From the Editors

Spend minutes on social media to watch potential customer list grow

While sitting through social media seminars and talking to dealers at Powersports Business’ Profit Xcelerator last fall, I kept hearing the same excuse from dealers as to why they hadn’t started a Facebook or Twitter page: they don’t have the time.

As an experienced Facebooker and Tweeter, I was surprised at this response. Really, dealers don’t have time to post? Then I started thinking about how stretched my time can be. Sometimes you’re at work, and you think that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. I know many dealers are feeling that way as well, especially in these days when staffs are slimmer for some than they’ve ever been.

The good news is social networking doesn’t take long. Initial page setup may take an investment of a good hour or so, but once it’s ready, posting is simple.

Here’s an example: “Check out our open house this weekend!” That took me about 10 seconds to type. Maybe it takes an extra 10-30 seconds to log on to Facebook, and another 10 to log off. In total, everything could take 30-60 seconds or maybe a couple minutes if you want to include more details, photos or video. Really, it’s that easy.

And industry social media experts I’ve been talking to recently say dealers only have to post a few times a week. So let’s say someone at the dealership spends at most 10 minutes a week posting on Facebook. It might take another 15 minutes to figure out what to write, and maybe 10 minutes to scan the page and respond to any potential customers seeking answers from the dealers. That means in about 35 minutes in a week, your dealership has a quality presence on Facebook. What’s even better is websites such as HootSuite and TweetDeck allow users to post on both Facebook and Twitter at the same time, so no additional time should be required to also have a Twitter presence.

To learn more about how to start engaging with customers and generating leads on Facebook, Twitter and through other sites, check out the upcoming issue of Powersports Business.

Also, if you’re looking to improve your bottom line with social media and in many, many other ways, check out this year’s Profit Xcelerator. Registration is open here.

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