When it comes to social media, it is reasonable to wonder if it is necessary. Ultimately, it is an excellent practice to question everything when it comes to the marketing tactics you use at your dealership. You should never keep using a social media platform or marketing strategy without assessing its worth at some point, and determining if it is adding something to your sales. So, how can you do that? Well, here are some questions to ask yourself and your marketing team to see if a social media platform is still worth investing in for the long-haul.
Why Did You Join in the First Place?
What was the original reason that you decided to have your dealership join a social media platform? Was it because it seemed like the popular thing to do, or because your customers could be better reached there. While the first does happen, the second reason should be why you jumped on. If you did not establish a goal or a solid plan for using social media to reach audiences on the platform, then you need to reassess whether that Pinterest or Instagram account is doing you any good.
Are Your Customers on the Platform?
Ultimately, you want to create tactics that allow you to expand your reach and improve upon the engagement of your audience. If anything is not adding to that goal, then you should think about whether the method is worth it. Start to see where your current and potential buyers are interacting online. Ask if you can take a photo of their car buying experience and tag them on social media as a thank you, or conduct a survey of your past customers to see which platforms they are currently using. You want to be where most of your audience is, and if they are not on your current platforms, think about abandoning them.
What is Your ROI?
Remember ROI? That number that your internal stakeholders intensely care about is still relevant. So, you want to add this calculation to your social media strategy. ROI can be calculated using this formula: (Final Value of Investment/Initial Value of Investment)/Cost of Investment*100. The first two values you should have an idea of, the last one, “cost of investment,” can be challenging to calculate because it is easy to miss expenses.
When you are adding up your costs, you have to include things like software, office supplies used, training, and the cost of having someone handle the management of this platform (calculating hourly time is very helpful here). It requires extensive tracking, but in the end, this process can help you make some critical decisions.
Is Being on the Platform Helping You Meet Your Goals?
If you haven’t already started setting benchmarks for these different platforms, begin doing so as soon as possible. For example, you may want to see a 50 percent increase in clickthroughs from your Facebook platform posts to your inventory website within three months. So, start to track your progress to see if you are meeting this goal.
At the end of the three months, even if you do not see the exact numbers you want, you should see some progress. If these goals are not met (or close to being met), then you need to reassess if this platform is the place to be putting your efforts. However, the first step in this process is to establish clear and reasonable goals, and the quicker you do that, the more information you will have to make an informed decision.
Final Thoughts
You and your team have a lot to manage. From driving sales to ensuring potential car buyers want to come back to see you, there are many moving parts. As a result, it is crucial to see if any of your efforts can be tweaked for efficiency. Social media is one of the places where you can start this process. It is so tempting to make an account for each platform, but the time and money it takes to be successful on both can be a challenge. So, make sure you are seeing ROI and are meeting your goals because it may not be in your dealership’s best interest to be on every platform.
