Automotive Internet Media

social media

4 Ways to Effectively Utilize Paid Social Media Ads to Promote Black Friday Events

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If you have an exciting sale going on for Black Friday an effective way to help spread the word to in-market auto shoppers is through paid social media advertising. Keep reading to learn keys to setting up successful paid social campaigns for events.

1. Identify Your Target Audience(s)

Social Media has become a powerful way to reach consumers because of its abundance of targeting options. Most platforms have the ability to segment by geo, gender, age, interests and more. Many (such as Facebook) will let you upload your own custom audience lists to reach specific platform users. Identifying a key target audience and potentially even a couple sub-audiences will help you use these targeting options efficiently.

2. Make Sure Your Creative is Formatted Properly

You may have a professionally designed poster or newspaper spread for your event that look spectacular. However, on the web that same pieces will appear completely different. It is important to have alternate sizes made for social media in the correct pixel sizes. Also it is ideal to have 20% or less text to be optimized for Facebook. Properly sizing images by placement will prevent logos and text from being cut off and present your event in a professional manner, which will ultimately increase your level of engagement.

3. Consider the Customer Journey

What path will consumers take before they show up at your dealership’s sales event? They may be exposed to some of your other marketing efforts such as print or TV. At what stage of their decision making will they be touched by your social ad? Considering external factors while you are setting up social ad campaigns can help you be strategic. 

4. Don’t Set It and Forget It

Once you have your ad campaigns set up it is important to keep monitoring them. If you leave them running without checking you may miss post comments asking you a question about the sale or the opportunity to reallocate funds from one campaign to a better performing one. Conducting extra optimization and management post-launch will make the campaigns as successful as possible, thus bringing in as many leads and as much foot traffic to you as possible. 

 

A solid paid social media strategy can bring your Black Friday event marketing to the next level. Need social media help? Learn more about our automotive social media services.

The Secret Tools Advertisers Use to Follow You

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The Secret Tools Advertisers Use to Follow You

The Secret Tools Advertisers Use to Follow You

YOU’VE PROBABLY SEEN magicians doing magic tricks and wondered how the hell they do them. The golden rule of magic is to never reveal the secret of the trick or how it’s done. There is simply no benefit or gain in sharing the secret, in fact it kills the magic and you will not be able to perform the effect again.

Advertisers aren’t as disciplined as magicians. It’s easy to learn that most retargeting programs add cookies (tiny snippets of data) to the shoppers’ browser which changes the way the browser interacts with certain pages (websites). This is how they follow you.

Now you know the secret of most advertisers but what you didn’t learn was the secret of highly effective marketing programs like Data Driven Targeting.

The secret is understanding the power of dynamic inventory ads and how it makes static display advertising obsolete. The trick is about integrating dynamic and personalized ads into your marketing strategy. It may sound expensive, but Data Driven Targeting makes dynamic advertising affordable even for car dealerships.

Ultimately, Data Driven Targeting creates a personalized advertising experience for every auto shopper. So instead of everyone who lands on your site seeing the same thing, each individual will see something different depending on how they interacted with your website.  Some shoppers may not even be served ads because our “secret” algorithm indicated they are not in the market for a vehicle. The future lies in marketing where we know enough about each customer to make relevant and custom ads to each shopper.

Of course, as with any unfamiliar trick or technology, learning about methods and implementation can be challenging, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Understanding the benefits and how Data Driven Targeting works is relatively straightforward. To learn the secret of Data Driven Targeting is easy. Just complete the contact us page to schedule a 20-minute demo.

How Millennials and Social Media Platforms are Taking Over the Auto Industry

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It is no secret that in the digital world we live in today social media is taking over many industries. Pretty much everything you can think of buying can be bought online-even cars. Millennials are shifting the auto industry and taking over by social media platforms and for you, that means it might be time to shift.

Integrating online shopping experiences is a critical piece to your traditional marketing, especially in this digital world today. Most purchasing decisions are being made online; but what research has found is that having a website is not enough. Social media is a necessity to help grow sales in the auto industry especially.

About Social Clicks

For those needing an extra boost in the social media area, Social Clicks is right for you. This product delivers scalable inventory based social media campaigns to your direct target audience. Social Clicks will get your business ahead in the social media field and drive traffic to your door.

Benefits of Social Clicks

Increasing your traffic and visibility: Everyone needs more eyes on their inventory and traffic to your website or dealership. With this product, you will get relevant and new auto shoppers to your inventory which will ultimately increase your sales volume.

Advanced targeting: Because of the specific targeting that can be done, you can attract consumers who have an interest in what you are showing them. This is a huge benefit to dealerships on social media.

Increase Engagement and Conversion: Every inventory marketing opportunity on a social media platform is an opportunity for customers to convert. Our style of inventory marketing grabs the customers attention right away and helps guide them through the entirety of the shopping experience.

Stretch your marketing budget: Advertising on social media is not as expensive as other forms of advertising out there. It allows us to track results, laser-target auto shoppers, and use the data to help guide your decisions.

