Would you like to know EXACTLY how to select a social media agency for your RV Dealership? Maybe you’re a manufacturer or a campground who is struggling to find your solution to social media sales?

Whatever your situation we’ve created the ultimate guide for RV Dealerships to hire a social media marketing agency. Last year we reached over 75 million campers on social media for our dealership clients so we’ve taken that experience to put this guide together for you to make the best decision for your dealership in regards to social media.

What Stage Are You In Now?

1. Doing it yourself
2. Using a marketing agency
3. Not doing much or haven’t started

Now let’s unpack these stages of social media for RV Dealerships and talk about the solutions.

1. Doing Social Media In-House

I can understand how doing your social media marketing in house might seem like a good idea at first. But here’s a few common reasons people do it in-house and common actual reality that’s occurring:

• You already have a marketing team/person.
  • The in-house marketing team/person isn’t going to be able to compete with a specialized social media agency. No offense to them, I’m sure they’re great at overall marketing BUT social media is changing so quickly that if you don’t have a sharp team of experts staying on top of the strategies, tactics, and changes you will get blown out of the water by someone who is.
• You have a millennial or someone who’s always on their phone and on social so they must know how to do it.
  • Just because someone is always on social media doesn’t mean they know the high level tactics to convert an audience into sales. And as the old saying goes, if it doesn’t make money it doesn’t make sense!
• You don’t want to spend money or it’s not in the budget.
  • With traditional forms of advertising failing and having severely diminishing results, you need to shift your marketing budgets. Wherever the eyes and the ears are of your prospect, is where you want to be. Right now people are stuck with their heads in their phones so meet them there!
• You plan on doing it when you have time.
  • I can’t tell you how many Dealerships have told me they’re just going to do it themselves and when I follow up in 6 months or a year later they still haven’t gotten around to it. You’re busy, things come up and it often gets pushed to the wayside, leaving you pushing away potential prospects who want to buy new/used campers.

2. Hiring a Marketing Agency

A few common reasons people outsource to an agency and the actual reality that’s occurring:

• They’re experts.
  • Not at RVing… Most likely they are trained in the best practices of social media. They know how to post, when to post, etc. The biggest challenge RV Dealerships run into when outsourcing to a marketing agency is they’re NOT experts at RVing. In fact they probably stay in hotels when they take vacations lol… Time and time again I hear dealerships complain to me that they’re last agency didn’t have enough knowledge about our industry to understand and connect with the audience. They didn’t have enough depth about RVing to add real value to the audience.

• They good at it… What really blows my mind is how many marketing agencies aren’t actually experts at marketing. I see things ALL THE TIME from agencies that make me wonder how in the world that is what they are delivering for their RV Dealership client. You need to know how to create sales, you hire an agency to truly know how to get results, not to “post”. Just because someone is posting for you and they work for a marketing firm, doesn’t mean they have any clue how to deliver results that will increase sales. Maybe the owner of the company had some marketing skills, but are they training and checking your posts? I see this happening over and over again…

3. Not Doing Much or Haven’t Started

Does your Facebook or Instagram look like a ghost town? If you haven’t started taking social media serious as a way to exponentially grow your sales, brand and customer relations you’re missing out BIG TIME! Truly I wish you knew how much money you were leaving on the table because you would take action TODAY.

Marketing is actually quite simple, not easy but simple:

Wherever the eyes and ears are, is where you want to be!

More people than ever before are on social media. Consumers want to control what they consume, how they consume it and when they want to consume it. Things like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, Dvr, etc have changed the way we take in information and entertainment.

As traditional forms of marketing continue to take a nose dive with results, NOW is the time to take action to meet your customer where they are (on their phone) and it’s not too late to get on this bike!

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Case Studies of RV Dealership Social Media

I want to point out that the examples we’re giving aren’t one time mistakes. EVERYONE messes up, ourselves included. But I’ve chosen these examples because over and over and over these Dealerships’ Marketing Teams are making the same mistakes which gives you an idea of what you DON’T want out of your marketing agency and we also break down some of the things you DO WANT from your marketing agency.

Selling Tents?

