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What’s New At DU: How To Create Social Media Videos That Drive Results

What’s New At DU: How To Create Social Media Videos That Drive Results

by | Aug 30, 2022 | Social Media

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What’s New At DU: How To Create Social Media Videos That Drive Results

Video is taking over… 👀

The most successful marketing campaigns tell a compelling story — NOT a sales pitch. That’s why online videos are taking over digital marketing!

Creating fun and informative social videos offer dealers a huge opportunity to get their brand and inventory in front of an engaged local audience. 

In this month’s episode, we break down our tips for creating viral social media content for your dealership.

 💡 Pro tip: You can jump to different sections in the video by using the video tools!

  

 Questions? Compliments? Ready to maximize your success? 

 Reach out to us at [email protected] or schedule a 15min consultation.

Blog Author - Molly Dennehy

Written By Molly Dennehy
Molly Dennehy is a marketing expert who has evidenced effective digital marketing strategies across six different industries. Now, she brings her diverse experience and creativity to automotive dealers. From audience targeting, campaign set-up, and content creation, Molly is passionate about sharing new and innovative ways to drive results.

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What’s New At DU: Dealership Culture In The Age Of Social Media

What’s New At DU: Dealership Culture In The Age Of Social Media

by | Jun 28, 2022 | Company and Events, Industry News, Social Media

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What’s New At DU: Dealership Culture In The Age Of Social Media

What impact does social media have on your culture? 🤔

 Check out the video above to hear from Justin Friend, VP & General Manager, and Molly Dennehy, Brand Manager, or skim the highlights listed below.

 💡 Pro tip: You can jump to different sections in the video by using the video navigation tools or by clicking any “(Watch at #)” linked below.

 Agenda:

  • Social Media & Dealership Culture
  • Customer Spotlight: Zeigler Auto Group 👏
  • TikTok Best Practices

Social Media & Dealership Culture (Watch at 0:35)

With social media platforms capturing attention at an increasing rate, it definitely has an impact on our culture. Dealerships who embrace social media and incorporate it into their culture both internally and externally are seeing remarkable results.

Getting your staff involved not only is a great way to create content for your brand and share what the culture is like at your dealership, but also a method of team building!

The Top Reasons People Visit Your Social Media (Watch at 1:20)

We recently learned that the top reasons a user visits your social media pages are: 1) to read reviews and 2) to check out your culture. People want to learn about your customer experience and meet the people they would be interacting with.

Start A Team Content Contest (Watch at 2:07)

Creating a social media content contest can jump start your efforts to improve your social media footprint on your dealership culture. Here is how to do it:

  • Determine the prizes. We suggest prizes for most engagement + most votes for creativity. Get the community involved with voting! (Google Forms is great for this.)
  • Set the topics or categories. Think about what’s trending & sharing your culture. Do they have to say a buzzword or phrase? Use a prop or sound? Show off the team or inventory?
  • Set the duration. For each category, set the time to measure results. We suggest 1 week per video.
  • Have regular check-ins. Hold brainstorming and training sessions before, during and after! Share the winning video across channels.

If you hold a contest, we want to help! Share your videos and accounts with us, and we will help promote your content! Email: [email protected]

Customer Spotlight: Zeigler Auto Group (Watch at 3:59)

Our Customer Spotlight of the month is Zeigler Auto Group! We chose Zeigler to be our spotlight because they truly are embracing social media into their culture, and have put together some unique programs to promote content creation amongst their team.

This group spans 24 brands in 4 states with over 35 rooftops.

Lindsay Latsko is the Director of Internet and Marketing Operations for several of their locations, and she is a member of our Customer Advisory Board. In this month’s meeting she shared that they have created an internal program called “Driving Social”.

Their team meets once a month to brainstorm and inspire each other on creating content by sharing ideas, tips, and training on the platforms. By adding some friendly competition, it is truly ‘driving’ some great content and camaraderie!

TikTok Best Practices (Watch at 6:20)

We recently hosted a webinar on the #1 most downloaded social platform in the world- TikTok. If you are interested in learning best practices for creating content for your dealership, you will want to catch the replay! We have also put together some resource guides that you can download to help you get started or optimize your current strategies.

