Over the last decade we have seen a huge change in the automotive industry with a shift towards online marketing and business practices. This starts with something simple like a business website but more recently it’s extended to include social media platforms too.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Tik Tok in some instances are proving to be invaluable for automotive companies such as garages and car dealerships. Automotive companies are tapping into the immense potential that social media has and reaping the benefits.
This all sounds fantastic, right? But you’re now thinking, well I haven’t a clue why social media is beneficial for my business! Don’t worry – let us do the thinking and read on to learn about five of the main benefits of social media for the automotive industry.
1. It helps companies understand their customer’s needs
- It can be difficult to really know what your customers are looking for and communicate with them on a one-to-one level using traditional methods. There just isn’t that level of interaction on a website for example, and telephone calls can be difficult at the best of times. Social media gives automotive companies one-to-one communication and the ability to really delve into their customer’s needs. You can reply to their comments and read their thoughts and see exactly what they want. This gives you the opportunity to offer more bespoke services which is something that can help your automotive business stand out from the competition.
2. It gives new potential sales avenues
Sales avenues for the automotive industry are typical via company websites, online stores, and physical interactions like at a car garage or dealership.
Social media opens up another potential avenue for sales and another way that customers can get in touch. You can do something simple like adding links to your services and website in your social media posts.
However you can take it one step further as some platforms allow for direct selling and this could be ideal for things like car services and repairs. The more online content you have, the more people can potentially enquire about your services and take the next step and social media facilitates this.
3. It can be used for customer service
Many companies in the automotive industry are now using Twitter and other social media platforms as an additional avenue for customer service.
Some larger businesses have even created dedicated Twitter profiles purely for customer support instead of traditional methods like email support tickets.
You can use your social media platforms to make sure your customer’s questions are answered and that they have everything they need relating to your business and its services.
If you do use your social media profiles for customer support you HAVE to be active and reply to everything though good and bad. There is literally no point doing this and ignoring your customer’s questions as this is a surefire way to damage your reputation and undo your hard work.
4. Brand Awareness can Improve Exponentially
Every automotive business wants amazing brand awareness and this is something social media helps with. You want people to immediately think of your company when they want a new car, or to get their vehicle serviced for example.
This kind of brand awareness and power is something that all major businesses have and social media can help you create the same effect.
The more you post on social media platforms, the more your automotive company sticks in people’s minds. Every time they see a photo from your Instagram page they are reminded you exist. Every time they see one of your Facebook ads your company name and logo become imprinted into their brain – can you see the effect? This is only magnified merely by the amount of time the average human spends on social media daily!
5. Content marketing is great for SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a must-have process for your automotive website whether it’s a car dealership, online store, or a simple information site.
This is the process of improving your online content relating to specific keywords so that your site is more visible on search engines like Google. Better SEO means higher rankings which means more clicks and customers – easy.
Part of automotive SEO services includes social media and content marketing. This is essentially useful information that your customers can benefit from like help articles, and new car releases, etc. Your social media posts should contain useful information that customers will want to read and posting stuff like this ultimately makes Google happy.
Take Your Marketing to the Next Level Using Social Media
There really isn’t any downside to using social media for your automotive business as the platforms are free to use and you don’t need immense marketing knowledge to make it work.
Just make sure that you post consistently and consider the different benefits the platforms provide in relation to your business. The end goal is to have a thriving social media presence that naturally boosts your brand awareness and gives customers a positive impression of your automotive company.
Joshua George is the founder of ClickSlice, an SEO Agency based in London, UK.
He has eight years of experience as an SEO Consultant and was recently hired by the UK government for SEO training. Joshua also owns the best-selling SEO course on Udemy, and has taught SEO to over 100,000 students.
His work has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, AgencyAnalytics, Wix and lots more other reputable publications.
