What the Automotive Industry Can Learn From Influencers
The reason so many people watch YouTube or scroll through Instagram and TikTok is because we’re all looking for something to relate to. Whether we’re looking for how-to content to help us work on our cars, or are looking for recommendations on which classic car to buy, influencers have something over big corporations — they are talking directly to us.
As much as I believe Audi that its new S3 has improved handling over the outgoing model, I want to hear a third party confirm that. This is why I turn to journalists and influencers to find out the details. What’s the car like on a windy mountain road? How comfortable is it on the motorway? If I want to take it on track, will it stand up against the lairy hot hatches? Is it the mature hot hatch of my dreams?
I’m not alone in this approach to car buying and it extends to other parts of my life too. I, like many other people, turn to influencers because I trust them. Whether that’s trusting their expertise, knowing they’re a lot like me in their tastes, or just trusting them to give me an impartial opinion, they play a valuable part in the decision-making process.
So what can the automotive industry, particularly dealers, learn from this?
Build trust
There’s a lot of distrust around car dealerships and this can be quite difficult to push back against. Being open and honest about your vehicles and processes is a great start but giving impartial advice without the hard sell is important too.
The world has changed and consumers are much more savvy to pushy sales techniques and would prefer to shop online or privately if it means they can avoid interactions with sales staff.
It’s important that automotive businesses recognise this and do their best to restore the trust consumers have in the industry.
James Buttrick from Vantage Leasing understands the importance of this. He says: “I think that the impact influencers have on modern-day marketing is huge. In today's climate, consumers are less trusting of big corporations and their spiel. When influencers review vehicles or deals, it's far more organic. Their personality comes across and that's important in creating authenticity."
Add some personality
The reason so many people tune into influencers across industries is because of their personalities and the way they speak to their audiences. Most carry an air of expertise but they do it in a way that helps us relate to them. I’m not just talking about influencers who target consumers here, either. Even influencers in the B2B space have distinct personalities that are easy to relate to.
Businesses can learn a lot from this, too. You don’t need to portray a corporate facade in the hopes of it coming across as professional. You can add some personality and, dare I say it, a little fun into your content and other communications.
The key here is to be consistent. When working out your brand tone of voice — or trying to refine it — you should create brand guidelines. These aren’t just for keeping logos and colours consistent but can provide guidance to anyone who is writing content for your company, from outside agencies to in-house staff and thought leaders.
Embrace video
One thing influencers do really well is educating and entertaining viewers with video content.
This is important for the automotive industry because a vehicle is a very visual thing. We love to see the lines of a beautiful car, get an insight into the practicalities of the interior or get a feel for the drivability of the machine.
Video content is a vital part of the buying process. In fact, 90% of people say that video helps they make a final buying decision.
Including video in your content marketing strategy not only helps you show your expertise but it helps to convert at different stages of your funnel, too.
Video is for more than just dealers, too. B2B businesses, automotive startups, and even parts companies could benefit from including video content in their marketing plans to increase visibility and conversions.
Influencer marketing
By telling your story through authoritative influencers with a relevant audience, you can reach new people in a whole new way.
While your content may have been falling on deaf ears, working with an influencer can elevate your business to the next level by tapping into the trust they have with their audience.
This works best for B2C brands but there are great B2B influencers out there that hold trust among your target market.
Automotive influencer marketing takes a lot of research and a very nuanced approach, you can’t just throw some money at people with large followings and hope to get a result. You need to make sure their engagement rates are high, that they speak to your target audience, and that they understand your brand message.
Be consistent
The most successful influencers are consistent in their branding, image, content and posting schedule.
Whether you’re creating video content, thought leadership articles for LinkedIn, or are just showcasing your expertise via your own blog, it all needs to be consistent. This means you need a posting schedule you can keep to and guidelines that make it clear how to create content that fits your brand — this is especially important if you have multiple people creating content in your business, or are using freelancers.
Brand guidelines need to show a number of things:
The tone of voice of the brand — Is it engaging and professional, or maybe a little cheeky?
The style guide you follow — Do you use UK or US English? Yes or no to the Oxford comma? AP or Chicago style?
Key messages — What are the messages and values you want to get across in your content?
Content angles — Is there a company stance on topics such as sustainability that need to be noted?
Defined Content categories
Many influencers have clear categories they split their content into. As a business, you should be doing this too.
There are a few ways to do this.
The first is to categorise your content by the stage of your sales funnel it helps to target. Typically, we split this into three areas:
Awareness - This is the stage your customers are becoming aware of you. This content is usually positioned to be helpful to readers so they begin to see your business as the expert. For example: X Ways to Do a Thing.
Engagement - This is the stage where potential customers are more keen to interact with your brand. Content at this stage usually includes more specific information around the products/services you offer, a case study, or maybe even a downloadable. For example: How A Business Did a Thing (and How You Can Too)
Decision - This is where they’ve made the decision to buy a product or service that you offer and you need to tip them over the edge. This content is more around what you offer and the questions readers might have. For example: How to Do a Specific Thing Using Our Product.
Bear in mind, your buyer journey might have more steps depending on the type of business you run.
On top of content based on the buyer journey, you should consider setting specific pillars for the type of content you create. These will be based around your audience and the topics you cover.
For example, a business might have these pillars:
Business content for B2B customers
Petrolhead content for consumers
Sustainability content to communicate values
Road trip content to hook new readers
The more specific you can be, the better. Take time, when working out your content strategy, to think about your pillars and the goals of each.
There’s a lot we can learn from automotive influencers from the way they create their content through to the way they engage with their audiences. Businesses can take on some of these lessons to improve the way they connect with potential customers, which will lead to increased conversions and, ultimately, sales.
If you want some advice or information on how we might be able to support your content creation efforts, get in touch.