Social Media: Does It Work for More Than Traffic?
When it comes to using social networks beyond just traffic, consider the “three L’s”:
Lead generation. According to the website Brandwatch, in 2011 nearly 70 percent of marketers said they used social media for lead generation; and 24 percent of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketers agreed that social media is a more potent vehicle for lead generation than Pay-Per-Click ads and search engine optimization (SEO) keywords.
It all makes sense – after all, the customer-focused content populating your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn pages lets you seamlessly integrate a compelling call-to-action that drives traffic to your website’s landing page. From there, interested visitors can make an inquiry on an RV for sale, or other request for information – offering their email address and other information.
Loyalty. Become an authority on the RV lifestyle, fostering comments, “likes,” “shares” and re-Tweets. By reaching out to your customers and potential customers through engaging and useful (or just plain entertaining) information, you can become more than just a business, you can become a friend, and valuable resource, to those who buy from you.
Pose questions (“What’s the one biggest change you’d make in your RV?”), post images, and offer other compelling content to encourage friends and followers to share impressions, concerns, kudos on your pages. Even complaints are a good opportunity – it’s where you can make public your plan to address the concern and turn a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one.
Links. One great aspect of having a social media presence is your ability to connect your followers with other social or web pages that you think they would appreciate. Stopping short of promoting your local competition, of course, you could connect RVers to networks of sales-and-service locations around the country to help them travel with more confidence. Or you could link to campgrounds and parks you would recommend. This kind of helpful linking will better position you as a knowledgeable associate, not just an RV vendor.
