The car market ebbs and flows related to supply and demand, and when buyer demand is high dealerships might have no problem moving cars from their lot. Even in great markets, though, some vehicles could be tough to sell. These could be used or preowned models that aren’t so aesthetically pleasing or perhaps the vehicle appeals to a specific niche buyer.
Social media could be the ideal tool that dealerships need to help jump-start interest in pre-owned inventory that stalls on the lot. Here’s how to use social media platforms to promote used inventory and help drive those cars off the lot!
Why Social Media?
Dealerships often advertise online via Google or Facebook. These ads can help generate interest and also can be targeted to specific buyers, and online ads can be incredibly effective to move inventory. Yet, if dealerships have advertised certain vehicles without any interested buyers, it could be time to pursue a more unique marketing road.
Social media marketing doesn’t take the place of advertising, but it can complement those ads. Plus, social media posts are free to create. Dealerships won’t add to their advertising budget when marketing inventory via Facebook.
Using social media platforms for marketing purposes also allows dealerships to delve into their creative side. Dealerships can have fun with the content.
Posts can be entirely devoted to one car, too. If a specific vehicle has been sitting on the lot for a bit too long, dealerships can create a post that highlights the vehicle and include different images. A call to action can link to the dealership website or to sales contact info.
Promoting Inventory Via Facebook
Many dealerships have a Facebook page, and Facebook is the most popular social media platform on the internet with nearly three billion monthly active users (or MAU).
Facebook allows users to post video content and photos. Facebook posts can be longer, too. Dealerships can create posts that give extensive details about a vehicle or just include basic details beneath a photo of the vehicle.
Dealers can think outside the box, though, when they are promoting vehicles on their business Facebook page. Write a humorous post describing the vehicle. If the car is really unique or if it’s a classic automobile, dealerships can provide some history or context to tell the car’s story.
Promoting Inventory via Instagram
Owned by Facebook—now known as Meta—Instagram focuses on imagery and videos to tell stories. With Instagram, dealerships can provide followers with a slideshow about the vehicle.
For each visual post, dealerships also can post more information via a caption. While some users keep captions short, others include lengthier captions to fully share the context of images or videos.
Instagram also lets users post full videos to their account. Dealerships could include a video tour of the vehicle that talks about all the unique features of the car. When posting on Instagram, don’t forget to add tags.
Dealerships also can take advantage of Instagram’s Stories feature. This allows users to post videos, but the content is only available for 24 hours.
Promoting Inventory on YouTube
YouTube is all about video content. While users can add context about the video in the ‘description’ section, this isn’t the social media site for detailed written descriptions.
Instead, dealerships need to tell the story of a vehicle through a video. This is another great opportunity for dealerships to highlight older classic vehicles and to discuss their features and their history.
Videos don’t have to be serious. Dealerships can take a light-hearted approach to marketing a car that just doesn’t seem to budge off the lot. For example, during the holidays, wrap the car with a bow and talk about how it would make a great gift!
Promoting Inventory on TikTok
Does the dealership want to market a car to a younger audience? Use TikTok! This platform is video-centric like YouTube, but TikTok videos are short—less than three minutes.
Dealerships will need to think through their TikTok video ideas before posting. The message will need to be creative and fit in the short timeframe that defines TikTok. 9Clouds explains that the best way auto dealerships can use this platform is with walkaround videos.
Brainstorm what the dealership wants to show about a particular car; it might be helpful to rehearse before taping so that the video doesn’t go over the three-minute mark.
Using Custom Professional Vehicle Photos for Social Media Marketing
Car dealerships that need to move older cars might showcase photos of the vehicle. While dealerships might snap their own shots of the vehicle, these might not result in the best image quality. Professional custom vehicle photos could be the best way to market a hard-to-sell vehicle.
While professional custom photos aren’t an ideal solution for all pre-owned or used cars, these photos can help elevate a vehicle that is unique. Is there a 1960s VW Bug for sale? Use EVOX Images to create a custom slideshow or image gallery that captures the groovy history of this car.
Dealerships can tailor custom images to fit their marketing needs. These images can include the dealership owner or specific branding. Custom photos also could feature backdrops that add to the car’s story.
Custom photos aren’t standard stock photos, and these photos allow dealerships to highlight a vehicle that is unique to their dealership. Some classic cars and more unique vehicles (think those with custom paint jobs) could appeal to a niche audience. Use custom photos to add to the car’s appeal but also to reflect the audience to whom the dealership is marketing that vehicle.
Dealerships don’t have to present standard custom photos to their social media followers, though. Include 360 degree custom photos that allow social media followers to actually interact with the vehicle. With these photos, they can use their mouse or just a fingertip to rotate the car and see it from all vantage points.
Interior panorama custom photos give social media followers the feeling that they are sitting in that unique car’s driver’s seat. Like a 360 spin photo, the photo can be explored using just a mouse or a finger.
Post these immersive photos on Facebook or link to them on other social media accounts. Give followers an opportunity to interact with the car.
Cars that Just Won’t Budge
Some cars are unique and classic, but others could just be older and destined for a niche buyer. Standard stock photos cannot capture the pre-owned or used models and their character. Stock photos also are not a true depiction of a used car. A pre-owned or used car has seen the road, and each one has a unique story.
Use social media to creatively market these vehicles to reach the best buyer. That story can be told in words, videos or photos. If dealerships are marketing a classic car, it could be a great idea to include a history of the vehicle.
With social media sites, dealerships can creatively market vehicles that might be a bit more difficult to sell by using custom images of the vehicle. Custom images can capture the beauty of a classic car or the features of a really unique automobile.
Professional custom images from EVOX Images allow dealerships to set a stage for a car on their lot and let that vehicle take the spotlight. Dealerships can opt for immersive 360 spin photos or panorama photos of the vehicle to encourage social media followers to further explore the vehicle.
While advertising can be a powerful tool to reach buyers for used and pre-owned inventory, some vehicles might appeal to a niche market. Use social media to highlight these vehicles and, hopefully, drive them off the lot.
4 thoughts on “How to Use Social Media to Promote Used Inventory”
Comments are closed.