This is a perfect example of what NOT to do… This is an RV Dealership that sells RVs. But the person who is posting is so out of touch with their client that they are telling people to invest into tent camping! They sell RVs, NOT tents…

Quick personal story: back when we were tent campers, one of the reasons switching to RVing was so attractive to Danielle was because she wouldn’t have to worry about me forgetting the tent and her sleeping in the car again (it’s happened more than once)…

Why do People Buy?

Ask yourself this quick question; Are people buying RVs because a dealership has the best motorhome values in America?

First off what specifically does that mean? Does that mean the best prices, maybe they offer the best options/features?

Either way the focus must be on the customer and the benefits to them. People buy for a variety of reasons. At our company we’ve identified the top 50 reasons why people would buy an RV or challenges they would need to overcome and are focused on creating content that identifies and addresses that topic.

They’re wasting valueable visual real estate by saying the same best motorhome value quote 2x. The logo doesn’t need to be on the image as it’s directly above where they placed it. There’s no substance in this ad, it’s a terrible ad and a complete waste of money for the RV Dealership.

Facebook Makes the Rules

It’s their platform and we need to play by their rules. Peel back and look at the big picture for a minute. Facebook’s goal is to increase their stock price. To do that they need to show people more ads. Therefore the most important thing to them is to make sure when people login to their platform they have an enjoyable experience.

If you feel like you’re being advertised to, it’s not enjoyable. One of the main reasons social media has exploded and there are more TV Chord Cutters than ever before is people want to consume what they want, when they want it.

We’re logging into Facebook to be entertained or educated. NOT to be sold to. So there are specific rules Facebook has created that we have to follow to get good results. If you don’t follow their rules you get penalized by them not allowing you to reach many people and with ads, that means it costs you a lot of money.

Check this ad out, it screams advertisement when you make eye contact with it. Facebook has been VERY clear that you should not have more than 20% of an image filled with text. The image should not be designed to spam your audience with information.

Here’s another example on the same topic. Not only is the image filled with text but the text is cut off. Looks very unprofessional and they also wasted money on this poor performing ad.

Targeting Must Be Specific

One of the best benefits of Facebook Ads are the ability to put the right ad in front of the right person. The targeting is insanely detailed. You can layer different demo/psycho graphics to reach the EXACT type of person for a specific unit or campaign.

Which is a nice change from the shotgun approach of things like TV and Radio commercials where you’re paying to throw it out to everyone, hoping a % of the right audience will take action towards your message.

A recent example is we just took on a new dealership client. They were in the process of running some ads and as you can see the age targeting is 18 – 65+. There are very few units (if any) that the IDEAL customer would have an age range such as this.

Traditionally to minimize the wasted dollars on TV, Radio, Billboards, etc the ads had to be very generalized. The more specific you can get towards the benefits of a particular prospect the more you can connect and get them to take action.

Look at most TV Commercials, they usually talk about a big event or a major sale that the dealership is having. Whereas with Facebook ads we’ll put the right unit in front of the right person. 

It’s a very different demo/psycho-graphic of someone who is near retirement and looking for something to do seasonal  or full time RVing vs a younger family who will be camping on long weekends a few times a year.

Yet so many people who are doing Facebook Ads are taking that generalized approach and severely hindering their results like this dealership.

It looks like the person who created the ads below at least understood they should have different ads for different type of units, but just replacing the word “Motorhomes” with “Travel Trailer” and re-purposing a terrible ad will continue to get your terrible results…

Remember, people are logging into Facebook for escapism. They do NOT want to be advertised to. It’s not about “Me” (the dealership) it’s about the prospect. 

Rather than saying “Shop with us, we’re great”.

Change the focus to the prospect for that specific unit.

If you’re targeting someone who’s near retirement talk about that with the opening line to grab their attention and connect with something like:

“Have you been looking for the perfect RV to travel in comfort when you retire?

Pull into the campsite with this (insert unit) and with the touch of a button be level and ready to relax with top of the line features!

You’ll keep cool this summer under the two patio awnings, both with LED lights. 

The full size fridge, large kitchen sink and island will allow you to eat all your favorite meals in the comforts of your home on wheels. 

Relax at the end of the day with ultra comfortable recliners while you watch your favorite shows. Oh and if you wanted to watch TV outside by the campfire, you can do that too…

You can even invite the grandkids to stay with you with the rear bedroom and as soon as they leave turn it back into a hobby or craft room while you travel. 