All while conquering the digital world, you will be saving money and stretching your marketing budget. Social media advertising is less expensive than most other digital advertising tactics. It will only get harder and harder for the automotive industry without integrating the buying power of millennials. It’s no question that millennials spend a majority of their time browsing social media and different social channels and because of this they need to be engaged more and more as they go through the buying experience.

3 Reasons Why Classified Sites Still Matter

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3 Reasons Why Classified Sites Still Matter

If I want to check airline ticket prices for a trip I usually start my search on Expedia. I compare flights and prices then go to the airline site and buy the ticket direct. If I’m shopping for some obscure product I usually start at Amazon. Sometimes I buy the product from Amazon. Other times I just use Amazon as a search tool and buy direct from the company’s website.
Multiple studies and stock prices indicate that I’m not alone.
The same is true for car shopping. Today’s sales funnel has arguably evolved over the years but one thing is constant. When the typical auto shopper gets low in the funnel and ready to buy, they shop automotive classified sites.
Automotive classified sites provide consumers a place to shop and compare thousands of vehicles, models, equipment and price. It’s just easier for the consumer.
Many car dealers and their team members believe Autotrader.com and Cars.com are the only sites consumers shop. Sure these two sites have built good brands in the automotive industry but they are by far not the only sites consumers shop. Actually, because of Google’s constant algorithm changes, other sites are becoming increasingly important and relevant.
Advertising only on Autotrader.com or Cars.com is like only advertising on ABC or NBC and ignoring the other 500 plus television channels. The other channels have solid audiences as well. Same with many other automotive classified sites.
Actually, there are a number of automotive classified sites that perform great.
Here are three key reasons that classified sites should be a part of every dealer’s online marketing efforts:
1. Be Everywhere
Inventory distribution to multiple automotive shopping sites allows your vehicles to be promoted to millions of more auto shoppers. Limiting your exposure to only a couple classified sites reduces the chances of a shopper finding the exact vehicle you have on your lot that meets their needs. As long as the site is sending your traffic and/or leads that are interested in your inventory there is no downside, all upside. Only more exposure.
2. Affordable
OK, I understand the escalating costs of a couple of the more well-known classified sites. However, that shouldn’t stop you from having a dedicated budget for classified advertising. It’s important to just manage your budget wisely. After getting your inventory listed in a category that actually gets it viewed, do you need to spend more? In most cases I don’t believe you do. The law of diminishing returns kicks in when you devote too much budget to one site. Spread the love. Get more sites working for you. CarClicks inventory marketing program distributes your inventory to many automotive sites and only charges you when a customer is interested in your car. You only get charged when a client is sent to your vehicle detail page on your website. This gets your inventory
3. Inventory Turn
Increasing inventory turn is just a fancy way of saying more sales. Three pillars of increasing sales are having the right inventory, at the right price, with the right exposure. Automotive classified sites provide dealers the ability to promote their inventory to millions of monthly online shoppers. The average vehicle is in stock for 53 days and gets looked at online less than 20 times but if you can get your inventory viewed online between 20 to 30 times it will turn 29% faster. And, if you can get your inventory viewed over 30 times it will turn 44% faster. Getting more visibility on your inventory is the single most important factor in making a sale.
Now for the pitch. CarClicks marketing program will pull your inventory from your website daily and promote your vehicles to a network of automotive sites that get over 20 million monthly auto shoppers. Dealerships are only charged when we link a shopper from an automotive classified site directly to your website.
I encourage dealerships to determine if their advertising budget is being leveraged properly to get the most exposure without spending more budget.

AIM One-Stop Shop

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A Look Under the Hood
We are better than your average digital marketing company.  We know how to market your dealership with some of the best, fresh digital content and social presence while keeping your overall goals in mind: more traffic, engaged users and increased sales.
The Best Mix of Marketing Services
Full Service:  Let us take the driver’s seat and drive more traffic to your dealership.  Our full service option lets us help you achieve your over-arching goals using some of the best digital marketing practices including, original website content, social media, SEO, display and retargeting ads, pay per click advertising and more!
Conquest Email Marketing:  You might want to make a U-turn if your dealership isn’t currently utilizing email marketing.  But AIM’s email marketing is not something you’ll find using standard email marketing services.  Our Supercharged email marketing services offer data to dominate your market and increase sales.
Email Newsletters: Living in a digital age, it is important to make sure you are in your customer’s eyes consistently.  AIM’s email marketing allows you to send all your specials and information without having to do the work—we take care of it all!  You’ll expect to have a quick turnaround, a flexible design and high ROI.
Pay Per Click (PPC): Paid search advertising is a great way to drive more traffic to your dealership.  This service allows customers to find your inventory and dealership.  Market your dealership and inventory with AIM’s PPC services.
Retargeting: Leverage your traffic coming to your website and capture those visitors who have expressed an interest in your inventory but didn’t make it to check out.  The consumer will then receive online ads for your dealership with our placement of code.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is an investment and it’s an investment a dealership should highly consider.  It will increase your customer base, your sales, your dealership’s reviews and your visibility on the web.
Social Media: Today it is important and a necessity to have a social presence.  Join the conversation with your customers!  We’re ready to do the work for you by managing your social presence while you sell and service cars.
Video Production:  Expand your brand today with video.  Use video to promote your vehicles, sales and services with YouTube pre-roll.  Let us turn your vision into a reality while we represent you and your dealership.
Web Design: Let us set your business apart from others in the automotive market with a customized, responsive website.  To top it off, we offer a one-stop dealership website experience with a dual language site.  With the click of one button your English site can switch to Spanish.

