How powersports dealerships can create a winning Facebook strategy
Does your Powersports Dealership have a Facebook strategy?
This post will cover how your dealership can implement a winning Facebook strategy. Having a Facebook strategy is a no brainer for any powersports dealership, but knowing how to use it and what results to expect are not as intuitive. Facebook and other social media sites are easy to use, but you need to know how to use it effectively to get results.
What Facebook is NOT
Facebook is not a direct sales tool. Facebook should be used to engage your current and potential customers, not for a constant sales push. Constant sales pitches will alienate your audience, especially consumers who have recently purchased powersports vehicle from you. Manufacturer articles, videos and other pieces of content are intended to engage your audience and start a conversation. More on what is engaging content is below.
What should Powersports dealerships post on Facebook?
A winning Facebook strategy includes content that your customers will want to share. Once that content is shared, friends of friends will see it on their timelines, which gets your brand in front of eyes that may have never been exposed to it before. Your Facebook strategy should also provide a way for consumers to get in contact with you. If your page isn’t managed consistently, consumers won’t engage with you and that is a missed opportunity. It’s suggested not to post on Facebook more than 3 times a day and not within 3 hours of each other.
How to Build Your Facebook Audience with Your Existing Contact List
Facebook has many paid advertising outlets that lets you acquire and generate fans for your page. They also have free ways of growing your audience as well. You can upload a .CSV file of your email contacts directly into Facebook. Those contacts are then presented with a suggestion to like your page. This only works if the email you have is the same email address they used for their Facebook account.
How to upload a contact list to Facebook
- Navigate to your Powersports Dealership Facebook page
- Click the button that has 3 dots
- Choose Suggest Page
- Choose Upload Contacts next to the Contact List File option
- Upload your .CSV file
Your Page may be suggested to your contacts who are on Facebook in places like Recommended Pages. If your email contacts aren’t on Facebook, they won’t see your suggestion. Keep in mind that you can upload contacts up to 5 times for a maximum of 7,000 contacts per day per Page. You can upload a maximum of 5,000 contacts at a time. Now that you have started to build your audience, you’ll need to start engaging them. Give your Facebook page fans a reason to stick around with pieces of engaging content.
Ways Dealerships Can Engage a Facebook Audience
- Contests
- Interesting manufacturer articles and videos
- Behind the scenes photos at your dealership
- Special Events (BBQs, charity events, etc.)
- Ask the Mechanic Live Facebook Chats
- Quick 15 or 30 second videos (These can be taken with a cellphone)
- Special Offers (Once or twice a week at the most. Don’t be sales pitchy!)
- Get to know the staff or staff bios
- Screenshots of positive reviews from Yelp or other social media channels
- Stop selling!
Facebook Strategy for Customer Service
Consumers should feel confident that if they ask a question on your Facebook page that they will get a timely response. Onlookers of your Facebook page can see these interactions and not only receive answers to their questions, but will find comfort knowing that the dealership is responsive to customer service inquiries. This could mean the difference between selling a unit and a missed opportunity because the consumer got the answer they were looking for somewhere else. These tips will help your powersports dealership create a winning Facebook strategy.
Matthew Brown is the founder and currently serves as president and Chief Executive Officer of That’s Us Technologies, Inc. With a background stemming from other successful telecommunications and IT businesses, Matthew founded That’s Us Technologies in 2003 to service the growing online consignment and e-Commerce industries; eventually stemming three divisions that provide software as a service to the Automotive, Retail and Real Estate marketplaces. Matthew is serious about technology and has a unique approach to team building and design. In 1997, Matthew founded CLEC Strategies in Tampa, FL, which continues today as a successful business-to-business consulting firm in the telecom arena. Matthew has been involved in many new ventures over the last 15 years and sits on the board of directors of several other successful technology companies including SOEsoftware.com. To follow Matt, visit him at MatthewBrown.net.
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