how to double your leads using social media
TRANSCRIPT
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successful
SOCIAL MEDIAsecrets
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CRAFTING A HYPER SUCCESSFULSOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Welcome to the fifth and final of five content marketing guides for the automotive industry, from industry experts GoldSand Digital. Content Marketing is in our blood, and we’re passionate about sharing best practice so we thought we’d share a few of our favourite aspects in these short, informative guides.
This guide should give you an expert grounding in online advertising, and how to get to know your customers better.
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GETTING SOCIAL
The comments sections of popular websites like Facebook and YouTube can be an intimidating place. From the baffling claims of conspiracy theorists, through the xOx almsot // unredabl xOx, to the murky world of internet trolls.
But, in the world of marketing, this is where you’ll
find your gold. If left alone, it’s an untapped mine of customer opinions – those same opinions that should be shaping everything you do.
Let’s take a look at a few places to gauge your audience, and what you can learn for your own social media campaign.
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Facebook comments are a great way to research what’s working, and also to identify some key challenges in your market.
Your brand’s Facebook page will post information and adverts for all of its products and services. Now, if there’s a new car advert with over 100 comments – have a think as to why. What’s the offer, what do people like or want?
WHAT’S HOT…
It’s also useful to gauge what you personally respond to on companies’ Facebook pages. Even the most unrelated video of a cute cat dressed in star wars costumes (that one you’ll have to Google for yourself) can warm users to a brand’s Facebook, increase interaction, and develop great customer relationships. If you like it, it works.
Also think about why you’re watching that video over millions of others - headlines, keywords, shares and promoted posts all help to make posts grab our
attention. What is that grabbed yours? It’s likely it will grab someone else’s, make sure it’s being used for your marketing.
…AND WHAT’S NOT
Be careful, though. You don’t want your Facebook page to be somewhere that makes people giggle, only to do their serious buying elsewhere. Including fun updates helps give your social media a personality, and encourages people to return. But, make sure you keep your offers and ads in there. Also, don’t forget to include stories and insights from inside your dealership.
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Reddit is the fastest growing site of its kind on the internet. If you haven’t heard of it, take note – its popular AMA (ask me anything) sessions have hosted people ranging from Keanu Reeves to Barack Obama, and a number of influential figures hold its r/politics and r/worldnews pages as a primary news source.
Now, we’re not saying that you should take up a marketing strategy across Reddit (its sponsored links and ads play a very small part in the running of the site) but the way in which it works casts a valuable light on the thoughts and opinions of your target market.
WHAT IS IT?
Reddit, unlike Twitter, is not a minute-by-minute stream, and nor is it a curated list of articles. It falls somewhere in between. Subjects are divided into sections (or, ‘subreddits’) on just about any conceivable topic. Users who like a post or think it important or relevant, can ‘upvote’. Users that dislike or disagree with a post can ‘downvote’. Posts with the most upvotes rise to the top.
It’s that simple. And you can use it to see what users are interested in, what they’re talking about, and why.
What you have is millions of recent stories, chosen on the basis of subject line, topic, and content – rated by your target market! It’s what is working online right now to grab attention, get likes and make a mark.
WORD OF MOUTH
Take a look at what people think of your brand’s latest models – type in ‘reddit.com/r/’ followed by the name of your brand to visit its ‘subreddit’.
Take a look at the comments attached to each post – also sorted by popularity.
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Twitter is already widely used by dealerships, but there are a few untapped ways to find out about your customer base.
Firstly, Lists. If you’re not using Twitter Lists, you are in for a treat. Lists in their basic form are collections of specific users – simply choose the accounts, and click the list to see only tweets from those users.
Then come hashtags. They work, certainly, but maybe not how you think they do. Creating a viral buzz or getting yourself trending is, sadly, extremely unlikely.
That’s just the way it goes. But why try and take on the world?
The most useful way to use hashtags is to cater to Twitter’s search function. When people are searching for queries, recent hashtags are one of the main criteria considered.
This means you may rank highly in high value search terms, and be exposed to a range of new users.
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PROMOTE YOUR ADS
Ads are for generating direct revenue. They are expensive, and certainly can be time consuming.
Perhaps all true, but what’s also unavoidable is that ads, especially on social media, are an incredible way to reach a very targeted and relevant audience who can become part of your connected community.
Within Facebook, whenever you create a new post, you can give it a boost.
Read more in our guide to Facebook advertising. By promoting your ads, you can target an audience outside of your existing likes and subscriptions, to help promote your offers and relevant posts.
The advantages with this type of advertising are twofold – firstly, it is a very quick and cheap way to test an offer; and secondly you can target it to very small and specific demographics.
Then you decide your payment method (cost per impressions or cost per click), and your budget. That’s when the cool stuff happens.
You get to decide exactly who sees it. Using the demographics that best fit your offers, select who your audience will be, then add as many additional criteria as you think are relevant. It’s best to ensure you have an audience of at least 10 to 20k, then how long you want the ad to run for – three to four days is enough.
The kicker is that as well as exposure you also get fantastic statistics based on likes, reach and traffic from your ad, helping you identify exactly how successful your ad has been. What’s more, by adding a tracking code to your landing page you can create an ROI calculation too.
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For help with your content marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch with GoldSand Digital on 0203 598 2782, or email [email protected]
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