Click here to watch the replay! https://www.dealersunited.com/resource/webinar-taking-on-tiktok
Click here to download the TikTok Organic Guide! http://www.dealersunited.com/wp-content/uploads/TikTok-Organic-Guide-Dealers-United.pdf  
See some of our favorite TikTok examples: https://www.dealersunited.com/resource/tiktok-examples-car-dealers/  

Blog Author - Molly Dennehy

Written By Molly Dennehy
Molly Dennehy is a marketing expert who has evidenced effective digital marketing strategies across six different industries. Now, she brings her diverse experience and creativity to automotive dealers. From audience targeting, campaign set-up, and content creation, Molly is passionate about sharing new and innovative ways to drive results.

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What’s New At DU: NADA Data & Powerful Brand Ads

What’s New At DU: NADA Data & Powerful Brand Ads

by | Apr 29, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Identity and Branding, Industry News

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What’s New At DU: NADA Data & Powerful Brand Ads

New Data  ✅  New Ads  ✅  New Promotions  ✅

 There is a lot of NEW for YOU this month. Check out the video above to hear from Justin Friend, VP & General Manager, and Molly Dennehy, Brand Manager, or skim the highlights listed below.

 💡 Pro tip: You can jump to different sections in the video by using the video navigation tools or by clicking any “(Watch at #)” linked below.

 Agenda:

  • NADA Data 2021: Full Year Report Analysis & Opportunities
  • Powerful Ad Examples: Branding, Custom Order & Pre-Order, Pre-Owned, Vehicle Acquisition, and TradePending 
  • Customer Spotlight – Tynan’s Auto Group  👏
  • Pinterest & Snapchat Special Promotions 🤑
  • Trade Show Discounts – Digital Dealer & DrivingSales

 NADA Data 2021: New Light-Vehicle (Watch at 1:10)

The 2021 NADA Data full year report features the many major milestones achieved by the retail auto industry during the year.

Take a look at the inventory trends for New Light-Vehicles:

 With new inventory still in demand, auto shoppers have less to choose from, which makes where they buy their new vehicle even that much more important. 

 To help put your brand out in front of the competition, dealers should promote ads focused on their brand and “why buys.” Show and tell your local market what makes you special and sets you apart from the dealer down the road.  

 You can also leverage social media platforms to promote your Custom Orders and Pre-Order campaigns. Share how easy you make the process of getting exactly what they want. 

 NADA Data 2021: Used Inventory (Watch at 4:06)

 Pre-Owned vehicles are also in high demand: by consumers and dealers.

 NADA shared these graphs to highlight key stats:

 Used-vehicle sales dipped in 2020 (not surprisingly) but picked up again in 2021. We expect that 2022 will outpace last year due to inventory shortages and high demand. Do you have a plan to source pre-owned vehicles to replenish your lot?

  Try running a buy-back or vehicle acquisition campaign on multiple social platforms for an Omnichannel sourcing strategy.  

  We have also shown success by running campaigns directly to your TradePending page on your website. These ad playbooks are branded to reflect TradePending colors for a seamless user experience.  

 Want to look deeper into your market to enhance your acquisition campaigns? Try the updated Dealers United MarketAnalyzer. This free tool can not only provide audience size and demographics, but also calculate a suggested budget and return on investment. 

Check it out at https://app.dealersunited.com/analyzer#/

 Customer High-Five (Watch at 6:59)

🖐️  Tynan’s Auto Group is absolutely crushing the video game! 

This group consists of a VW, Nissan and Preowned Supercenter, and they are doing a fantastic job at showcasing their dealership, promoting their “why buys”, and presenting the personalities of their team in their online content. (Definitely watch their ads at 7:12)

 We called Markus Kamm, Director of Sales, to ask him about his video strategy.

“Now that the market has changed, we can really focus on our brand as a dealership: what we’re all about, what we stand for, how we do business and who we are – and attract people that way.

Putting our videos on social media has given us the opportunity to really showcase “us”. So in other words, make the deal secondary, and just put out there who you are, what makes you unique and special, why people should come do business with you. Because there are still the same amount of dealership choices and people need a reason to come to you.

So, if you’re not out there branding yourself and showcasing your dealership’s personality through the showcasing of your employee’s personalities, I would say you’re absolutely missing the boat.”

 Pinterest & Snapchat Promotion! (Watch at 9:30)

Interested in adding a new platform to your social strategy, but haven’t made the jump?

We have two amazing promotions for new activations for Pinterest and Snapchat.

Receive a $1000 Ad Credit for Pinterest when you spend $3000!

Earn a $375 Ad Credit for Snapchat when you spend $750!

Reach out to your Performance Manager or Account Executive to take advantage of either (or both!) of these great incentives.

