This week we will look at some companies and industries that have successfully used social media marketing. Today we look at a car dealership.
Company: Discovery Honda – Duncan, British Columbia, Canada
Social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest
Strategy: Post tweets and links.
Story: The employee responsible for maintaining the social media plan at Discovery Honda placed high value on listening to what people were saying about the organization and responding to those people. One day, a customer was at the dealership waiting for a vehicle repair. As she waited, she tweeted about the Honda Ridgeline on the showroom floor and how impressed she was by its appearance. The social media manager saw the tweet and responded with, “So how would you like to take the Ridgeline for a test drive?” Imagine the customer’s surprise at the immediacy of the response. The customer took her up on the offer and took the vehicle for a test drive. In the process, she tweeted about her experience, and even got her sister and some friends in on the conversation, resulting in dozens of tweets. The best part about this was when the customer returned, she said, “I’ll take it!” The story continues because the customer wanted a custom color not available at the dealership. When her vehicle arrived with the desired color, the customer once again tweeted her delight.
Lesson: This is what you’re looking for – an advocate for your business. Other customers and prospects are going to trust this person more than your company’s own salespeople. This company implemented a social media strategy via different platforms, consistently monitored those platforms, and was ready to respond in real time to customer comments.