Why Increasing Your Social Media Activity Matters

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Social Media is no longer just a suggested trend in the world of Automotive – it’s expected! From deciding where to get their vehicles serviced to shopping around for a new car, customers are turning to social now more than ever to make a highly researched and informed decision. So to help you out, AIM put together some of the best social tips and tricks that we used here in 2015.
1. Facebook Services
First, we’ll let you in on a HUGE secret. It’s no mystery that Facebook holds significant clout when it comes to Social Media. With 1.1 billion ACTIVE users alone, it’s a great tool to not only advertise to your customers, but to keep in touch and join the conversation. However, starting just last month, Facebook quietly began testing a site to rival Yelp, facebook.com/services. It takes the highest rated local businesses with Facebook reviews and ratings, and compiles them into one easy to use interface. But how do we know that it’s going to be big? Just look at the numbers. Yelp stock has already dropped 9% since the quiet Facebook Services release. It’s now more important than ever to make sure your Facebook business page is updated, relevant, and monitored daily to respond to requests, tend to negative reviews, and to continue to build your audience and customer base.
2. The more unique the better
You don’t want your profiles to seem like they’re ran by robots, and be sure to avoid all spam and automated services! Instead, get photos, videos, and customer involvement whenever possible. Staff member have a birthday? Be sure to share it! Somebody bring a pet into the office? Share that too! Will you be part of or sponsoring any local events? Be sure everybody knows! We’ve also seen dealers take great photos of customers with their new vehicles, and have great success encouraging them share the photo with their family and friends, and tag themselves. It’s quick and easy free promotion for your business – what more could you ask for?
3. Everybody loves contests and coupons
Your customers love saving money, and participating in competitions! Use your social media channels to offer special coupons on parts and services, or use a coupon as a prize in a contest surrounding auto trivia, dealership trivia, photo contests on Instagram, or any other contest you can think of!
Like these tips but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you don’t have time in your day to keep up or even think about starting? That’s where we come in. Let AIM take care of it all for you. We’ll do the work, you take the credit and get all the sales. Join our list of happy full-service clients, and contact us today!

How to Take Control of Your Online Presence

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When you search for your company or brand online, what pops up? Chances are, your social accounts and reviews show up first. What are people saying about you and how can you change this? Well, here’s the bad news: it’s harder and more time consuming than just a click of a mouse, but the good news is that there are steps you can take over time to improve your digital presence. Here are some tips.
1. Have a plan
Before you take a step to better your digital presence, it’s important to first have an action plan. What is the message you are trying to convey? What is your company’s mission? How are you different from your competition? What makes you better? These are all good questions to ask yourself before you begin any advertising or content creation. Otherwise, your brand could be confusing to customers and will eventually get lost in a sea of competitors.
2. Content creation
There are many different forms of content that should be used online, such as blog articles packed with links and keywords, social media posts that engage your followers, online advertising that leads the right kind of customers to your inventory or brand, and website content that ranks organically.
Blog articles should have completely original content so your site is not penalized for plagiarism or duplicate content. The articles should also include relevant keywords in order to rank organically in Google for those keywords. If images are included, make sure they have alt text associated with them so bots can scan the image and know what it is (since they cannot read images).
Social media posts should be personal, timely, and engaging. Be sure to respond to all customer comments, even negative, as this presents you in a personable light instead of as a large company with no face. Facebook advertising is also beneficial if you would like to target a specific audience with your advertisement for a very reasonable CPC.
If your online advertisements are not eye-catching and unique, they’ll be lost in the clutter. If they are search ads, they should have the proper text for a small space that will effectively attract a customer. If they are display or retargeting ads, they should stand out from the webpage and entice the customer to click the link. Focus on being creative but not going too over-the-top graphically. Oh, and don’t forget to triple check the text for spelling mistakes!
The content on your website is just as important, if more important than everything we discussed above. Your website needs to convey to Google what you do and where you do it clearly so your site will rank organically. Outdated content with mistakes and a disorganized order will harm you in the long run.
3. Packaging your message
Communicating the right message is essential across all channels so your customers know what to expect, what your mission is, and are able to decide if they would like to do business with you. With a plethora of options for customers to go to, you need to make sure you are definitely different from your peers, whether that be through pricing, customer service, or the overall customer experience at your store. In addition, be sure this message is consistent across all of your marketing channels and that your staff is educated and able to deliver this message to customers.

All of this may seem like it would take a couple of full-time employees to handle. No need to worry, though. AIM has you covered. Give us a call today to see how we can help you improve your digital presence better than you thought possible – you won’t have to worry about a thing.