GOSO

By: Korenne Richardson As GOSO's Social Media Liaison, Korenne specializes in social media innovations and popular culture. After she graduated from Wellesley College, she worked in media marketing for the US Census Bureau.

Your mother always told you not be a follower, right? Well, when we’re talking about Twitter, dealerships should forget mother’s words of wisdom. Unless you are Oprah Winfrey or some other outrageous celebrity, you must follow other twitterers to attract followers. You follow me?

The development of a Twitter following is based upon creative content. Three core principles will attract others to your dealership’s brand identity on Twitter:

• interesting and recent tweet activity,

• brand personality, and

• consumer engagement.

So, who should you follow? By following your target demographic and automotive industry insiders, your dealership demonstrates your interest in what is current and what consumers want. Be in the know and see what Ford is tweeting every morning. Notice that Suzy Sunshine loves her new car from Blankety Blank Automotive Group and reply to her post.

As tweets from these twitterers introduce you to hot topics and comment on your customer service, your dealership has the opportunity to promote its identity and culture through your every retweet and @reply. The return on investment from these interactions can be seen realtime. Other twitterers will take notice and follow you, broadening the reach of your dealership’s brand. So, start following. Search.twitter.com/advanced is the perfect research tool to find followers in your target demographic.

Remember this: Everyone wants to feel special. In order to maintain your following:

• Consumers will follow you for hot deals and promotions. 44% of people that follow a brand on Twitter cited exclusive offers as the main reason.

• An occasional @reply or direct message to a consumer makes your dealership socially accessible. A dealership that caters to a consumer’s needs will be first in that customer’s mind when a purchase must be made.

• Your tweets should be informative and unique enough to encourage other twitterers to retweet or share them. Pack those 140 characters with enticing language and link bait that will prompt sharing. When another twitterer retweets what you have said, you feel special. When yet another twitterer retweets what they retweeted from you, they feel special. Everybody wins as each retweet compounds the value of your original post.

Patience is essential in the development of your Twitter following. Although you will not be a Twitter celebrity overnight, keep posting regular and interesting content.

By: Korenne Richardson As GOSO's Social Media Liaison, Korenne specializes in social media innovations and popular culture. After she graduated from Wellesley College, she worked in media marketing for the US Census Bureau.

In the words of Gary Vaynerchuk in his bestselling book Crush It!, “money follows eyeballs.” Twitter has taken over the world of popular culture and social media. From February 2008 to February 2009, Twitter’s membership grew 1382%. As you can see, the eyeballs are looking to Twitter and your dealership should too! It is a free and easy means to build brand equity and promote your dealership’s services. Essentially, if you have a thought, you have a tweet. Just format it into 140 characters and tweet away.

Dealers can use Twitter to extend the reach of their brand. Here’s how:

• Showcase your dealership culture and personality. Is your dealership involved in community service? All of your dealership tweets are an opportunity for conversation.

• Tweet inventory strategically. Release inventory tweets over the course of the day instead of all at once. This maximizes the impact of your tweets and increases your Twitter presence.

• Publicize a promotion, service offer, or factory incentive. The immediate broadcast of your tweet reaches an ever growing network of consumers. Increased visibility means more potential for sales.

• Interact with customers. Acting as a focus group and customer call center, Twitter allows direct communication with your customers. Tweet with them to understand how their feedback can build your brand.

• Stay up on your competition. Be a voyeur and see what they are up to. It could help make your dealership more competitive.

The key to tweeting is authenticity, frequency, and creativity. Be yourself. Tweet on a regular basis. Unique and interesting tweets get more attention.

Happy Tweeting!