In a world where the Internet is at everyone’s fingertips and auto research can produce hundreds of results in a second for interested buyers, the goal of marketing your auto dealership should be about providing the most useful, detailed information about your cars, products and services to the potential consumer.
The first step in doing so would be to maximize your SEO for your dealership. Secondly, whenever possible drive online traffic back to your website. By becoming a resource for car buyers you establish a trusted relationship with the researcher and potential purchaser by providing helpful information. From there the obvious goal is to facilitate a car purchase.
How do you first grab their attention to establish yourself as the trusted resource and bring them back to your website for more serious buying potential?
Best inbound marketing practices provide proven, cost-effective marketing tactics. Inbound marketing tactics to attract new visitors to your site generally include blogging and using social media.
Want to learn more about how to leverage social media and inbound marketing tactics to generate more businesses? Click the link below:
The fastest growing social media site on the web is Pinterest with almost double-digit percentage growth monthly. Here is a key statistic that you should know: Pinterest is the fourth greatest driver of traffic to other websites. In January of 2012, Pinterest facilitated almost 3.6 percent of online referrals, which was more than Youtube, Google+ and Reddit combined, according to SearchEngineWatch.com.
How do you drive traffic to websites if you’re a dealership? Well for each image of a car or dealership related photo you post, you can directly link the image back to your site and if your images are shared by other Pinterest accounts, the possibility for more traffic to your website increases by default.
For auto dealerships, this presents an enormous opportunity to grab consumer interest. Pinterest is quickly becoming a cultural touchstone that your dealership needs to be using to gain referrals.
Pinterest is not set up to be a commercial site, so there are some guidelines that you should follow when establishing your dealership there.
Shared interests—Pinterest is about finding common interests and developing them. While other social networks may be more robust in terms of dialogue, Pinterest is more of a visual banquet that enables visitors to explore the specific topics that interest them. For most auto dealerships, Pinterest should be viewed as a site to post pictures that spark curiosity or heighten enthusiasm about their vehicles or the dealership.
Nurture enthusiasm—Know your consumers. If your auto dealership caters to vintage car enthusiasts, be sure to post a substantial number of pictures to attract them to your Pinterest site. If your auto dealership specializes in the latest models of luxury sports cars, be sure to include a gallery of the hottest selling models. Almost 60 percent of Pinterest visitors are women, so you may want to emphasize cars that appeal to mothers or high-powered working women, according to PCDigitalMarketing.com.
Aesthetics—As primarily a visual medium, Pinterest rewards users who post visually stunning pictures. While users can provide textual information and videos, the key to grabbing visitors’ interest is presenting aesthetically satisfying imagery. Once the visitor decides to explore your pins, you can present information that is more commercial in nature.
Post pictures on your website—Pinterest images utilize the URLs of photos, so visitors who click on the image can visit the original site. That is why it is so important to use images that originate from your auto dealership website. Once a visitor is on your website, you can present all of the purchasing information necessary to augment buyer enthusiasm.
Follow others—Like all social networks, following others within your area of interest also encourages them to follow you. This reciprocation expands your network of potential consumers and helps you discover new markets you may have been unaware of.