These are just a few of the reasons you’ll fall in love with this fifth wheel.  👉 click below to see all of the new and exciting features.”

If you’re targeting a young family who are looking for a mid-priced travel trailer to camp on long weekends 21 days a year say something like:

“Let me guess, you’re looking for a quality RV with a functional floorplan that’s easy and spacious to bring your entire family (and all your stuff) camping? Oh, and you want it at a fair price?

The (insert unit) offers rear bunkbeds so the kids have their own space and you have privacy in the front bedroom, an outdoor kitchen to enjoy meals in the great outdoors with easy cleanup, and large storage bays to bring all your kids toys to keep everyone happy.

RIGHT NOW this travel trailer is at an all time low price of just (insert price). Click over or stop on by to see this before it’s gone!”

There are countless ways you can explore the targeting options and the creative of the ads to hit a very specific audience. Here’s a list of just a few example categories of units you may offer that you’ll want to build an array of posts/ads around:

• Entry Level Unit
  • Focus on the first time buyer. Possibly someone moving up from tent camping etc.
• Bunkhouse Unit
  • Room to bring the entire family!
• Luxury Unit
  • All the amenities and comforts of a home on wheels.
• Retirement
  • Someone who’s put in their time working and now looking to do some traveling full time or seasonally.
• Kitchen
  • Target people who like to cook and showcase the units that have a large, nice or unique kitchen so they can easily and comfortably cook while traveling.
• Lightweight 
  • No need to spend more buying a large truck, hook up and go with an existing vehicle.
• Low Price
  • Clearance units, special sales, RV Shows, Open Houses, etc.

There are so many great ways to target specific groups of people based on their interests and stage of life that you have specific units that would meet their needs!

We also do create a small % of our posts that are generalized to target people at the top of the sales funnel or people who may not have considered RVing as an option for them. Usually this is geared towards sending people towards the New or Used Inventory page on the dealership’s website, but as I said it’s a small % of the overall strategy.

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Where Do You Get Content

The #1 challenge a dealership runs into with social media is content. Back to the point of Facebook needing to ensure that when people login they enjoy their experience, you need to make sure that 65% or more are “Lifestyle” posts. Posts that are entertaining or educational about RVing.

When the majority of your posts entertain and educate your audience, it allows you to sell to them 1/3 of the time.

So the big question is – How is the agency going to create content that will entertain or educate your audience if they’re not out doing what your audience is doing?

Since most marketing agencies work in an office, located in a city there are limited options for them in regards to content and they’re not good…

Stock Content is Outdated

Years ago stock content was effective. Today people want authentic and real content. If you’re not familiar with stock content it’s content that you can download online. With Dealerships typically the stock content I see is the same recycled content that they all seem to share. It could be a picture with an overused quote on it or it could be a cartoon style picture like this one.

Poor Sales/Lifestyle Ratio

Another common aspect you’ll see is posting heavy on the sales posts. They don’t compensate for the lack of lifestyle content and just advertise each. As addressed earlier this always ends in Facebook penalizing them and minimizing how many people they can reach.

Like this image below. All 7 posts that they’ve done so far this month have been advertisement style posts. The worst part is they didn’t even have links to the website! The goal is to drive the right traffic to shop for RVs. How can they do that if you don’t provide a link to shop around on your sales posts? Do you really think someone is going to see this post and think, “wow yes what a spectacular view, I want to seek out which RV that is and buy it?” Ummm, nope…

Not Posting Enough Content

Commonly you’ll find that most agencies charge a lot of money for little action. They aren’t able to post often because as we covered previously they don’t have lifestyle content to buffer the ratio of lifestyle to sales posts to be effective. That results in lots of missed sales opportunities and as the old saying goes; if it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense…

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Budget Friendly

You want REAL RESULTS but that costs resources. So what are you paying for when you pay for most social media companies?

If you’ve shopped around you’ve noticed a good marketing agency isn’t cheap. Although it does cost money to get results, here are some of the things that RV Dealerships are paying for when they hire a marketing agency that significantly adds to the cost.

Office Overhead Costs

When I was 25 years old I opened a marketing firm in Orange County California. We produced incredible results for our clients and we quickly grew to 3 locations and around 100 employees.

When 2008 happened and clients had to pull back on their expansion I had to do extensive audits on overhead costs and realized that in most cases there are HUGE costs that aren’t needed AND THE CLIENT PAYS FOR IT!

