IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WON’T COME
Creating a social media page and inviting your friends and family to “Like” or follow it isn’t enough. You have to make the content count to attract more viewers, followers and, ultimately, more customers.
We know from our marketing research that auto enthusiasts are the people who are most likely to buy AMSOIL products. We also know they are valuable and loyal customers. And while you can – and should – look online for places auto enthusiasts frequent (like forums), building a hub that attracts them makes it easier to talk to many people at once instead of one or a few at a time. Customer relationships are important for small businesses and present a huge advantage for AMSOIL Dealers, but simply creating a Facebook page or Twitter account and leaving it dormant isn’t enough to attract new customers. You have to keep them fresh with new and interesting content to get Google hits and become valuable to your followers.
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Each communication platform has its strengths and weaknesses. Social media presents a great way to quickly interact with customers and other people interested in your products or the information you share. Unfortunately, social media is fast and people may not seek out what doesn’t show up in (or what disappears from) their feeds. Blogging, on the other hand, is great for creating long-term traffic; is an invaluable way for potential customers to get to know, like and trust you; and an excellent way to develop your connection with existing customers. It also draws loyal readers who will deliberately seek out your posts. YouTube is a supporting tool that you can use to give your story and content more depth. Because it’s visual, though, it can’t convey topics better covered in writing.
However you choose to communicate with your customers, make sure it counts. Here are some tips to help you maximize your returns on social media:
Get the lay of the land. If you want to make an impact on your followers, you need to know what they’re into. That means you’ll have to do some research to find out what they like to do, read or talk about. Posting things you know your audience is interested in makes a big difference and will help you draw followers.
Don’t focus on business. You don’t have to sell something with each post or video. Just like when meeting new friends, talk to your audience about things that interest them. This encourages your followers to interact with you, which is what social media is all about.
Get the right tools – and post often. AMSOIL Dealers can use a social media manager to manage multiple social media profiles, schedule content and track traffic. Hootsuite is our favorite and offers a free basic account. It also provides free social media courses to help make your efforts count. For blogging and YouTube, create a content calendar to help you plan ahead and stay on schedule. We plan out the AMSOIL Blog three months at a time.
Share, promote and repurpose your content. For every post or video you create, promote or share it in at least three or four different places. Because creating new content can be difficult, make an effort to repurpose your already published content. For example, make a video from a blog post or break a larger post into smaller, more detailed posts. Not only will it give you more content, but as long as you don’t reuse the same text, the new content will help boost your search engine optimization.
Appreciate your community. No matter which communication platform(s) you choose to engage your audience, be sure to show your community and customers that you appreciate them. Sharing a testimonial, simply responding to comments or offering a newsletter that speaks directly to customers or brings them news sooner are all great ways to show your gratitude.
Commit. If you want social media, blogging and YouTube to work for you, you have to post regularly. Posts don’t have to be long, but they should provide content your readers or viewers appreciate.
Be genuine. None of this will do you any good if you aren’t authentic. Be yourself, and don’t overthink it.
Find out more about the AMSOIL Dealer opportunity and start now so you can begin the included free AMSOIL University training!
