Even Carmakers Struggle with Social Media Formula

Piecing together the social media puzzle (Image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Years ago a great mentor taught me the value of copying and adapting the best practices of larger, successful companies when we lacked resources or experience, whether it related to research, management, logistics, or especially MARKETING. That lesson continues to ring true in the internet age, as techniques for maximizing social media, SEO, and lead generation seem to change on a weekly basis. If you are still trying to piece together the puzzle pieces of these technologies, you aren’t alone. After all, unless you are Justin Bieber, Christina Aguilera, or Miley Cyrus, people probably aren’t hanging on every word you post to Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In an Automotive News interview about the pending launch of the new Accord, Honda Vice President of Marketing, Mike Accavitti, explained that even mighty Honda is working to fully understand social media.

“People don’t want corporate stuff jammed down their throats,” he explains. He goes on to say that “it’s very early in the process to understand what the long-term benefit is, and what you can influence.” In fact, Honda is just now creating a social media position. According to Accavitti, they still see ROI value in advertising on Facebook, even though GM axed their investment there.

Maximizing this new media may be a work in progress, so the best bet is to follow the classic K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, silly) formula. Search Engine Journal has five simple tips for improving your social media presence:

• 1. Check in at increments – pace your posts / Tweets
• 2. Schedule tweets in advance – unless there is urgent content
• 3. Focus on the most important tweets – keep topics relevant to your industry
• 4. Segment your social media universe – don’t mix personal and business messages
• 5. Multitask when you can, but don’t repeat (overlap) updates – send richer content to Facebook

Our CarChat24 team is in contact with hundreds of dealers a week, which gives us a collective view of the marketing strategies that may or may not be effective for our dealer partners. While we certainly believe an effective interactive chat program like ours is an integral part of a dealership’s web presence, it is only one piece of the digital marketing puzzle.