Social Media is now the platform of choice for many of our clients, and their dealership networks, to harness the opportunity to build closer relationships with their local communities. Doing so supports the consideration and sales process and drives recommendations of their products and services back into their businesses. It’s my job to make sure that GForces is on hand to aid our clients in doing this successfully!
With a staggering 92% of consumers saying that they trust earned media (media created by consumers) – such as social media, word of mouth, recommendation from friends and family – above all other forms of advertising, now is the time to really consider and optimise socially. (Nielsen)
A number of our clients utilise our social engagement package to help promote their businesses to consumers who are increasingly ‘social’. We speak directly to individuals, whether they are engaging in general conversation, a product enquiry or any number of other queries. Being available to engage via social media helps target the 78% of people whose ultimate purchase is influenced by social media interaction. (Forbes)
Of course, it’s not always possible for a business to remain fully engaged with social media at all times. It’s a demanding and time-consuming exercise that can require a team of staff by itself. Realising this, we can be on hand to provide support, clarified and justified recommendations to help aid automotive businesses in making the most out of each and every social media interaction or paid promotion through deep analysis and insight.
Paid advertising via social media, such as Facebook Ads or promoted tweets, can be highly impactful for a business. GForces’ social media teams can work with clients to devise and structure highly-impactful brand awareness and offer promotions via the most utilised social media platforms. Forming a crucial element of a modern Total Digital Marketing strategy, these have been successful in driving literally thousands of pounds worth of business towards a retailer, simultaneously raising their profile and fan base. One client realised over £5,000 in revenue from a targeted offer campaign that cost less than £500, for example.
Of course, any business needs to justify its social presence and this is a notoriously difficult task with numerous commentators suggesting (and potentially failing) to quantify social impact. In reality, there are now advanced analytics built into platforms like Facebook, and whilst it’s almost never going to be possible to assign return on investment from social media, engagement, ‘likes’, followers, reach and impressions can all be reported back to give an overview of the implicit brand advertising that social media creates.
We gather all of this information, do the number crunching and can provide clients a detailed overview of how each social platform is performing, including what is working and what needs changing.
For an overview of how social media can have an impact on your business, take a look at our latest video:
As the Social Media marketing lead I have monitored and produced many social media strategies for a range of our clients. Although the social media video covers a lot of the basics and best practice examples my top tips are as follows:
- Research your competitors – see what they are doing well. Learn from their mistakes, spot what they are missing
- Know your audience! Understand that the demographic of the community will help determine the content that will be engaging and relevant to them
- It doesn’t stop there – just uploading content is not enough, in fact it is just the start. You need to monitor all interaction and engage with it quickly and effectively
- Promote engagement through posts which ask for an opinion, idea or any other form of response. The most successful automotive businesses on social platforms do this regularly
- Have a personality – social media is full of businesses posing similar things or being overtly self-promoting. Being funny, interesting and engaging improves the likelihood of interaction
- Utilise apps – Facebook, for example, allows you to use applications to engage with your fan base, and to get your staff to do likewise.
Do these simple things and you have the makings of social success. Of course, if you want to know more about what GForces can offer, just get in contact!
