While all automobile manufacturers are already pushing their brands very aggressively to customers on Instagram, leading car dealers are not willing to be left behind in the race.
We have recently published an article about Instagram accounts to follow to remain fit during this global pandemic.
In every industry, Instagram for business is the norm in today’s world. That’s why automobile dealers don’t want to miss the digital opportunity.
Yes, they also want to grab eyeballs and push sales to the young and the affluent target audience that typically represent the most lucrative market segment for auto sales.
Some practical tips for auto dealerships for leveraging the power of Instagram and carve an identity for them:
Think Visuals
In sharp contrast to other channels, Instagram is completely visually oriented with still photos and videos being the principal content form.
The result is that users tend to be quite discerning regarding the quality and relevance of the images.
Photos that typically pass muster on other social media like Twitter or Facebook may not get the same attention that marketers expect to get.
Also, marketers need to remember that the demographics of the users are skewed towards the young who tend to appreciate more creativity in the composition of the visuals than the older target audience.
While the focus may be on the quality and context of the Instagram visuals, auto dealers will do well not to ignore the power of photo captions.
According to Socialmediaexaminer.com, while a strong visual will serve to attract attention, by itself it will not drive the required conversions.
A well-written photo caption containing a powerful message along with a compelling CTA will tend to achieve much more than content without the supporting narrations.
Get to Understand What Clicks with Followers
While a car dealer will know all the features and special attractions of the models he is selling, it is also vital to understand the expectations and aspirations of your potential customers.
Before developing and launching a marketing campaign on Instagram, you should understand the way your target audience typically behaves.
You can get a good idea by following the leading car manufacturers and dealers on Instagram and finding out what kind of posts achieve the maximum resonance.
You will also be able to know how frequently the successful players in your sector are posting content, the time of the day they are publishing, the tone of the language in the captions.
You can also use some tools to research the most commonly used hashtags and see if you can customize them to your benefit.
Figure Out the Objectives of Your Instagram Marketing Campaign
While the ultimate aim of having a social media presence may be driving sales for your auto dealership, it can be more effective to understand and define what you want your Instagram marketing campaign to achieve.
A complementary goal could be to increase the awareness of your dealership among the target audience by boosting the number of followers and raising the level of engagement so that your credibility and reputation improve.
You could also be looking to promote specific brands or publicize promotions and events.
According to experts, regardless of what your goal is, you should ensure that they are specific and can be attained as well as measurable, relevant, and for a predefined time so that you will be able to know whether you have been successful or not.
Decide on the Narrative of Your Posts and Buy Likes on Instagram to Boost Engagement
Even though you need to post varied content to keep the interest of your followers high, you cannot decide on the content arbitrarily.
You should decide beforehand what you want your followers to see and whether it matches with the story you want to tell them.
Broadly speaking, there are three types of posts; inspirational, product, and culture.
Inspirational posts are a big hit on Instagram so it is worthwhile using them to focus attention on your dealership account.
You can post some valuable quotes from luminaries in your industry along with their photos or even some homegrown philosophical posts that you are sure your followers will like.
Since you are out to sell your cars, you should not lose any opportunity to showcase the models available with you.
Use a combination of professionally shot and edited stills and videos with narrations or captions highlighting their special features and prices.
The third kind of posts, followers find appealing are culture posts that reflect the company culture, the bonhomie among employees, satisfied customers, and special events that show off employees or even customers having a field day enjoying themselves.
Engagement rates become meaningful only when there is a critical mass, so you can buy likes on Instagram posts to create the initial buzz that can then yield a snowball effect.
Conclusion
Use your Instagram marketing strategy to create a distinctive identity for yourself among your target audience.
This will help them to differentiate between your posts and the posts published by the manufacturers.
It is important not to get confused with a car manufacturer but get across the idea that you are a dealer who can provide a variety of products and services to customers.