Auto Dealer Marketing For Social Media: How To and Why

A lot of brick and mortar businesses think that they don’t have to worry about search engine optimization or social media, especially when they sell a product that someone can’t just order online. 

Car dealerships fall into this category. It makes sense, too, because the connection between search engine rankings and auto dealerships wasn’t very intuitive until recently. Unfortunately, your auto dealer marketing has to change if you want to keep up.

Think about it, what do you do before you make any large purchase? Unless you’re unlike most people, you probably do a Google search to see what’s available in your area. We’ll explain why that’s important.

Why Your Auto Dealer Marketing Needs to Change

When you pull up those search results, which pages do you really look at? Do you scroll to the bottom of the page and start there? Do you go back a few search pages and see what’s available on page 5?

Nope, you look at the first two or three results and probably click one of them. Most people do, and that’s why it’s so important to be one of those top results. 

Even if a person has seen the sign to your dealership a million times, they’re going to check out the area online and see what they could potentially buy. In order to be in those top coveted search engine results, you’re going to have to employ some SEO.

We’ve got some expert tips on making your site look good for the search engines, hopefully getting you into the top of the search results in your area. It turns out that a lot of what you need to do in order to rank and see a boost in sales is work on your social media efforts.

1. Market on Social Media

While social media platforms aren’t measured as ranking factors for search engine algorithms, social media has an indirect effect on your rankings.

This effect can be split up into two categories: awareness and site traffic.

Awareness

Marketing your dealership on Facebook is going to yield some serious results.

Social media platforms allow you to place ads in front of very specific demographics. Because these platforms catalog personal information, that information can be used from an ad perspective to place the most relevant content in front of users. 

So, you have the potential to put your ad in front of people from your area of a specific age and gender. There are more particulars that you can get into if you’d like, but the point is that your advertisements will be put in front of only your target audience. 

As your ads and social media efforts start to take root, you’ll see a large following from your geographical location. When this happens, the content that you create will be seen and shared, spreading your brand awareness far and wide. 

Content is its own animal, though, and it plays directly into the next category.

Traffic

Social media can serve as a tool to funnel traffic to your actual web page. The key here is creating regular content that users actually want to engage with. 

You should be creating blog content for your web page and posting it every day, if not every other day. Posting to your social media allows your followers to see and engage with content, in addition to sharing it and showing their entire pool of friends what your brand has to offer. 

This works in favor of your search results because blog posts and articles that are shared to your social media platform direct users back to your actual site. We’ve all experienced this; you click an interesting article in the feed and are directed to the source page of that article. 

When users arrive, they’re likely to click around a little bit and engage with your site. If you’re lucky, they’ll move on to make purchases or subscribe to newsletters, etc. Once your users have engaged, it’s important to learn more about reaching out to them.

All of that activity is, in one way or another, charted by search engines. The algorithm values sites that people engage with, and posting regularly on social media gives users the chance to engage.

2. Keep Your Goals in Mind

SEO doesn’t come with a direct formula for all sites to follow. You can tailor your optimization efforts to achieve whatever your brand’s goal is. 

This means it can get very specific, and you have to do some thinking about what your goals are and how to achieve them. Generally speaking, though, brands find themselves wanting awareness, traffic, or sales.

If you’re looking for awareness, your efforts should be geared toward cultivating social signals (likes, comments, follows, shares) and generating a buzz that boosts your social media presence. The call to action of your content will generally be asking for a like or a share, or some other metric used to boost popularity. 

When trying to direct traffic back to your site, it’s useful to post carefully researched blog posts that cater to current user keyword searches. Additionally, you should post links to relevant resources or tools on your site. That way, people will become aware of your services in addition to following links to check them out. 

3. Cater to Your Customers

Different demographics conduct different keyword searches, use different language online, and enjoy different content. 

It’s important that you understand who your customers are and not just create bland content that might relate to anybody. Do research to see what your customers are doing online and find ways to fit into their interests. 

Typically, this is going to entail researching the demographics of your town. The 10-20 mile radius around your dealership is going to be the best place to start. 

Think You’ve Got It?

Auto dealer marketing can be tricky, but we’re confident that you can follow the tips above to make a real difference on your site. 

We’ve got more tips and tricks if you need them, though. Visit our site to keep up on everything from auto repairs to SEO tactics.