Social Media Update for the Week of September 7, 2015

Meerkat Live Hashtags

A brand-new approach to stream discovery, Meerkat welcomes live hashtags this week. By including a hashtag in stream titles, user posts will be added to the user-generated feed of hashtags at the top of the app. Hashtags that appear with an underscore include both scheduled and live streams. By adding a hashtag, users can boost their titles and reach brand-new audiences with their videos, increasing exposure and growing their online communities. Savvy dealerships that are already taking advantage of live streaming can now boost their videos and stream directly to categories matching their topics. Keep a regular stream going and reach even more customers by creating your own dealership hashtag!

New Messaging on LinkedIn

LinkedIn just made it easier for users to message each other. Recognizing the need for more casual, short conversations, the social media site for professionals now offers a new “messaging experience” that promises to make it easier to have light, meaningful conversations. As professional lives evolve and the ways people work together continue to change, LinkedIn has worked to change with them, now offering a cleaner look, a chat-style interface for easy messaging, and easily-referenced messages. Included in this latest upgrade are improvements to push and email notifications, making it even easier to stay up-to-date with important conversations. Look for new features like being able to add stickers, emojis, and GIFs to messages to add a little pizzazz. Dealerships working their social media connections can stay in touch with business connections using LinkedIn’s newly updated features. Don’t forget to add inventory pics or shots from the showroom floor to make your message more meaningful.

Improvements to Instagram Direct

With more than 85 million users, Instagram Direct was due for some updates. Users can look forward to features like threaded messages and the ability to send content from their feed as a Direct message. Threaded messages allow conversations to flow more naturally by creating threads based on the people who appear in user photos or videos. This feature, combined with the ability to now name groups, gives Instagram users more control when it comes to responding and interacting with posts. With the newest update, users will note an arrow next to the like and comment icons under every post; simply by tapping it, the post can be sent to a friend or a group as a message. Create new connections and foster existing connections with Instagram Direct’s newest updates. Dealerships can reach out to contacts, create real connections, and keep messages for future reference.

Twitter Self-Service Ads

Twitter recently announced its self-service ad expansion—from availability in 33 countries to now over 200 countries. Target audiences for businesses all over the world can now be reached in 15 languages on Twitter, with the number of advertisers on Twitter sitting at approximately 100,000. With businesses using Twitter to drive engagement through leads, website clicks, and conversions, the social media app continues assist advertisers in reaching potential clients. Dealerships looking to get the most out of Twitter ads can use the Lead Generation Card to collect leads within tweets or the Website Card to drive traffic to their own website.

Tumblr Improves Reblog Comments

Tumblr users can now rest their eyes. Starting this week, instead of the old way of reading reblog comments—the indent-and-then-indent-some-more method—comments will now actually be readable. It may seem like a small change, but for users who have been battling fatigue just trying to keep up with all the indented comments, the new in-line reblog comments are refreshing. If your dealership is looking to add another social media site to its repertoire, take a look at Tumblr. Home to almost 65 million blogs and boasting nearly 17 billion page views per month, not only is it another powerful outlet for spreading brand awareness, you’ll also be able to integrate your Tumblr posts into your Facebook timeline.

Native Gmail Ads for All Advertisers

Beginning September 1, Gmail ads became available to all advertisers, directly in AdWords. Offering interactive formats that have been tested to engage users, improvements include removing standard text ads from Gmail and showing fewer, higher-quality native ads. Evolving Gmail ads allow advertisers the opportunity to reach a larger audience with advanced display targeting, and customizable ad templates allow advertisers to feature a single image, a call-to-action button, combine an image and a description, or showcase various products. Additionally, users will experience more overall control over the ads they see. Dealerships looking to propel an event or promotion toward success can look toward AdWords for a broad online reach. The flexibility of being able to stop, resume, restart, and rework campaigns can help you keep your information up-to-date and performing well with your audience.

Skype 6.0 Is Here

With a newly redesigned platform and brand-new updates, Skype 6.0 for Android and iOS hit the ground running. Designed to be more natural and intuitive, Skype offers new capabilities that will keep just about every user happy. Android users can look forward to custom ringtones, photo sharing, web link previews, a floating action button, and improved messaging. For iOS users, look for easy-to-use apps with swipe gestures for calling and managing messages, easier photo sharing, web links, and emoticons. Enhanced search, for both Android and iOS users, will make it easier for everyone to find things simply by using the new recents tab. If your dealership is using Skype to stay connected, things just got easier! Share video calls, audio calls, chats, or messages with the newly updated features and keep everyone in touch and on the same page.

Tip of the Week—Keeping Your Content in Context

The phrase du jour is “Content Marketing.” We hear it everywhere, and all the cool kids are doing it; but there’s more to content marketing than simply tossing copy, pictures, and videos online for potential customers to see. Successful content marketing takes time and careful consideration on your part in order to provide targeted information your audience will find useful and relevant. Content that educates and hits the “sweet spot” when it comes to resonating with shoppers is more likely to hit its mark than content that’s pushed onto your platform without regard to consumer needs and usage preferences.

Keeping in mind the context of your marketing and the mindset of your audience is a great way to ensure your message sticks. It’s important to note different audiences receive information differently and value varying features of your product or service, and that makes it extremely important for you to do some legwork before you do your marketing work. For example, be able to answer the following questions about your audience so you’ll know exactly how to address their questions, concerns, and interests with your best marketing foot forward:

• Are you speaking to early adopters of technology? What tech products do they lean toward using most?
• How will your product fit into these consumers’ lifestyles?
• How is this group of consumers most likely to get the greatest benefit from your product?
• If your product has multiple facets or uses, which aspects of it will apply most to your targeted audience?
• What age groups are you targeting? How does this affect the way consumers research, learn about, and ultimately purchase your product?
• Are there things preventing these consumers from purchasing your product? If so, what are the roadblocks, and how can you deconstruct them?
• Do you have competitors going after this same audience? How do you distinguish yourself from them?
• What are the cultural, social, age, and socioeconomic demographics of your audience?

These are just a few questions to get you started. It’s impossible to quantify the number of interactions, questions, and answers it would take to get to know a consumer fully, however, what’s important is that you work toward gaining the greatest possible understanding of your audience. When you can relate to the way consumers feel—and when you can predict some of their marketplace needs—you’ll be better able to present marketing that makes sense to them. By offering messages within a context that’s understood by your target market, your brand will reap the benefits.

Want to see the latest technology FuzeCast has to offer?  Call our team today at 1-855-313-2452 or email info@motofuze.com.  We’d also like to invite you to visit our booth at Digital Dealer 19!  Stop by booth #631 for a demo and a chance to win one of four Apple Watches, iPad Minis and more!