 Trade Show Ticket Discounts (Watch at 10:10)

If you plan on attending Digital Dealer in Tampa, FL, May 9-11, or DrivingSales Presidents Club in Ft Lauderdale, FL, May 15-16, we have some awesome discounts for you!

Use our links to get discount codes for up to $200 off your Digital Dealer ticket and $100 off Driving Sales!

We are also very excited to be apart of both events!

Justin Friend will join Allison McConeghy, Sr Partner Manager from Pinterest, for a breakout session on Tuesday, “How to Sell Where Your Customers Are Shopping With Dealer Inventory On Pinterest”, where they will go over everything you want to know about the platform.

Use this link to RSVP or sign up to get the slides. If you are not going, sign up and we will send the recording! 

And Justin and Molly have a virtual session for Digital Dealer NOW about turning your customers into raving fans by flipping your marketing funnel! If you plan on grabbing a virtual pass, be sure to check it out!

At DrivingSales Presidents Club, Justin will sit on a panel to review and analyze the results of DrivingSales research project regarding current marketing strategies and expenses. There will be a lot of great insights into current trends and strategies that Justin will bring back and share with us.

That’s all folks!

Thanks for checking out what’s new with DU.  Stay tuned for more updates next month!

 Questions? Compliments? Ready to maximize your success? 

 Reach out to us at [email protected] or schedule a 15min consultation.

Blog Author - Molly Dennehy

Written By Molly Dennehy
Molly Dennehy is a marketing expert who has evidenced effective digital marketing strategies across six different industries. Now, she brings her diverse experience and creativity to automotive dealers. From audience targeting, campaign set-up, and content creation, Molly is passionate about sharing new and innovative ways to drive results.

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What’s New At DU: Pinterest Check-in & NEW Webinar

What’s New At DU: Pinterest Check-in & NEW Webinar

by | Mar 28, 2022 | Company and Events, Digital Marketing, Social Media

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What’s New At DU: Pinterest Check-in & NEW Webinar

Wrapping up Q1 on a high note 🎶

Welcome back to the new format for Dealers United Partner Updates! Check out this month’s info in two ways: print or video.

💡 Pro tip: You can jump to different sections in the video by using the video navigation tools or by clicking any “(Watch at #)” linked below.

Agenda:

  • NADA Recap
  • NADA Workshop Webinar!
  • Customer Spotlight – Dahl Ford  👏
  • Pinterest Check-in
  • Dealers United Team Updates 😎

NADA Recap (Watch at 0:19)

This year’s NADA Show 2022 was a blast! The event took place March 10th-13th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It was great to be in person once again to reconnect and celebrate our industry. 

The theme of the show was centered on the future of our industry, with a focus on Electric Vehicles. The show’s content emphasized the importance of educating and informing auto shoppers to help guide them through upcoming industry changes and trends.

NADA Workshop Webinar (Watch at 1:19)

Pete Petersen, CEO of Dealers United, hosted a workshop, “7 Undercover Direct-to-Consumer Platforms You Need In 2022,” on Sunday, March 13th. 🔥

After the session, there were so many questions from the audience that we went overtime (NADA literally had to cut us off). 😅

So, we decided to host this virtual session to answer ALL of your questions about advertising on social media.

Discover the direct-to-consumer channels that will help your store engage, influence and close buyers. 🔑 Three key takeaways:

▶️ Explore 7 social platforms that are helping other dealers reach more auto buyers: Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok & Instagram.

▶️ Understand how to use data to target your ideal audience and in-market auto shoppers, and what sources you can leverage now – including some that you already own!

▶️ Identify the right messages (with examples!) to leapfrog your business ahead of the competition and increase market share.

Can’t make the live event? No worries – register anyway and we’ll send you the recording!

Customer High-Five (Watch at 1:49)

🖐️  Dahl Ford is our Customer Spotlight of the month!

We are excited to celebrate 1 year of working with the team in Davenport, IA, who leverage Facebook + Instagram and Snapchat for a full funnel Omnichannel strategy. 

From February 2021 to February 2022,  their campaigns had an average match rate of 24.8% with 344 sales attributed at a $107.57 CPUS. Their average CPL was $22.12 with 48,550 total landing page views. Absolutely incredible!

Pinterest Check-in (Watch at 3:42)

On Pinterest, positivity is the key to success! Pinners come with a positive mindset and expect the same from your content.

