Automotive News - September 23, 2019 - Best Practices Supplement - A37

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 | 37
H A R R Y R O B I N S O N A U T O M O T I V E FA M I LY, F O R T S M I T H , A R K .

HARNESSING SOCIAL MEDIA
Using Facebook, group
builds its fan base with
videos, monthly prizes
Published in Automotive News June 17, 2019

Danielle Szatkowski
autonews@crain.com

or Harry Robinson Automotive Family, awarding a customer a kayak adds
just as much value as selling that customer a car. How? Through the power
of Facebook likes.
Monthly giveaways offer customers at Harry
Robinson Buick-GMC and Harry Robinson
Sallisaw Ford the chance to win curated prizes
such as a kayak and backpack cooler, a premium
cooking grill or a Fitbit
Versa watch.
However, customers are
not the only winners.
Highly targeted social
media strategies such as
this have cultivated a community of customers, makNesbit: More
ing it easier for them to find,
store exposure
follow and contribute to a
conversation solely around the Harry Robinson
brand. The group's social media strategies, including the monthly giveaways, have increased
exposure for its stores, and ultimately, increased
their Facebook likes, said Cathy Nesbit, social
media director for Harry Robinson.

Driving website traffic
Harry Robinson Buick-GMC in Fort Smith,
Ark., increased its Facebook page likes to
17,750 in the last eight years. Facebook likes
for Harry Robinson Sallisaw Ford in Oklahoma more than doubled in the last five months
to 1,402. The store had 698 likes when the
dealership group acquired it from previous
owners in December.
Harry Robinson has invested about $22,250
to date in monthly giveaways. So far, the payoff has outweighed the expense.
"We've spent the energy to build an audience
of real customers and potential customers - it
makes Facebook our No. 1 driver of traffic to our
website," she said. "One of our contentions of
pride around here is that our Facebook likes are
100 percent local customers."
Harry Robinson takes advantage of its highly targeted following for recruitment as well.

Internet Manager Marty Phillips
produces weekly videos about
vehicles' features and pricing.

Harry Robinson Automotive Family's
interaction with its Facebook
followers has resulted in increased
likes, which means greater exposure
and loyalty.

The group will use social media to post its
stores' job openings. Nesbit said recruitment
through social media has saved the group
substantial costs that would otherwise go toward a recruitment firm. The recruitment
strategy has allowed the group to fill positions
with qualified candidates. That's because followers and employees share the job posts to
their pages, which increases word of mouth.
Harry Robinson's total employment has
more than doubled in the last nine years to
114 employees, Nesbit said.
The group sold 992 new vehicles and 1,856
used vehicles in 2018.

Multimedia series
Harry Robinson Automotive Family also
takes its Facebook followers on an educational ride via its Test Drive Tuesday video series.
Internet Manager Marty Phillips educates
viewers on a vehicle's pricing, specifications
and features each week. The featured vehicle
is chosen based on the current incentives at

Harry Robinson Buick-GMC and Harry Robinson Ford, he said.
He typically opens all of the vehicle's doors
and shows viewers what each button does on
the vehicle's dashboard in each video. He'll also compare the price and product differences
between a nameplate's base model and premium edition, if available. This pricing aspect
of the videos boosts buyer confidence for
viewers because they better understand the
vehicle's pricing model, he said.
Phillips said the overall objective for each video is to encourage customers to visit the store
and test drive the featured vehicle. Sometimes
the video attracts viewers from across the country, he said, with customers asking how they can
get their hands on the featured vehicle.
"We've taken the responsibility of helping
anybody in the country that sees our videos,"
he said. "I'll offer advice to them if they happen to live far away, but if they're within 500
miles I want to do the car deal. I try to retain
every customer to our dealership, if possible."
Harry Robinson also fosters brand loyalty
through a multimedia series known as Free
Gas Fridays. The series, which Nesbit pioneered in 2013, awards a loyal customer every
Friday with a $50 gasoline gift card.
Nesbit added: "It strikes a real chord with our
local community that we give back to them and
that we care about the people here." a

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