Last night, I had the urge to blog. I didn't have a set topic in mind. I just knew I wanted to talk about the car biz. I didn't search the web for the newest, greatest news. I didn't crawl other automotive blogs to see what they were talking about. I simply wrote. It wasn't about our product. I didn't even mention the benefits of having Automotive Live Chat (even though, guys, totally worth it.) Social Media was on my mind so that's what I wrote about. It's what I know.

I posted the blog, not expecting much more than a few clicks. I knew certain dealer friends would read it. Maybe a few Facebookers would follow over.  I just wrote it to write it. I also posted the post here on DealerElite. 

I woke up this morning to an alert on my Android telling me that I had a Twitter reply via our CarChat24 account. I'm always anxious to see who's mentioning us, and what they have to say.

To my surprise it was from @DealerSummit. They had featured that blog post that I felt like I threw together last night, as one of their top articles.

My point of this blog isn't to brag, even though I did grin from ear to ear and e-mail the president, Shereef immediately. My point is that a lot of us feel confined in social media. We feel like it has to be a certain way, or we have to tweet, update, or blog about certain topics to keep people interested.  If you consistently blog about automotive news, you'll attract other automotive news seekers. If they're your current market, say, if you're @DealerSummit wanting readers, then wonderful.

But if you're an Automotive Service Provider, your target is other car dealers. Blog, Tweet, interact with them on a personal level. I know most all of you here on DealerElite ARE dealers. And this isn't at all saying that any interaction I have with you is fake or phony. I find it awesome to interact with you when there's no stress of 'making the sale'.  

If you're a car dealer, who is your audience? So many automotive dealers are tweeting automotive news stories, tips on how to sell cars, insider information even. What interest does the average Joe have in that? Sure, it's great to share with some of your other dealer friends. Send it as an e-mail to your 20 Group. Maybe start a Facebook Group designated to that.

But if you want to attract people and earn their business via social media, then you need to know your audience, and what they want to see.  I offer my followers tips on how to sell cars, new sales approaches, ways to increase employee productivity - not because that's what CarChat24provides, but it's what dealers WANT to see. It makes you a reliable source. Not many car dealers want to read about a new chat technology that's being tested. I want to read about it, but they don't.

If you want to attract everyday folks who buy cars, post updates on Baseball Season. Specials on your vehicles. Sales that you're having. A great photo or quote. THAT is what everyday people want to see. And it's the everyday people who buy cars.