When your brand delivers positive, authentic content, you benefit from higher engagement with your followers.

📌  Three Pin Tips:

  • Create content that supports your audience’s personal style, judgment-free.
  • Encourage your followers’ aspirations by introducing them to new ideas.
  • Help your audience take the next step with actionable suggestions.

Pinterest is a highly personal experience, where individuals come to be inspired, plan their next life event, and discover new ideas. By building a presence on Pinterest, your auto dealership can become a part of their lives and help them find the perfect vehicle for their lifestyle.

Dealers United Updates 😎 (Watch at 6:02)

It has been a BIG month for #TeamDU! At the start of the month, we brought all our crew together in Sarasota, FL for some team building, bonding.

It was an action packed few days filled with games, gratitude and giving back to our community.

We are a fully remote company, and while that has its perks, it was so amazing to bring people from 19 different states together to celebrate each other and nurture our culture.

However, one person who couldn’t join us in Florida was Customer Success Manager Mike Miller, because he was welcoming his son, Lando, into the world!

Congratulations to Mike and his growing family, who officially wins the cutest new Zoom background when baby Lando makes an appearance. 👶

Are we in the right lane? 🚘 (Watch at 7:02)

Hopefully you can tell how proud we are of #TeamDU, and we are just as honored to have this partnership with you. We truly strive to build a relationship with our members so that it feels as if our team is an extension of your team.

Thank you those who have recently written reviews on Facebook or Google or texted us feedback, because it is so valuable. We want to know if we are driving in the right lane with you, and if there is anything we can do to improve or enhance our partnership.

It would mean so much if you could take 30 seconds to leave us a review on Facebook or Google.

Thank you for tuning to this month’s updates! ✌️

 Questions? Compliments? Ready to maximize your success? 

 Reach out to us at [email protected] or schedule a 15min consultation.

Blog Author - Molly Dennehy

Written By Molly Dennehy
Molly Dennehy is a marketing expert who has evidenced effective digital marketing strategies across six different industries. Now, she brings her diverse experience and creativity to automotive dealers. From audience targeting, campaign set-up, and content creation, Molly is passionate about sharing new and innovative ways to drive results.

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What’s New At DU: Top Automotive Ad Campaigns & NADA

What’s New At DU: Top Automotive Ad Campaigns & NADA

by | Feb 24, 2022 | Company and Events, Digital Marketing

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What’s New At DU: Top Automotive Ad Campaigns & NADA

New Updates Coming In Hot 🔥

Welcome to the new format for Dealers United Partner Updates! We have provided this month’s information in two ways: print or video. 

Prefer to watch? Check out the video above to hear from Justin Friend, VP & General Manager, and Molly Dennehy, Brand Manager, or skim the highlights listed below.

💡 Pro tip: You can jump to different sections in the video by using the video navigation tools or by clicking any “(Watch at #)” linked below.

Agenda:

  • Omnichannel Check-In – Trending Results 📊
  • Suggested Playbooks
  • Customer Spotlight – South County DCJR  👏
  • NADA Show 2022 – RSVP for our D2C workshop!
  • Dealers United Team Updates 😎

Omnichannel Check-in – Trending Results (Watch at 0:54)

The biggest buzzword right now in digital advertising is Omnichannel.

At its core, an Omnichannel strategy puts the customer at the center of everything by serving full-funnel automotive ad campaigns across multiple social media platforms.

To execute this strategy, advertisers leverage user data signals with sophisticated API integrations to present the next logical ad message to the ideal target audience, creating a frictionless online customer journey and optimized ad spend budget.  🤓

In Q3 2021, Dealers United led the way in the automotive industry by providing auto dealers the ability to tap into this powerful strategy, and the trending results of the Omnichannel automotive ad campaigns are amazing!  *chef’s kiss* 🤌💋

Here are the month-over-month KPI results from December ‘21 to January ‘22 for the automotive ad campaigns on Snapchat, Pinterest, Facebook+Instagram, and TikTok:

Snapchat (Watch at 1:57)

  • CPM ⬇️ by 31%
  • CPC ⬇️ by 43%

Pinterest (Watch at 2:55 + Bonus $1000 Media Credit! 🎁✨)

  • CPM ⬇️ by 35%
  • CPC ⬇️ by 39%

Facebook & Instagram (Watch at 3:59) 

  • CPM ⬇️ by 24%
  • CPC ⬇️ by 21%

TikTok (Watch at 4:44)

  • CPM ⬇️ by 45%
  • CPC ⬇️ by 44%

Blended Omnichannel Metrics (Watch at 5:24)

  • CPM ⬇️ by 32%
  • CPC ⬇️ by 40%

As you can see, the results from Omnichannel automotive ad campaigns are more than just industry buzz, but driving some awesome returns. So…what results can your dealership expect in your market? 

