In January, the Young Auto Care Network Group (YANG), part of the Auto Care Association, hosted a webinar on using social media for businesses. The presentation was part of the ongoing YANG Time webinar series.
Are there social media platforms that seem to lend themselves to the aftermarket?
I think that the automotive media is super active on Twitter, and anything you want publicized; Twitter is a really great platform for that. Internally, if companies want to promote something they often use video, and YouTube is the best platform for that. We're seeing a lot more video, and it's easy to embed so you can recycle it on all of your different social media platforms.
What have been some of the most interesting or effective uses of social media you've seen in this market?
I think it's really effective to focus on engagement and less on numbers now. You want to identify people that are active online and build a relationship with them, versus just posting something on the social media black hole. You have to identify who the key influencers are, whether those are customers or members, or people that distribute for you. Once you figure out who those key people are, social media can work really well.
How does social media apply to B2B marketing?
With B2B you have to focus on those business relationships, and that's why social media is so great. Social media is a great listening tool. You can find out what types of conversations are happening online. The first step with social media is to listen, and find ways to interject yourself into those conversations. You have to have a strategy, and you should always listen and hear what people online are saying.
The Auto Care Association is using social media as part of its Auto Care Influencer program. Can you tell me more about that?
The Influencer program is a way for the industry to communicate how big we really are, and what sectors make up the auto care industry. For example, we put some industry figures on our Twitter feed. That resonated really well, and members were quick to re-tweet that. You can use it for branding, or just to provide some information to people who may not know what you do. What role does your company play in this billion-dollar industry?
Members are asked to post a digital badge to their site (http://www.autocare.org/logos). Once that is done, they can email me at [email protected] for an invitation to participate in the Influencer program.
