When you’re running a busy dealership, you don’t always (if ever) have time to perfectly plan, create and post highly engaging social media content.
The majority of dealers find it difficult to post as much as once or twice in a week on their social media accounts.
You may have heard that if you have time to browse on social media, you have time to post, but good-quality content is not something that can be generated quickly out of thin air. However, social media browsing can help you generate lead-driving content through a strategy known as social media curation.
The purpose of social media curation is to post effective content without creating every idea, message and graphic from the ground up. To do this, you can supplement your content by searching out materials from reputable sources. These can include infographics, news, articles, videos and more from industry and community leaders, who have a wide network of resources to provide relevant and engaging materials made specifically for the tire and auto industry.
Social Media Listening
In order to leverage social media curation, you need to implement a good social listening plan to help you discover content that aligns with your dealership. This content can come from manufacturers and distributors of the tire brands you carry, as well as any other industry thought leaders that your competitors and customers may be following. Additionally, you may find that your local news outlets reference the tire industry now and then. By taking a few minutes each day to follow up on relevant pages, you can find materials worth re-sharing on your own accounts.
When in need of inspiration, you can check up on your competitors’ content. While you don’t want to post the same information as the next tire shop down the street, you can get an idea of what the competition is posting – and how shoppers are reacting. This is crucial feedback you can apply to your own social media plan.
Build Credibility & Community
When you reshare content from thought leaders and well-known brands, you can demonstrate your in-depth understanding of the tire and auto industry and prove that you are in tune with the latest news and developments. It shows you aren’t solely focused on promoting your own store – you want to provide your shoppers with credible information. Resharing content, when done properly, also helps build community ties with thought leaders. Be sure to tag the original poster (ie, manufacturer, etc.) and give credit in your posts. This is not just a common courtesy – it also makes your posts visible to that page’s audience and could encourage the original poster to “like” and comment on your post.
Everything in Moderation
Social media curation is a great way to generate good-quality content with minimal time and effort for your team. Just be sure to not overdo it. Flooding your followers’ newsfeeds with multiple shared posts per day could turn off some people and cause them to unfollow you. We recommend limiting your Facebook posts to a maximum of twice per day and Tweets to five posts per day.
You also don’t want to rely solely on resharing content. Be sure to insert your own unique content here and there to keep followers engaged with your specific brand. Personalized posts such as sales promos, images of happy customers and maybe the occasional employee highlight can help you establish a memorable digital voice.
If you don’t have sufficient time to engage in social media curation, feel free to connect with ARI today. Our team of digital marketing experts can help you discover, create and post the type of content that drives your business goals forward.
