These days, we like to think of social media as the solution to all our problems. Bored on the bus? Scroll through your Twitter feed. Want to brag about your new boyfriend? Post a pic on Instagram.
Need to find a used car? Check out used car dealers in Manitoba on Facebook.
Seriously. Social media, it turns out, is good for more than selfies. You can actually use it to help you shop for a car. Here’s how.
Read the Reviews
Online reviews are huge in the car-buying business. Huge. In fact, 81% of car buyers used online reviews to influence their decision.
And guess where they’re going to find those reviews?
Yep. Social media.
Facebook and Google Plus are the biggest players here. If you want to find a wealth of advice on a particular used car dealership, these are the sites you want to visit. If the reviews are mostly positive, the dealer’s probably trustworthy. If they’re mostly negative…well, they’re probably not.
But please, don’t place too much confidence in these social media reviews. We’ve been burned by too many nasty trolls (of the Internet variety, not the goblin sort) to rely on one-star reviews very much.
Even with those few negative reviews, though, Ride Time has still managed to get an impressive 4.5 stars on Google Plus. The numbers don’t lie — we’re kind of a big deal.
Find Mutual Friends
Whose opinion would you trust more: your best friend or a complete stranger?
Your friend, right? Yeah, so would everyone else. That’s why it’s important to get recommendations from the people you know when you’re shopping for used cars in Canada.
If you’re considering a specific used car dealer, look them up on social media to find out if any of your friends like or follow them. Even better, see if you can find a review written by a friend on Facebook. If you’re like 59% of car buyers, you’d trust that more than any other online review.
Once you’ve found some mutual friends, reach out to them to get their personal opinion of the dealership or car you’re considering. Their experience — good or bad — will tell you far more than a car salesperson ever could.
Get Up-to-Date Info
Social media is so immediate, isn’t it? It’s practically impossible to keep up all the new tweets and messages and whatnots that pop up on our screens every other second.
Sometimes it seems like all we ever do at Ride Time is read and respond to people’s posts. (Not that we’re complaining…keep ’em coming, guys!)
But this constant onslaught of information is a major advantage to you as a used car shopper. It means you have instant access to dealers’ specials, events, and other news.
Today, a company’s Facebook page is basically its second website. If they’ve got their $#!* together, they’ve got their hours, map, contact info, and other important stuff easily accessible on their About page. Hopefully, they’re also posting regularly about their daily happenings; you can subscribe to stay up-to-date.
Of course, this only applies if the dealer you’re looking up is active on social media. Most used car dealers in Winnipeg aren’t, actually. Just another way Ride Time is different!
View Pictures and Videos
When you’re researching used cars for sale in Manitoba, you’re not looking for stock photos from the manufacturer — you’re looking for photos and videos of the actual car. You want to know exactly what you might be getting into, right?
Social media is a great place to look for recent, real-life pictures and videos of used cars in Winnipeg — and of the dealership in general. If their page is full of fun photos of their staff or store, you’ll know they’re down-to-earth people.
And down-to-earth people are, in our opinion, way more trustworthy than stuffy old guys who don’t even know what a meme is. Are we right, or are we right?
Leave a Comment or Message
One of the very best ways to use social media to shop for a car is to reach out to the dealer via a comment or message.
Let’s face it, our phones are basically our third hands. We feel amputated without them.
So make the car-buying process easy on yourself. While you’re checking Facebook, just type in the name of the dealer you’re considering, and drop them a quick message with a question or description of the car you want. You can even comment on one of their posts to get more information.
Not only is communicating on social media much easier than calling or visiting the store itself, it’s also a great way to start building a relationship with the dealer. Hopefully, you can set up a time to meet and take the next step on your path to a new (used) car.
Before you reach out, though, make sure the dealership is actually responsive to social messages. At Ride Time, we have a 100% response rate and a response time of just three minutes on Facebook. So no matter when you have a question, you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll get back to you almost immediately.
Not buying it? Test us. Seriously. We’d love to prove you wrong.
To make it easy on you, here’s a list of all our social channels for you to like, follow, or troll (just kidding, please don’t troll):
No Comments