Social media can be a great tool for selling your stock, each of the various platforms have their own features that can be used to reach a wider audience of potential customers. It’s good to note though, that they tend to have different audiences and their users tend to be expecting different things from their social experience.
Each of the platforms deserves its own article to explain how to get the most from it, but as a primer into the main features and differences between the most popular networks, see below:
Facebook:
In many ways, the social network that started it all. Most car dealerships have been using Facebook for a number of years now to a greater or lesser extent. Facebook frequently brings out new features and removes older ones so it’s a constant learning curve when it comes to keeping on top of best practices. But the main points to note are:
- Predominantly an older audience, the majority of Facebook users are 40+.
- Facebook has the scope for more text and images than are likely to be viewed on the other networks, and also has great tools for sharing video
- Lets you make use of advertising that can target specific locales and demographics.
- Your customers can ask questions directly on your Facebook posts and will often use it as a first means of getting in touch with you
- Facebook can be used to collect reviews from the community.
- We don’t find boosting ads on Facebook to be particularly effective however running network ads for your dealership across Facebook can be very effective.
- Consider enabling Facebook Shop on your Facebook page. It this is something you would like some assistance on please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Instagram:
Owned by Facebook and can be tied together with your Facebook profile allowing you to post once and have it appear on both platforms. It should be noted, that Instagram is primarily a visual medium, people have been known to scroll ad infinitum so you should try and put your most arresting images first, otherwise they can be lost in a customer’s feed.
Instagram reels can be a great way of showcasing a new arrival or any specials you’d like to push.
Instagram also has the benefit of acting as a catalogue of previously sold cars. Your customers can scroll through all your posts giving them a sense of the kind of stock you deal in.
Instagram like Facebook also have a shop facility. If you would like to discuss getting this set up or running network ads across Instagram please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
TikTok
TikTok is the new kid on the block and is where all the cool kids are hanging out. That’s not to say it should be discounted from your social strategy. Those ‘kids’ include a large segment of your current and future markets. The majority of TikTok users fall into the Gen-Z / Millennial brackets, so it may be a good idea to focus on starter cars, finance offers, and leasing.
TikTok is all about video and sound, the audience expects to get a fun, entertaining message so anything too dull will go largely un-noticed.
BMW, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz have all adopted marketing campaigns using TikTok and reported success.
Each of the above social platforms have free and paid features and using a mix of these is generally the best way to get the most out of them. They each use the data they’ve collected on their users to allow for quite targeted advertising, but they all require a bit of experimentation to find out what works best for your brand. If you feel you need any assistance with any of the above channels please feel free to get in touch with us.