Digital Dealer - September 2017 - 37

customers don't spend
time there. Don't forget to
include online ratings sites
in your answer.
4. WHAT ARE YOUR
BUSINESS GOALS FOR
THE NEXT YEAR? NEXT
5 YEARS?

These goals will help
you decide what your
investment will be in social
media in order to achieve
what you want.
5. WHAT ARE YOUR
GOALS FOR SOCIAL
MEDIA?

This is where many
dealers fail in their
process. Everything you
spend money on for your
business should have an
intended goal. That way,
you can create a strategy
to achieve those goals,
execute it, measure your
efforts and tie the results
back to your goals. In other
words, establish ROI.
Some common areas for
setting goals are:
 Growth of business
page or profiles (likes and
followers) from within your
market area.
 Engagement
 Reach
 Traffic to website
 Leads
 Sales
 Online reviews
6. WHO WILL HANDLE
YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
PRESENCE? IN-HOUSE
OR OUTSOURCE?

There are specific
characteristics and skills
needed in the person(s)
who will lead your social
media marketing. If you
promote someone from
within, make sure they're
suitable to handle all areas

of social media including
marketing, advertising,
sales, PR, data analysis
and online reputation
management.
If you're outsourcing,
make sure the vendor
has provided you with a
written content strategy.
This strategy should reach
all the touch points for
communicating your store
effectively.
With the overabundance of snake oil out
there right now, it's just
too easy to turn social
media over to someone
who makes promises they
might not be able to keep.
7. WHAT
RESOURCES DO YOU
HAVE TO CREATE
TRUSTWORTHY
CONTENT?

One of your first resources to turn to is your
"subject matter experts,"
otherwise known as your
employees. Tap into their
expertise and implement a
plan for them to illustrate
and share it.
All forms of content will
be needed: written word,
images and video (and
even audio if you're into
podcasting). Identify which
form your customers and
employees feel the most
comfortable with and
leverage their skills.
8. WHAT TOPICS
CAN YOU FOCUS ON
TO INFORM, EDUCATE,
OR INSPIRE YOUR
AUDIENCE?

A content calendar
really helps to define the
subjects you want to focus
on. Each month you can
choose a topic to focus on.

Helpful guides to create
content:
 Gain inspiration from
your customers' frequently
asked questions.
 Refer to your list of
keywords that you'd like
to be found for on search
engines.
 Look at your reviews.
Derive ways to inform and
be transparent with your
sales process by giving
some background stories
on those 5-star customer
experiences.
 Survey your employees to find out their
customers' most frequently asked questions.
9. WHAT ARE YOUR
COMPETITORS DOING
RIGHT AND WRONG ON
SOCIAL MEDIA?

Regular reviews of
what's working for them
(or not) informs your
social media strategy. It's
beneficial to identify those
businesses that are doing
well on social media and
why. At Kruse Control, we
guide our clients to review
other pages just to get
inspired and motivated.
10. WHAT WOULD
SUCCESS LOOK LIKE
FOR YOUR STORE ON
SOCIAL MEDIA?

Part of your strategy
is to document what you
want and how you would
feel once you've had
success.
With our clients, many
of them don't have an
answer for this when we
first start working together.
This is why it's important for a social media
strategist to help walk you
through the process of

brand discovery.

11. HOW WILL YOU
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS ON SOCIAL
MEDIA?

What software will you
use to track your results?
Who will monitor and
provide insightful reporting
and determine ROI?

12. HOW CAN YOU
PREPARE FOR A SOCIAL
MEDIA CRISIS AND/OR
NEGATIVE COMMENTS
AND REVIEWS?

First, it's a good idea to
implement a social media
policy with your employees. It helps everyone
know how to behave and
react, especially in times of
negativity or crisis. Included in your strategy should
be a plan for inviting online
reviews and responding
to negative reviews. Don't
leave that area of social
media up to chance.
Social media success
starts with a strong strategy. By no means are these
12 the only questions you'll
need to answer but they
will get you started at making decisions about going
forward.
KATHI KRUSE is an
Automotive Social Media
Marketing Expert, Blogger,
Speaker, Coach, Author and
Founder of Kruse Control
Inc. Born in the heart of Los
Angeles to a family of "car
people", Kathi's passion for the
car business spans a 30-year
career managing successful
dealerships in Southern
California. Kathi is the author
of "Automotive Social Business
- How to Captivate Your
Customers, Sell More Cars &
Be Generally Remarkable on
Social Media." EMAIL: kk@
krusecontrolinc.com

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

SEPTEMBER 2017

37
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - September 2017
