Many businesses are aware that they can use social media in order to advertise and promote their brand online. The average social media campaign may consist of setting up a Facebook page and Twitter account. However, what most businesses fail to do is to build relationships with powerful social media influencers. The whole point of social media is to reach out to a large number of people and have your campaign go viral. So why not get a powerful champ and expert in your corner if possible?

So What Is A Social Media Influencer?
An influencer is an individual that has a lot of influence in their industry. In the automotive niche you’ll have the big corporate influencers such as Edmunds. Then you have the established blogs with a massive following such as Car Throttle. Owners of popular blogs generally also have large followings on their Facebook and Twitter accounts which means they have the ability to send out your message to thousands of people. To find out who the influencers are on Twitter simply do a search for the niche you are interested in, such as “automotive” and check to see how many followers an individual has.

Build That Relationship Slowly
Don’t contact an influencer out of the blue on Twitter and ask them if they want to review your car dealership or promote your product; you’re likely to get ignored. Try to build a relationship first by following the individual and interacting with them without asking for anything in returning. Perhaps you could retweet a few things they say and write back if they tweet something particularly funny. It’s easier to ask for a favor once you’ve established a relationship.

Reach Out To Bloggers
Bloggers with a large readership have the ability to affect trends and purchase decisions. Ford Motor reached out to bloggers by providing selected individuals with a new Ford Fiesta for six months. In return the individuals had to accomplish specific missions and talk about their experience on their blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Ford realized that it is a lot more “authentic” to have “real people” discuss their personal experience with the Fiesta on social media channels instead of doing it themselves. Larger corporations such as Enterprise Car Sales may find it easier to build relationships with popular blogs while local dealerships may want to target local blogs. With the popularity of social media, potential buyers are more in tuned to consumer reviews from real people than ever before. Consumers want to hear about real experiences from people just like themselves.

Written by Jacqueline Starz – Car dealers specializing in Used Cars Fullerton can utilize social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook in order to gain a following and announce specials and sales.