With consumers clocking more and more screen time each day, a former dealership general manager who has become an expert in digital communication says the future of growth lies in online media.
"The reason it’s so important for dealers to optimize 'digital media' is simply because it’s where their customers are," Curtis Walls, a Zurich North America regional finance executive specializing in growth in the automotive industry, told Mega Dealer News.
Walls noted that the digital and online platforms have become so paramount that the adjective "digital" can be considered redundant; the digital media space is the new media space.
"This space is media, and that is not going anywhere," Walls said. "Customers from the ages of 18 to 88 live in a landscape that is moving at the speed of light; be there with them."
As many as 80% of the consumers in the market for a vehicle shop for a new car online — a 50% jump from pre-COVID-19 shopping trends, according to an ACERTUS study. Walls says that engagement in all platforms, from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram, is important.
"Make sure you don’t leave any space untapped," the former dealership GM said, noting that almost three-quarters of all consumers use some form of social media, according to Pew Research.
"Treat each of these spaces as if they are your direct showroom floor," Walls said. "Every night a cleaning crew comes in, sweeps, mops and picks up the trash in your physical showrooms; do the same with your media outlets. If a car is sold, make sure it’s gone. If a price needs adjusting, change it. If it’s sunny out, take down your snow-covered car pics."
Walls urges dealerships to remember that a cluttered digital presence is just as off-putting as a cluttered showroom. A dealership's social media platform should focus on relevant information with customer-focused language and presentation.
Half of automotive executives agree that to succeed — or even to survive — in the industry, dealerships should be prepared to digitally reinvent themselves, according to the IBM Institute for Business Value.
"Yes, your name is on the building," Walls said. "Yes, you sign the checks, but your best resource is your employees that look like, dress like and act like your customers. Advertise who your people are and how they are just like your customer base."
While the internet and social media might be vast platforms that reach all over the world, Walls emphasized the importance of keeping a local flavor to a dealership's online presence.
"People want to buy from people in their town," he said. "Focus on your local community and how you want to be their town's local dealership. People still have hometown loyalty; they just need to be reminded of it. We think just because our store says 'Hometown Motors' that our customers know we are in their town. They don’t. Remind them."
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