At the end of last year, we gave you five key resolutions to foster business growth, including strengthening your online presence. When it comes to social media, the specialty vehicle industry has only begun to tap into its potential. These platforms offer powerful opportunities to reach new customers — and the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll see results. The first step? Understanding the benefits and best practices of social media advertising.
In the relatively short time this technology has been around, social media platforms have transformed from designated places to connect with old friends to prominent and effective channels for business advertising. By the end of this decade, social media ad spending is expected to surpass $354 billion.
Globally, 63.8% of the population uses some form of social media, and over 300 million users are located in the United States alone. While it would be nearly impossible to engage with every single user, there’s an immense opportunity to reach potential buyers — even those who may not know they’re interested in a specialty vehicle until they see your content!
Through social media, you can cultivate a strong community of followers who are eager to stay up to date with your dealership’s information such as new arrivals or limited-time deals. Furthermore, when your account is public, users who don’t directly follow your profile can engage with your content, helping new customers find your business and hopefully sparking their interest in your vehicles and services.
Businesses can post multiple forms of media on their accounts, including images, videos, articles, and more. With the option to try different content, you can figure out what works best for your dealership, and what your followers typically like to see from you.
Additionally, you can choose whether to use organic content, paid content, or a mix of both. Organic media is content you don’t spend money on to promote. Paid media is content you can promote more heavily by allocating money to boost the post. While organic posts only cost you time and energy, paid media can yield better results.
On many platforms, you can target your desired audience more closely by inputting specific criteria on their demographics, interests, and behaviors. By narrowing your target audience down, you’re more likely to reach individuals interested in the content you share and, ultimately, increase your engagement rates. For example, a marine dealer can add hashtags like #watersports and #recreationalboating to their posts to reach people who like to boat, ride jet skis, participate in watersports, and more.
It’s extremely easy to engage with content on social media platforms. Users only have to tap their fingers to like, comment, share, reply, and more. And with every engagement, you’ll be notified of the activity, allowing you to see who’s interacting with your content and determine if it requires any follow-up action. Additionally, the more traction your posts receive, the more people the algorithms push the content out to. In other words, more engagement equals more engagement!
Last, but certainly not least, social media advertising can be extremely low-cost. Creating a business profile on platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok is free, and you can post as much content as you want, whenever you want. While there are certain paid features, you can keep the cost of social media advertising as low or as high as you’d like.
Having a complete profile helps enhance your brand’s professionalism and trustworthiness. Be intentional and consistent. Use your logo as your profile picture and double-check that your contact information is visible and accurate across all platforms.
To stay on top of posting content consistently, hold brainstorming sessions with your team to foster collaboration and creativity. You never know what great ideas and insights others might have!
Maintaining a calendar with an outline of what you’re posting and when will help you remain organized and make sure content doesn’t end up on the back burner.
Many platforms have built-in analytical capabilities. Although some of these features may cost extra, having insight into how many views, likes, comments, shares, etc. you receive on each post can be helpful. By identifying which content performs best, you can determine which areas to focus on, crafting an effective social media strategy for your dealership.
User-generated content (UGC) is any content created by a consumer that promotes a business or its products, often without any affiliation or compensation from the company. You can enhance your presence on social media by encouraging your customers to share their positive experiences with your dealership or new RV online. In addition, you can repost and share their content to your own platforms, continuing to build your profiles and connect with customers post-purchase. The more positive UGC your customers post, the more credible your brand will be to new buyers.
Influencer culture has been around since the origin of social media. However, it has evolved over time to include people who were already celebrities to public figures who gained popularity on the platforms themselves. This form of social media advertising can be especially effective because many consumers view influencers as reliable. In fact, 69% of consumers trust recommendations from influencers more than the brand itself.
Today, organizations are working with celebrities to boost awareness for their respective industries, products, and services. For example, Go RVing collaborated with three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White to show how RV trips are suited for adventure-loving individuals.
Now remember, you don’t have to partner with as popular a celebrity as Shaun White. While larger brands often partner with more well-known, A-list celebrities, plenty of smaller organizations reach out to nano- and micro-influencers — individuals with 1,000–10,000 or 10,000–100,000 social media followers, respectively. These content creators can spread more awareness of your dealership and drive additional customers to your doors.
With billions of social media users online and ready to engage with businesses, your dealership has an incredible opportunity to connect with new specialty vehicle buyers. By understanding what makes social media advertising so effective and strategically using your platforms, you can harness its power to attract greater success.