Office Space

Most people who are looking to work for a marketing firm want a modern, creative and cool place to work. So usually they’ll get a nice office in a hip area of town which has nice signage, desks, etc.

That’s just the basics, if they’re really cool they’ll have gym memberships, free snacks for employees, team nights, waterfront views and many other perks.

Recruiting

Having an incredible team is one of the most critical parts to a company’s success. People think it costs a lot of money to recruit high caliber team members… It doesn’t need to! I use to pay thousands of dollars a month to recruit top talent for my marketing firm and know A LOT of other marketing companies who do the same.

I’ve interviewed thousands of people to hire for my companies and realized there a better way for all parties involved. Now I’m able to bring on top talent FOR FREE!

The Non-Expert

The owner of the company might be very good at marketing. Maybe even some of the executives. But what about the people who are boots on the ground creating, curating and captioning the content for you?

Often these are people who are entry level with little experience. Sometimes they have an expensive marketing degree that’s outdated in the real world when they graduate, again with very little experience.

Training someone with little experience is expensive and guess who pays for that?

Not an RVer

The biggest cost to you is the fact that the people actually posting for RV Dealerships aren’t RVers. When someone needs to create content they have to figure out what content is relevant and will connect with their audience. But they don’t know the audience…

So they have to spend a lot of time researching, trying to educate themselves online about the massive RV Industry, so they can make sure they don’t reference a “motorhome” when they’re posting about a travel trailer (which I’ve had multiple clients switch to me because it kept happening from some of the big “RV” marketing firms).

It brings up the big question:

How can someone consistently add value to your audience when they don’t have much value to add?

Seriously, how can someone add value with tips, inspiration, information with any real depth if they don’t know the industry deeply?

So you’re stuck paying for them to take extra time to educate themselves and still fall short with depth in their posts, costing you A LOT in opportunity cost of sales you should be making on social media.

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RECAP: The Biggest Challenges & Why People Hire Shorelooksnice

Let’s recap. The biggest challenges RV Dealerships have when they’re dealing with hiring a marketing firm to do their social media.

We’d like to hear from you on your biggest challenges and brainstorm with you to create solutions. Before you shoot me an email, text or call; here’s a little background on why we’re able to get the results you’re looking for and crush these marketing challenges to increase revenue!

We found Waldo, we can find your customers!

Experts at social media to increase sales.

• We’ve been doing social media for RV Dealerships for around 6 years.
• Written over 189,142 Facebook posts for the RV Industry
• We have the systems to create consistent results for our clients
• I’ve personally created over 1,000 Facebook Ads for the RV Industry (probably more than anyone in the world)
• Created over 550 videos for dealerships, campgrounds and other camping related companies
• Written over 400 blog posts for clients
• Studied over 1,000 dealership’s social media channels for years
• Written over 9,695 posts as an RV travel blogger

Experts at the RV Industry to add value in creating content, captioning content, and engaging your audience.

• Our entire staff are RVers, almost all are full timers. That means every piece of content, caption and engagement with your audience we’ll be able to connect with the our clients customers because we are our clients customers
• We work exclusively and are hyper focus on the RV/Outdoor Industry

Having enough authentic content of entertainment and education so people will enjoy your content enough to continue to follow you while you sell to them everyday.

• We have more authentic content than anyone, period
• If need to create a piece of content around a specific theme for RVing like fishing, sitting around the campfire, tips and techniques, etc we just go outside and create it

Budget friendly to save you money. 

• We all login remote from our RVs. That means we can pass on the savings to our clients by eliminating overhead costs of a traditional agency
• Our experience and ability to create content on our travels saves you BIG on content costs

Here’s a video I took last year that explains more about what is in the article.

If you’ve been unhappy with your social media results or have been waiting to get started, contact me right away and we’ll go over the best way to exponentially increase sales for your RV Dealership.

Eric Hannan

763-807-9537

Eric@shorelooksnice.com

For more information click here.

We usually customize packages for clients but we’ve done this successfully for so long we’ve found that MOST businesses can fit into one of these packages. Many have an additional budget for Facebook Ads ala carte (so effective right now). Email or call me today and let’s get people to say “Wow, you’re marketing Shorelooksnice!”.