Pinterest or Instagram: Which Should Your Dealership Be Using?

As social media has become increasingly integrated into dealer marketing strategies, many have focused on the most common, and talked about, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+. While these should all be a part of a dealer’s marketing, dealers may want to consider establishing profiles on two very popular sites: Pinterest and Instagram.

Both of these networks offer dealers opportunities to connect with consumers but which one is better? Let’s take a look at each platform.

Instagram

Instagram is a visual platform designed for brief engagements. The premise is simple. Take a picture; share it with your friends. Users tend to spend less time on Instagram as it’s primarily a mobile platform. Its user base is well balanced between men and women and almost ¾ of its users are between the ages of 18-34. Dealers who use Instagram for marketing should focus on brand exposure. Content should be brand-driven and personal. Uploading pictures of inventory en masse won’t score you many points with followers. Content should be engaging, creative and fun. Since its introduction of video, Instagram has become really popular for the sharing of short, creative video content. One benefit of Instagram is that it shares well on Facebook. An audience can view images and videos natively without leaving Facebook. It doesn’t play as well with Twitter, however. Twitter users need to click a link that opens another site in order to view either of these. Instagram is an easy platform to integrate into your Facebook marketing for these reasons. Rather than take the photo or video with your phone’s native camera feature, consider using the Instagram app to do so. You will then have the option of sharing that content not only on the Instagram platform but also on Facebook and Twitter. Used in this manner, dealerships can kill two birds with one stone and have presences on each. Keep in mind, however, that Instagram is not designed to be a sales platform but rather one of connecting with other users and dealers who want to gain traction will keep that in mind when choosing what images to post.

Pinterest

Pinterest is also a photo-sharing site. However, unlike Instagram, Pinterest is primarily a web-based platform. Pinterest’s demographics skew heavily towards women (84%) and people under 35 (90%). The average Pinterest user, however, has a household income over $100,000. These are certainly attractive demographics for car dealerships. Pinterest offers more content flexibility than Instagram as photo content can be separated into boards (categories). In addition, Pinterest users can attach URLs from the images to websites. Pinterest users are primarily looking for high quality brand images. An example of great content for Pinterest would include concept and unique vehicles. Referral traffic from Pinterest has been reported to be as 50 percent higher than from other sources with 10 percent of visitors being more likely to purchase. The biggest opportunity that Pinterest delivers is in brand introduction. It isn’t necessary for consumers to seek a dealer out specifically as typical behavior sees users seeking out areas or brands of interest in general regardless of who is posting it. By posting compelling and high-quality photos, dealers will have the opportunity to increase the likelihood that they will be discovered.

Both platforms offer value for dealers. Pinterest is without question your best choice if your goal is to drive traffic to your website. Keep in mind, however, that to be successful, a dealer must increase the likelihood of them being found åby the RIGHT consumers – namely theirs. Both platforms offer the option to use hashtags in order to expose your content to searchers. Hashtags should not only include brand keywords (i.e. Ford, Toyota, etc.) but also include location keywords by state and city names.

Regardless of which you choose, just as with all social networks, a little research will go a long way towards increasing your success. Take the time to learn the proper use of the platform in both form and function. See what other dealers and brands are posting. Most OEMs have accounts on both and will give you a great starting point with which to launch your new identity on either platform. With a little planning and some creativity, dealers can achieve additional exposure with minimal effort.