The updated Dealers United MarketAnalyzer can not only provide audience size and demographics, but also calculate a suggested budget and return on investment. 

Check it out at https://app.dealersunited.com/analyzer#/


Yes, we geek out on data and targeting. (I mean, the MarketAnalyzer predicts conversion rate and expected sales!) But, it’s what we do with it that really counts…

Each month, our Ad Operations team analyzes the best-of-the-best performing automotive ad campaigns to create Dealer Ad Playbooks. 💪

Recommended Playbooks (Watch at 6:25)

Playbooks are proven sets of ready-to-deploy ads built to help solve business challenges–  preset with audience targeting, ad creative, copy, AND campaign strategy. They are specially crafted to reach consumers that can take action and drive leads to your CRM.

These playbooks are recommended based on what’s working right now across our network.

Now Available:

  • 2022 Vehicle Acquisition & BuyBack 
  • 2022 Custom Order (OEM specific: CDJR, Ford, Chevrolet)
  • 2022 Tax Season Playbook
  • 2022 Generic Hiring Ads 

New Model Line Playbooks

These playbooks are designed to meet co-op needs and reach your local market with specific model lines. Each model line contains videos, carousels, and images to help promote, inform, educate, and excite consumers on a specific model line.

We recommend these playbooks go to Model Line SRP pages or landing pages specific to the promoted model.

Just Released:

  • 2022 Dodge Durango
  • 2022 Dodge Challenger
  • 2022 VW ID.4
  • 2021 Jeep Renegade
  • 2022 Hyundai IONIQ 5
  • 2022 Hyundai Elantra
  • 2022 Ford F-150
  • 2022 Ford Escape
  • 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee
  • 2022 Chevrolet Blazer
  • 2022 Subaru Crosstrek

Dealers United Partners can browse all available playbooks & ad creative by logging in to the dashboard and navigating to “Playbooks.”

Are we missing a playbook? Let us know and we’ll add it shortly!

Customer High-Five (Watch at 10:35)

🖐️  South County DCJR is leveraging Pinterest, Facebook + Instagram, and Snapchat ads going full funnel Omnichannel, resulting in 511 leads with a CPC of $0.90 and CPL of $13.98.

We’re hosting a workshop at NADA 2022! (Watch at 12:10)

Heading to Las Vegas in March? Pete Petersen, CEO of Dealers United, is hosting a workshop, “7 Undercover Direct-to-Consumer Platforms You Need In 2022,” on Sunday, March 13th at 10:30am. 🔥

Pete says, “As a dealer, you have a HUGE competitive advantage over the national providers. They need to reach and engage shoppers in over 40,000 zip codes… you only need to master your Primary Area of Responsibility.

 You now have the ability to reach and direct ALL automotive shoppers to your dealership’s website during their path to purchase.”

 Register for the slides and RSVP for the session at: bit.ly/NADA2022

Welcome to #TeamDU (Watch at 12:34)

We are excited to welcome three new Customer Support Managers to the team! Please say hello to Aleena Bowman, MJ Belada, and Mitch Lucky! Happy to have you on board!  🥳  

All-Hands Company Retreat!

Dealers United is investing in bringing our entire team, from across the country, together to celebrate, connect and align on Wednesday, March 2nd, and Thursday, March 3rd, in sunny Sarasota, FL. 🌴☀️

Our teams will have all partners’ March templates built out and ready to deploy, but please let our team know of any early content or rebudgeting needs as soon as possible.

 That’s all folks!

Thanks for checking out what’s new with DU. Did you like this new format? Ready for Justin & Molly’s blooper reel? (Oh yea, best believe we have got that on deck.) 😜✌️

 Questions? Compliments? Ready to maximize your success? 

 Reach out to us at [email protected] or schedule a 15min consultation.

Blog Author - Molly Dennehy

Written By Molly Dennehy
Molly Dennehy is a marketing expert who has evidenced effective digital marketing strategies across six different industries. Now, she brings her diverse experience and creativity to automotive dealers. From audience targeting, campaign set-up, and content creation, Molly is passionate about sharing new and innovative ways to drive results.

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