A recent study by Digital Air Strike showed that car shoppers consider social platforms to be more important than dealership websites when choosing which dealerships to visit. The study also found that most car buyers rely on internet research to find good dealerships. Social media platforms directly influence the car-buying process and can determine which cars shoppers buy. 

You probably know you should integrate social media in some way into your marketing strategies, but most dealerships have it wrong. Some simply have a Facebook page and post pictures or content. The successful ones have a well structured social media marketing strategy that generates leads and helps them engage with potential customers. If you want to generate leads and convert them into customers, you must do more than post a car stock image on Facebook every day. Here's what you should do.

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1. Use Twitter to boost sales.

A Marketshare study found that people used Twitter to buy cars amounting to $716 million in 2014 and the trend hasn't changed much. Twitter is still a popular choice for car buyers. Recent research established that over 327,000 tweets related to cars are posted daily and most of them are directly related to shopping or owning cars.

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2. Engage with car buyers on Facebook.

While 1 in 4 new vehicle buyers use Twitter to determine their vehicle purchase decision, 31 percent of social media users base their purchase decisions on Facebook content. Some of your potential customers are actively shopping for cars on Facebook, so come up with ways to reach them. 

You can customize your ads to reach people who have indicated they are shopping for a car. You can target shoppers by geographical location, vehicle type, interests, and even gender. Investing in Facebook marketing is well worth it. Auto ads have higher click-through rates than average Facebook ads.

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3. Use Instagram to sell to millennials.

A Facebook survey showed that young people are ditching Facebook for Instagram, which is all about sharing pictures and videos. It's a great network for creatively sharing your brand's story.

You can share pictures of your previous customers to let shoppers visualize themselves in that scenario. Upload pictures of people using your cars at the beach, on outdoor adventures, and even at sporting events. Show them how owning one of your models will feel like.

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