I like twitter.  I’ve met lots of people using my personal twitter account.  I see also the value of Twitter for Automotive Dealerships.  I maintain a list of Honda Dealerships on twitter that has 265 dealers on it. While I’m looking for new dealers, and viewing the Honda dealers I already have on my list, I get frustrated by 3 things.

1.   A constant stream of Facebook Posts (you can tell which these are because the links are “fb.me/xxxx”)

2.   A constant stream of inventory.

3.   Dealers who don't interact with their Twitter Community!

We’ve all heard the term “Social Media.”  Let’s break this down even simpler: “Social” and “Media.”  In order to be social you have to interact with people!  Someone isn’t very social if they don’t talk to anyone, are they? 

I use a twitter client called “Hootsuite” which allows you to schedule tweets (which I’m somewhat against, but that’s a different topic), but it enables me to set up a keyword search based on how close the tweet is to me geographically. I have several set up, including, “Ciocca” “Honda” & a few of my competitors.  For example, I have a fellow “tweep” (or “friend” on twitter) who quite often post pictures of his CR-Z’s MPG. I “RT” (re-tweet –  aka, forward), his picture to all of my followers.  We typically have a short conversation (sometimes, it’s about the weather!) after I RT him.

People need to think of you as a person, not just a business.  I mean, they obviously know someone is behind the tweets, but does this illustrious person have a personality? Of course they do and that’s part of the importance of Twitter!

As far as linking your Facebook posts to Twitter – I don’t do it – why do you?  When using a client like HootSuite, or others like it, you can select multiple social networks post your message to.

But just because you can; does that mean you should? 

You have to remember that Facebook and Twitter are 2 different networks with 2 different purposes and their audiences are looking for different things.

Think of it this way:

I get home from work; I look back through my Facebook “News Feed” for the day.  Some of them can be a few hours old.  But with twitter, I barely go back more than an hour previously when I’m looking at my feed.  There really isn’t a point!  Most people tweet for an immediate conversation, or at least for a reaction.  If you reply to something they sent hours ago, it probably isn’t relevant to the current conversation.

If I feel something is important to tweet, I may tweet it 3 times a day: morning, afternoon and evening.  While if I put the same thing on facebook 3 times in one day, people may start to look at me funny.

Social media isn’t just a way to post things no one is going to react to.  It’s a way to engage your customers!  Don’t always post about cars or service, but rather tweet about things that are going on in the community. It will help your business and be a lot more enjoyable along the way.

Megan S. Barto has been in the car business for 5 years at Ciocca Honda in Harrisburg.  She started with both floor sales and Internet sales.  In November of  2009, she was promoted to Internet Sales Director.  She has since launched Ciocca Hyundai of Lebanon, and manages a team of 4 Internet Sales Coordinators at Ciocca Honda. You can reach Megan at mbarto@cioccahonda.com or on Twitter @skeetle.