The Internet is now so much part of our daily lives that we might sometimes forget how it has revolutionised the way we do business and the way we run our personal lives. Whether this is shopping online with items delivered direct to your door, Skype chats with loved ones in far flung destinations or the fast-paced world of business - it is now more important than ever to build and maintain an online presence.
For our car dealer customers looking to achieve their potential sale, they can no longer rely on consumers browsing the classifieds in their local paper in search of their perfect vehicle. Online is the forum where consumers research, review and ultimately decide on the purchases they will make. Having a digital strategy is important as it helps businesses maximise the sales opportunity and gain consumer trust through building a strong reputation.
Yet despite the daily familiarity of the Internet, the digital world can be complicated and sometimes without a helping hand, knowing where to start can be a minefield. Below are some top tips from RAZSOR which will help to explain digital media, allowing your business to begin building a successful brand online.
1. SEO:
To drive customers to your brand’s website, ‘Search Engine Optimisation’, or SEO, is vital. SEO is a process of improving visibility of a website in search engines, such as Google or Bing, via natural or unpaid search results. SEO considers what terms people search for and optimises a website and its content to increase its relevance to the keywords that individuals are searching on most frequently. This allows browsers to find and rank such websites higher than millions of other sites in response to a specific search query.
2. Keywords
A great way to boost SEO rankings is to closely match words on your website which mirror those a potential buyer will use when searching for a vehicle online. These words are known as ‘keywords’.
Relevant keywords should be included in the title of your website as well as in your description tag (usually what a search engine displays when relevant words are typed in) as these are the first places the search engine will scan before indexing results and ranking them on its search pages.
Keywords need to be specific and chosen carefully, as if too many keywords are chosen you will dilute their significance and the impact on your search ranking.
3. PPC
Pay per click (PPC) is a method of paying for response from search engines or social networks, where advertisers pay publishers for each click an advert receives.
PPC is intended to drive traffic to your website by placing display advertisements on key segments of a site or on top of keywords - by placing a hyperlink on the word ‘car’ in an editorial article on a website visited by your target audience.
PPC is an easier, but more expensive form of SEO and should only be used to fill in gaps in existing marketing and advertising strategies.
4. Social media
Social media is an online platform that allows two way communication between brands and interested parties in the market. The two most prevalent platforms to consider are Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook:
Facebook enables users to connect and publicly/privately share information with the people in their network.
Brands can connect visitors’ Facebook profiles to their company sites, allowing them to seamlessly share and engage with website content.
Companies can also engage in conversations with Facebook followers, providing an opportunity to develop relationships with followers or ‘fans’ so that they can become advocates for the business.
Most digital marketing agencies can provide this service through an automatic, remote system.
Twitter:
Twitter, a form of micro-blogging and social networking allows users to broadcast their messages and interact with a wider audience than they would otherwise be able to reach.
Being a part of Twitter allows businesses to listen in and participate in the public conversations customers are having, either about them or about the wider industry - enabling them to attract new customers and strengthen relationships with existing ones.
With high direct referral rates to blogs, news sites, and company websites, it is important to not only have a presence, but to actively engage with the community.
Carried out effectively Twitter can be an great asset to help boost sales and Twitter messages, or ‘tweets’ can be automated at certain intervals. Due to the frequency of engagement required, this task is often outsourced to a well informed third party.
5. User Generated Content
User Generated Content (UGC) is any content created by the user of a website, such as feedback, comments and testimonials. The key strength of UGC and online reviews is trust. Positive UGC will provide you with a rich source of unbiased opinion and feedback with your consumers inadvertently becoming advocates for your company.
Negative feedback can be useful as it highlights any issues previously unknown to the brand.
In most cases negative UGC is easily resolved; giving companies the opportunity to interact directly with the unhappy customer, building goodwill by acknowledging the problem.
Controlling UGC can be a complex process - by engaging with consumers in a timely manner, displaying goodwill to solve any issues they may have, you can frame conversations and build relationships to develop in the future.
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