It Starts With Your Blog
Like in any other industry, your blog should be the hub of your content strategy. It’s the easiest route to higher rankings. People consume quality blog content… they just need to know where to find it. That is why I always recommend having a blogging strategy fortified with a variety of support content including:
Email sequences and blasts – Every time you publish anything new, you should be hitting your email list(s) and letting people know. A high volume of engagement alone can bolster your search engine rankings and an email blast with a direct call to action to read your latest post is an easy and effective way to get those levels of engagement.
Social media posts – The advantage of great content marketed with good visuals and appropriate calls to action to click through to your blog is greatest with your social media audiences. Stay in front of the people who read your blog and keep levels of excitement over engaging with your content high. In social media terms, that means high-volume and high-visibility.
Captions and Visuals – Stay in front of your followers and split test content with a variety of captions and visuals. Track your results through appropriate metrics and steer your social content in a direction that generates the most click-throughs and conversions.
Text Messaging and Notifications – This is an under-utilized marketing tool that you can use to your advantage when marketing your blog content. In a number of industries, text and web notifications are gaining in effectiveness when trying to capture those all-important click-throughs to your content. If you haven’t yet tapped into notification marketing, now is the time to start. Many of your competitors aren’t… yet.
Now let’s have a look at a few of the areas you should be targeting for your automotive marketing blog in the final quarter of 2021 and beyond.
New Car Reviews
New car sales are down. It’s just the reality of the situation we’re in. COVID has had adverse effects on virtually every industry out there, and new car sales have suffered over the past two years. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for this kind of content. In fact, good blog content can be at least part of what gets people into your showroom or just keeps them engaged on current trends in new cars and car buying.
Don’t parrot the reviews that are already out there, especially if your blog is for a dealership. If you want people to buy from you, they need to hear from you. Curating content from independent consumer websites is fine. However, be sure to give your readers a reason to come to you, not just reasons to buy a certain make and model.
On the content marketing front, curation is your friend here, too. Just like with a dealer, you want enough unique and engaging content to keep your readers coming back for more.
DIY Maintenance Repairs
Here’s one for the content marketers and e-comm store owners in particular. Money is still tight for a lot of people out there and good, reliable, accurate content about light auto repair and home auto maintenance is a big draw right now.
Just as important as accuracy is the concept of safety. Never suggest that individuals undertake repairs that any dealer our professional mechanic would advise leaving up to the pros. Teaching people how to do the basics like oil changes, replacing filters and hoses, and even simple body work like fixing dents and dings can keep readers engaged.
Used Car Buying
One area of auto sales that is thriving right now is used cars (or “previously owned” if you prefer). This is yet another good avenue for curated content. Use available information from consumer product ratings sites to develop content for reviews and recommendations. This is also an opportunity to let your own knowledge and expertise shine. Readers love engaging with content from creators they trust and admire so keep the quality of your content, as well as the advice you offer, high.
You can focus on specific makes and models, or you can approach the subject from the angle of education and research. Either gives advice on what car(s) to buy or teach your readers how to determine which car would be best for them. The latter is a great way to build trust and increase engagement.
Also keep in mind that too few people out there really know how to utilize the information in resources like Kelly Blue Book, CarFax, and others. Here is your chance to provide your readers with an education that will keep them from spending more on used cars than they should.
Maintaining a Successful Content Strategy
The best advice I can give any automotive content marketing professional is this: Don’t try to do this alone. Between your blog and the other types of support content you need to succeed, it’s easy to fall behind or let parts of your strategy lag. The solution to this problem is to work with a copywriting company that knows automotive content and can help you keep your content publishing on schedule.
That is what we do at BeezContent. When you partner with us, you’re working with a team of automotive content marketing pros who know the ins and outs of quality content. From blog posts to emails and social media (and much more), we’ve got you covered. Contact us today to learn more.
