Should Dealers Have Interest in Pinterest?

[Eric Miltsch]

@loritodd "Not worth the time; takes a lot of time to curate" - it's take but a few seconds to pin something w/the pin it button.

While it may be against their etiquette, it's also part of their master plan to have brands flock to the site to eventually monetize the activity within the site. Eventually you'll probably see branded boards as well.

I don't think anybody is trying to sell a car via Pinterest. (If you are, please stop ASAP) Here's a perfect example of the utility that can come from it - I pinned one of our cars, a slick Mercedes convertible, to my cars board. An existing customer of ours liked the pin, re-pinned it & even commented on it. What's the benefit? She's an active user with a large following on her networks & her activity was shared across her networks - creating yet another passive opportunity for our brand to be shared by someone considered influential among her network.

Another great example of how it's helped create awareness & drive traffic has come from pinning infographics from our blog. I believe every infographic I've posted has been liked & re-pinned. (and each post creates a link back to the blog)

There are ways to leverage every platform, the key is doing it in non-obtrusive ways - learn how to fit into the community and be a smart participant and it can work...in any community. Simple playground rules

 

[Clay Toporski (blog)]

@emiltsch @loritodd

I would love if my competitors spent the majority of their day on social media sites trying to join the community. This way, I can worry about actually selling cars.

I am very active in many online social communities. You know how many cars I have sold from it? One.

I would rather spend my time with my church congregation or interacting with families that do the same activities as my daughter.

Why would I spend all this time on social media when I can find a better and more geographically pleasing audience in my own backyard.

The goal is to not push cars down people's throats. Nobody, in real life or online, likes to be marketed to. Rather, be a part of a community and people will come to know what you do. As a part of their community they may find they trust you - and business will come. Sporadically.

My time and money is best spent finding more ways to drive traffic to my site and converting them to leads.

Sure, it may take a minute to pin a car to Pinterest. But, how are you building a community around you to see that pin? Certainly not as a car dealer. And, it is that process that is time consuming and not really worth the ROI unless you already have a vested interest in that community and the car sale is secondary. And, in that case, I would never pin a car for sale anyway. It is a violation of that trust and that community.

 

[emiltsch]

@loritodd Plenty to be learned from it; replied to your post as well. Here's my initial post about it: http://t.co/LZuN62NF

 

[loritodd]

@emiltsch I think it depends on if you're identifying as yourself (like you do) or as the dealership itself. Honestly, I don't see the...

 

[emiltsch]

@loritodd I hope that nobody creates an account for a dealership. Ugh.

 

[Eric Miltsch]

@Clay Toporski SM channels shouldn't be acquisition channels anyway; they should be listening channels, customer service channels or ultimately influence channels.

 

[georgenenni]

@emiltsch @Clay Toporski Great points. A lot of what I've learned on Pinterest is discussing with my wife, her friends and sisters about their use. They've made recipes, got ideas, bought clothes they've seen, all without feeling they were sold anything. My wife calls it "an idea site", she searches for topics to get ideas. Not too much of a stretch to think that when a need for a new Hybrid comes up, folks need to get ideas, see what their friends are doing. Many great examples of dealers using SM, not selling anything but instead being part of community, joining conversations to help, having fun, making people laugh. Go to Facebook and search for "Suzuki of Wichita", pretty amazing.

 

[CamilleForte]

Interestingly, I think everyone here has a valid point... including JohnCarCutt... it's NOT about spamming, but is there a realm in between misuse and genuine strategy to generate more traffic and leads? Knowing the stats of how many friends on your FB friends list who are ready to buy a car TODAY, and also knowing that UGC is exponentially more valuable than your (dealership's) own page's content, could Pinterest be used for business - but in a private manner - to deliver customer experience photos so that they can find themselves and proceed to "pin?" Clay has a very valid point, because we do live in an experiential economy in which archaic sales methods have no place in your marketing strategy. As a marketing manager, I have to evaluate every social platform from the customer's perspective, then choose the best tactics to BRAND THE DEALERSHIP. NO social network is about selling cars - it's about inbound marketing and knowing the demographics of your inbound marketing. If anyone is still trying to use a social platform as a "push" sales method, it's a guaranteed failure. Better to establish yourself (your dealership) as a community presence... when they want a car, they WILL know where to go. That's good marketing, in my humble opinion.

 

[TheEricGiddens]

@Dealerrefresh - Growth chart for #Pinterest in 2011. Absolutely Skyrocketing! I want to see their strategic plan. http://t.co/TfZ3WXLv

 

[frankadgpr]

@malcolli I see what you mean. Okay.