How to Use Social Media to Sell Your Car
August 25, 2011 by Maurina
Car dealerships, like all businesses, are taking advantage of the awe-inspiring powers of social networking. Online services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn help these dealerships interact with a new and broad customer base for free, so it’s a no-brainer for small businesses when it comes to using social media platforms.
Courtesy of: http://burnseo.com
But what about you? Can networking online help you sell your car?
Absolutely. Even if you only advertise to your current circle of online contacts, you’re still reaching out to more people than you normally would and interacting with them in a way a phone conversation never could. Social media sites are great word-of-mouth spreaders, too, and addressing strangers in a public forum will increase the trust factor.
So how do you start your sales campaign? Read four important “do’s” to see how to sell your car through social media.
Do Use a Personal Profile Pic
People like to see the person doing the posting or tweeting, so use a photo of yourself for your profile picture. As a user with a mission, you might think it’s a good idea to upload a picture of the car you’re selling for your profile picture instead. Don’t. People won’t as readily recognize your updates, or they might think that you just bought a new car and are trying to show off its sweetness to everyone online.
You definitely should post pictures of the car you’re selling, just not as your default image. Create a new album on Facebook and title it “CAR FOR SALE” along with your cell number or email address. Include pictures of the car’s exterior and interior, and write captions for every picture that detail car’s make, model, year, color, etc. It’s a good idea to start the album with only a few photos, adding new ones every other day. That way, photos will pop up several times on other people’s Mini Feeds instead of just all at once. Mental notes will be taken.
Do Advertise…with Taste
If you’re going to sell online, do it right. Don’t just post pictures, post updates about the car and make sure that you include your contact information. Message people. Create an event or a fan page and invite all of your contacts. Message fans every so often to get them interested. Tweet that you’re selling your car.
Go at it…while keeping one huge “don’t” in mind:
Don’t be annoying.
Don’t bombard your friends with a million invites, messages, posts and tweets all at once. Stagger them. And don’t focus solely on advertising, either; try to follow the 80/20 rule, tweeting or posting as you normally would 80 percent of the time, and advertising your car 20 percent of the time. Your goal is to pique your followers’ attention, not to aggravate them.
Do Keep Your Customer Satisfied
And finally, remember that your potential online buyers don’t care about the fact that you’re selling your car. They care that they need to buy a car. Cater to them by using language that talks about your car’s best features or selling points. Offer them a deal if they contact you and tell you they heard about the sale on Facebook. Think like a buyer and structure all of your social networking efforts around that mindset.
Follow these “do’s” and you’ll be selling your car over social media in no time
Category: Fun Stuff, How To, Social Media, Used Cars Online
Comments
5 Responses to “How to Use Social Media to Sell Your Car”
finally, remember that your potential online buyers don’t care about the fact that you’re selling your car. They care that they need to buy a car. Cater to them by using language that talks about your car’s best features or selling points. Offer them a deal if they contact you and tell you they heard about the sale on Facebook. Think like a buyer and structure all of your social networking efforts around that mindset.
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finally, remember that your potential online buyers don’t care about the fact that you’re selling your car. They care that they need to buy a car. Cater to them by using language that talks about your car’s best features or selling points. Offer them a deal if they contact you and tell you they heard about the sale on Facebook. Think like a buyer and structure all of your social networking efforts around that mindset.
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orchid
Hello,
nice blog for used car dealers
Can you add we do link exchange. I wan to gather all used car dealer as community of car enthusiast.
cheers!
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Hi Ruth,
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Maurina Venturelli
Social Media Manager, UsedCars.com