I have been selling cars for almost ten years. I have been through numerous training sessions on how to sell a car. Ask anyone in the automotive industry and they will tell you the same thing. Between manufacturers, "sales Gurus", heck even our Human resources rep has at least two training sessions with us a year. The question that I always leave with is how can I use this for the benefit of my customer. Or in my head I pretend I am the customer and ask what will this guy's training do for me.
That brings me to the point of this post. Social media is the cool name for it. It consists (but not limited to) Facebook, myspace, Twitter, linkedin,I could go on and on. So what does Facebook or any of these others do for you, the consumer? Why are dealerships spending hours of precious time developing blogs, and fanpages? The simple answer is to engage you. It is our feeling that if you like me enough and I offer you a connection to my dealership there is no need to go anywhere else. If I make us more "human". It hopefully takes out the bad stigma car dealerships sometimes have. Im reminded of that sleezy car sales guy portrayed in any tv show. I certainly hope that I am not percieved to be that guy!
I could go into all the ins and outs in Social media, but thats not what I want to do. I just wanted to tell you what it does for you, and how you the consumer can use it. I want to let you know what is does for me. Having you engage us is what it does for me. That's what Social media is all about. Its about you having a friend here,and me having an advocate in you out there. It's about us engaging into a nonconfrontational relationship that can be built and last a long time, and all it costs is time. I look forward to seeing you post on our fanpage, because the last piece of this is that Social media gives you a voice. Whether its a complaint about the lot guy scratching your car ,or a glowing review of how well we treat you. You have a voice and it is very effective.
My favorite of the "Social Media" is Facebook. In my opinion it is the easiest for anyone to use, and the huge numbers of people with facebook pages back that assumption up. Our Facebook fan page has been a moderate success. We have the most fans of any dealership in the area. I believe it is only because we use it. It is here where i ask you to go to the link here again and become a fan of us too. You will get to see pics of happy customers, (maybe yourself?). I also put info about upcoming models, info you wont get anywhere else! Last month to the chagrin of my service department I offered a $5 oil change! But, you have to be a fan of us to get the benefits. You have to engage us.
Social media is here to stay. My only wish is that I use it to help you more. From giving advice on tire pressure, to purchasing your dream car. Thats what it will do for you.
Comments
I see really great Facebook apps that are meant for creating coupons. Do you have your visitors print out a coupon or just mention they saw it on Facebook. Be nice to have some tracking data to show the big cheese upstairs.