Monday, February 2, 2015

THE SIMPLE SECRET TO SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS


Most dealers know by now how important it is to have a social media presence to develop and build relationships with current and potential customers. Some dealers know that Facebook has made it difficult for dealer content to be seen by the majority of their Facebook fans without paying to promote posts and advertise. In fact, according to a recent study by KISSMetrics, only about 4.5 percent of a page’s fans will see the content that gets posted organically. 
While it’s important to constantly get engaging content out, it’s pretty much pointless if no one is going to see it. However, there is a simple way to increase that reach to nearly 40 percent without having to pay for it. That secret is your employee advocates.
Employee advocates are your employees who actively engage with and share your content to their networks. You may even already have some promoting your content; just look to see who is engaging with and sharing your content. The more engagement your page gets, the more exposure it will receive and the further your reach will be.
 Employees, especially salespeople, serve as the voice of your business. They should be informed of what’s going on and share that with their network. And it’s not just about selling; this is also a great way to get your fans engaged in your community involvement.
 Additionally, people will trust what their friends have to say about a company over what a company presents itself to be, so by having your employees vouch for your company, you become more credible to their network of friends.
An example of the power of employee advocates is Gary Crossley Ford in Liberty, Missouri. They partnered with the Midwest Animal ResQ for an adoption event in December. Through engaging Facebook posts and the power of employees sharing the content, Gary Crossley Ford was able to pull off an extremely successful event that was even written up in an article in the Kansas City Star. That’s exactly the kind of exposure that helps develop relationships with Facebook fans — they love to hear what dealers are doing for the local community.
So how do you get your employees to serve as advocates for your company? The first step is making sure all of your employees “like” your Facebook page and list your dealership as their place of employment. Your employees should be proud to openly say on social networks that they work for you. To get an idea of how many of your employees show that they work at your business, just search for “people who work at” followed by your company name in Facebook open graph search bar and view the people listed. You may be surprised how few show up. If that’s the case, it might be a good time to find out why.
Some simply may not know they can list that information. Others may be worried that liking your page will give you access to their personal page — it won’t; you will only see what their privacy settings allow. Getting them involved in your social strategy will increase their feeling of involvement and get them more excited to help spread the word about what’s going on.

91% have visited a store because of an online experience | 99 Things About Social Media | MotoFuze