GOSO

By: Ryan Riley Marketing Strategy Manager for GOSO. Ryan provides analytical data and departmental support for GOSO. Ryan is an experienced writer and blogs for GOSO, BOALT and other sites.

Let me start off by stating that I’m not very active on Twitter. I read it all day but rarely do I respond or post something myself. We’ll say it’s because I’m the strong silent type.

However, despite my limited use, I do know how it should be used. Plus I’m surrounded by a room of experts and they concur that the following blog is accurate. In fact this topic is based on common mistakes found by our Dealer Evangelist.

Now that I’ve bored all of you, let’s move on.

The key to using Twitter well is moderation and useful tweets. If you over-tweet, you’re likely to be unfollowed real quick. Your followers don’t want to be inundated with your Tweets. It’s like having a conversation with someone at a wedding or other social gathering. If you do all of the talking they’ll be looking for the exit.

If you can’t say too much, what kind of things can you say?

Well you can say anything but that doesn’t mean you should. As you get to know your followers you’ll understand better what does and what does not work. Until then here are some keys to making your tweets compelling:

Promotional Specials

In my last post I referenced a study from Morpace, Inc. The study focused on Facebook but I can guarantee you that a lot of the same findings will carry over to Twitter.

The study found that 37% of people who become fans of a particular brand are searching for coupons and discount offers. I can’t tell you an exact percentage of your Twitter followers that are looking for a coupon or other promotional offer, but I’m confident it’s high.

So send out those promos. That is definitely something that will get a response. However, just like everything else, do it in moderation.

Many dealerships open their Twitter account and immediately start blasting their feeds with promos. Followers will have a promo overload and unfollow you.  You also run the risk of devaluing your promos the more you create. Have one or two promos at a time and get the most you can out of them, then move on to another one.

Inside News

Hopefully a lot of your followers have already bought a car from you. So they look to your Twitter feed for information about the brand they just forked over a lot of money to.

They need recall information or even information on new features in next year’s model. Give it to them. Tell them everything they need to know about their car and even stuff they don’t need but would like to hear. Cultivate their brand loyalty by making them feel like part of the company.

The same goes for new customers. There are several luxury brands who have faithful Facebook and Twitter followers that have never owned the brand, but they really hope to one day. These brands continue to wow their fans with insider news highlighting what the company is doing and where it’s going.

Call to Action

This is just online advertising 101. When you give your followers information tell them what to do with it.

• Read this…
• Come down and see us!
• Check out this…

Okay, so maybe those calls to action were weak but you get the idea. Use social media to make your followers more active. Tell them what to do. Well, don’t order them around but get them moving.

What do you recommend for writing compelling tweets?