Digital Dealer - August 2018 - 43

WHAT WORKED IN CONTENT MARKETING A FEW
YEARS AGO - WHEN CONTENT WAS A NOVELTY -
WILL NOT WORK IN THIS ERA OF OVERWHELMING
INFORMATION DENSITY."
resources in the long run
and learn a lot more about
your target customers.
4. ENGAGE
EMPLOYEES AS
ADVOCATES

Collaboration with and
contributions from employees can be very successful.
It's been proven that employee engagement boosts
the quality of your content.
Tapping into the tactic of
employee advocacy has
three dimensions:
 Social Media Amplification: Employee engagement
in specific marketing campaigns, events or promotions supports your goals.
 Social Proof: Employees are considered "people
like me." When employees
advocate for their employer,
it brings another layer of
comfort for buyers.
 Social Recruiting: The
top talent finds its way to
you through your employees.
PRO TIP: Include employees in content creation.
One of the challenges
in standing out on social
media is coming up with
enough relevant content
that customers need and/or
want to engage with. Taking
a collaborative approach
often produces outstanding
results when you've got
your best "brand experts" at
your fingertips.
Employees possess the
knowledge and information

your customers need and
their seasoned expertise
fosters more trust than any
ad you'll ever run.

5. CREATE AN ONLINE
REVIEW FUNNEL FOR
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

Online review sites like
Google and Yelp are considered part of social media.
Your customers share their
opinions so that others can
make the best choices.
By creating an online
review funnel, you'll systematically drive customers to
one conversion funnel that
routes them to the review
sites you care about.
By leveraging software
tools to increase review volume and quality, you'll guide
happy customers through
the process of completing a
review.
You'll also recover unhappy customers before they
vent online. This process
gives you a second chance
by guiding unhappy customers to a mobile-responsive
recovery page. You can fix
their problem and sometimes even turn a bad situation into a profitable one.
6. STOP TRYING TO BE
THE MOST POPULAR

"Vanity metrics" do not
matter.
Prior to 2013 or so, the
social media game was to
collect likes and followers
- vanity metrics. The more
you had, the better chance
your content would be seen

by an audience predisposed
to respond. But with social
ad-targeting capabilities
available in these platforms
today, you can serve the
right content to the right
audience, not just a broad,
"best-guess" group that
might include them.
Focus your effort on the
metrics that will achieve
your business goals.
7. GO FOR QUALITY
OVER QUANTITY

In this world of cheap
knockoffs, hidden agendas,
and muddled transparency,
the reality is that not all
social media connections
are created equal.
Regardless of what
commands our attention,
value is the driver in everything we do. Now that
social media has matured,
dealerships are discovering that a larger number of
social network connections
may be less valuable than
a smaller, more intimate
circle.
If you're looking for a
way to stand out on social
media, focus on quality over
quantity.
8. PRACTICE EMPATHY
AND GRATITUDE

There are two things I
rely on that keep me sane
and focused: empathy and
gratitude. I believe that
possessing both of these
attributes will not only make
you a better marketer but a
better human being.
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

Empathy is about having
the ability to relate to and
connect with people for the
purpose of inspiring and
empowering their lives.
Practice ways you can use
empathy to stand out on
social media.
When I hit a low spot,
gratitude is what brings me
back up. I make a nightly
list of five things I was
grateful for that day - no
matter how small. I write
them down right before I go
to sleep so that my subconscious mind recognizes
the gratitude mindset and
drives my behavior the next
day.
Don't get drowned out by
the noise.
Social media moves fast
and furious. Use these tips
to improve your social media relationships with your
customers and keep them
coming back for more.
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

AUGUST 2018

43
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - August 2018
