Simply put, social media is a powerful tool that can help you grow your dealership. Effective, cost-efficient, measurable, and fast, social media marketing allows you to cultivate lasting relationships with current and new customers. Here are four smart tips to jumpstart your social media marketing strategy.

Build Social Media Communities

The number one goal of any marketing endeavor is to bring more people to a product or service. While posting compelling content that earns likes is all well and good, you really need to encourage interactions by building communities. As humans, we have an instinctive need to be part of groups, places where we can openly express ourselves and share opinions.

Social media communities are filled with members who are eager to help others. When customers post questions, there is a good chance others will respond. Building communities humanizes your dealership and gets people talking about you. Among the benefits for you are insights into customer preferences and increased customer retention and loyalty.

Building an engaged community involves posting content that establishes you as an authority in your field and finding ways for your audience to interact, such as with polls or by posing questions. Also, you will need to engage with other people’s posts in your community. Try to avoid generic comments such as “This is great. Thanks for sharing”. Take the time to write a carefully considered response. Remember, it’s called social for a reason.

Connect with Social Media Influencers

One of the principal benefits of building communities is they allow you to team up with social media influencers. These are people who are advocates for your brand and wield influence online. They’re trusted by their followers, and not only will they share posts about you, but they’ll also engage with their followers or other communities. This is powerful word-of-mouth marketing that gets more people talking about you.

Consider Alternative Platforms

You may already be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, but some segments of your target audience may be elsewhere.  Facebook has been steadily losing users over the last two years. In the third quarter of 2020, its number of daily active users in the US and Canada declined by two million. People are looking to spend their online time with other networks. For example, younger audiences especially are seeking alternative platforms such as TikTok.

You don’t need to maintain a presence on every social media platform under the sun. Pick a handful that best represents your dealership and where its target audience spends time.

Tell Stories

Telling stories is one of the hottest new social media marketing trends. Stories are mobile-friendly, full-screen, videos and images that appear outside of your regular feeds. They are incredibly popular. For example, out of one billion active monthly Instagram users, 500 million use stories daily.

Stories can be anything you want, such as behind-the-scenes videos to give people a glimpse of your dealership. Typically they are the most up-to-date content a company has to share. You can also create live broadcasts and add interactive features such as surveys and poll questions.

The Bottom Line

Social media marketing is a long-term promotional tool and a significant opportunity for office equipment dealers to spread the word about their services and attract new clients. If your dealership would like help managing its social media presence, contact Evolved Office today! Our social media management team is ready to take on the heavy lifting for you.