Your customers are looking for you.  In today’s world of car dealership marketing, you need to clearly recognize where your customer is and meet them there.  With car buyers spending an average of 7 hours online looking for their next vehicle, your dealership’s online presence has never been more important.  Why is it that I see so many dealerships’ names on Facebook with no established fan page?

Your customers are on Facebook.  They’re spending an average of 55 minutes on Facebook EVERY day.  If they’re looking for their next car, or where to service their current one, they’ll look for you on Facebook.  How do we know this for sure? When they’re in your store they “check-in” and let everyone in their network know it.  Do you have a Facebook fan page to collect, monitor and respond to those check-ins?

In my recent informal study of stores here in Southern California, I found numerous examples of dealerships without a Facebook page.  Their customers have come to their store, tried to check-in, searched for them on Facebook, and didn’t find them.  At that point, the customer had to add the store to Facebook so they could check in.  One store had 193 check ins spread across 8 different versions of the store’s name.  One check-in was “The bathroom at _____ Motors”!

Not providing a Social Media presence, a community to grow your client base, is equal to not upping a customer on the lot.  They’ve made the trip to your store but you’ve ignored them. 96% of car buyers under 30 are on a Social network.  1 in 5 Smartphone users now check-in. Social Media may seem like something frivolous to you but the numbers don’t lie.  It’s serious business!

Dealerships are in a precarious position right now.  Everyday I see good stores without a strategy to market their store on Social Media. Some are avoiding it because they think it’s a fad.  Just the other day, someone commented on my blog that “Facebook for dealerships is a waste of time”.  They haven’t seen success so they think it doesn’t work.  Some are holding back because they’re not sure how to proceed.  It’s never been more important to market your dealership on Social Media.

Need more proof? With each check-in, your customer is saying “I give you permission to market to me.”  The old way of advertising was to push information onto the consumer until they begrudgingly remembered you when they decided to buy.  Today, it’s about “permisson” marketing, we call it Inbound Marketing.  An active, engaged Social presence “earns” you the opportunity to send out marketing messages by NOT sending out marketing messages. With the right strategy, you can convert fans into clients.

Creating your own community on Social Media and being conversational enables you to convert fans into leads.  Conversations are the ultimate goal of any marketing effort. They are what fill the sales funnel and feed the sales process.  Members of a community buy from each other because those conversations have developed into trusting relationships.  People buy from people they know, like and trust.

If your dealership isn’t providing that community then your competitor is.  Isn’t it time to meet your customer where they are now and engage them? They’re already there…waiting for you to respond.

Kathi Kruse
Kruse Control Social Media Coaching & Training
kathi@krusecontrolinc.com
www.krusecontrolinc.com