars is a simple and adaptable dealer management system that automates and streamlines the day-to-day tasks of running a motor dealership in Australia.
From simple stock management to automated advertising, to government compliance and everything in-between EasyCars has all the features needed to manage your dealership seamlessly.
Learn more about EasyCars and its features clicks here.
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