Repetition is simple, but consistency is key when delivering your message via social media.
Social media usage will become greater and more significant. When using many social media platforms, it is extremely easy to fall into the repetition trap. How frequently have you found yourself in a situation where your dealership is offering a special deal? By directly copying and pasting the message from Facebook to Twitter (though keeping in mind Twitter’s 140-character limit, of course), and so on through your numerous social media accounts, you think you may post the image and text on all of your social media sites. Using the same content and image on multiple social media profiles is repetition, and you should steer clear of this.
Given that different people use several social media accounts, you could assume that repetition is easy (which it is) and that there is no risk. However, this is incorrect. Many clients will follow your dealership on two or more of your social media accounts, even though some people only use one. For this reason, you must be careful not to conflate consistency with repetition.
Delivering the same message, not using the same words, is what consistency is all about.
Repetition is simple, and dealerships frequently fall into this social media trap for a variety of reasons, including a lack of fresh content, creativity block, the urge to publish even when there is nothing ‘new’ to promote, etc. The issue with repetition is that it will bore and possibly irritate your viewers. In a nutshell, it is imperative to avoid recurrence at all costs.
But you want to promote your most recent deal across all of your accounts, and nobody is telling you to ignore any of them or create entirely unique messaging for each Social Media platform—far from it. Not only the 35% or 40% of your followers who could be on one social media platform or another, but all of your followers, should be reached. What then becomes a question is, “How can you be consistent, promoting the same message, without being repetitive?” The solution isn’t as challenging as you might think.
Message Posting Techniques that Are Consistent (But Not Repetitive!)
Change the phrasing or even some of the details. For example, on Twitter, you might tweet, “Great lease deal starting today on a Ford F150 for $279/mo. for 24 months,” but on Facebook, where you don’t have a 140-character limit, you could expand on the information.
Use several images. Perhaps you’re still promoting that Ford F150. More than one photograph is required for it. Perhaps you utilize a White F150 from a different viewpoint on Facebook while using an exterior image of a Red F150 on Twitter. People who follow you on both platforms may have received essentially the same message from you, but you gave them something new to look at by using separate photographs.
Combining messages may allow you to be more conversational because your Facebook audience may ask more questions. On the other side, your Twitter account might serve as a platform for communicating the facts without as much chitchat. Only you can decide how you want to handle your numerous social media accounts, but if you take into mind the personalities associated with each when writing your posts, you’ll discover that you write diverse articles that effectively convey the same message.
Post your words and photographs on various days and hours. You may have updated or more information to add to a post if you post at various times of the day and night, which will make the post intrinsically different.
Once you begin (with only a few posts), you’ll see that it doesn’t take much to give each post its own distinctive personality without diluting the overall point or running the risk of recurrence. Each time, concentrate on adjusting just one thing and observe how your clients react. You can notice trends emerge that can help you understand the kinds of customers who follow you on various social media platforms. Remember that repetition is simple, but consistency in your use of social media is key.
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