4 Ways to Sell to Today's Socially Savvy Car Buyer

According to the CMO council, 1 in 4 car buyers talks about buying a new car on social media and 38% say they will consult social sites before they purchase a vehicle. Facebook is also hugely popular with social automotive consumers - 84% of automotive shoppers are on Facebook, and 24% of them have used Facebook as a resource for making their vehicle purchases.

Social media is a hugely important way for the automotive industry to connect with new car buyers. Not only is social media full of real-time purchase indicators, but dealers can use social to build brand loyalty, improve the customer experience, and influence purchase decisions.

In a study compiled by PWC, the modern digital consumer uses social media as a key research channel. They look for recommendations by their peers, will recommend brands, and use social sites to listen and learn based on other user experiences.

Having a strong social selling strategy is hugely important in today’s digital world. Here are 4 ways to help you connect to today’s socially savvy car consumer:

1. Share engaging content.

A successful social strategy involves good content, interactive tools, rate calculators, video, and any type of content to increase brand awareness and help your social followers make a decision. Content should also help solve unique challenges of your target audience. A graduating college student may appreciate information and ratings on the best fuel-efficient cars while other consumer segments would better relate to videos showing safety features. 

Dealers are also getting more innovative in the types of content they are sharing. According to Sean Stapleton of VinSolutions, innovative dealers are posting videos of the inventory they have on lot, allowing Twitter users to view right from their Twitter feeds.

2. Engage in conversations.

Social media is a two-way street. Sharing content is a good way to get the conversations started, but be sure to engage with social users on a personal level. People appreciate the fact that a brand is reaching out to them and asking “how can I help?” not “what can I sell?” People want to do business with companies that they can trust and with who they have established some sort of relationship. Social platforms offer the perfect avenue to build trust and relationships with prospective customers.

3. Manage your social presence.

Because social consumers rely so heavily on peer recommendations, you need to be sure you are managing your social presence. According to a survey by Digital Air Strike, 69% of consumers said dealership reviews had an impact on which dealership they visited. In addition to monitoring major sites such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, there are a variety of tools available to help you monitor AND respond to both negative and positive reviews. Be sure you are quickly responding to negative reviews and offer alternate ways for a complainer to get in touch with you, such as by phone or email. How you handle negative comments can have a big impact on how future purchasers view your dealership.

4. Social consumers in the market for a new car.

There are thousands of conversations taking place every day on social media by consumers who are in the market for a new car. They are looking for a recommendation for a dealership, are talking about how their car is always in the shop for repairs and they need something new, or they are making numerous other comments that indicate they are ready to purchase.

Since you can’t identify every one of these conversations, social advertising is a great way to target social consumers. A variety of third-party audience data specifically geared towards the automotive industry is available on platforms such as Google +, Facebook, and Twitter. Consumers can be targeted by VIN, make and model of their car, demographics, and other vehicle purchase predictors.

The most successful social brands will be those that embrace social media as an important aspect of their overall marketing strategy.  Sharing relevant and innovative content, engaging in conversations, responding to reviews, and utilizing social ads to engage with consumers will go a long way towards influencing social consumers to purchase.

To learn how to successfully target car buyers on their journey to purchase, download this free guide.