If you’re new to Twitter, let me be the first one to welcome you to 2007. Actually, Twitter officially launched in the summer of 2006, and has steadily grown into a social network with 255 million active monthly users. Twitter’s mission is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. Think about that.
Don’t underestimate the power Twitter provides its users.
- 500 million tweets are sent every day
- 78% of active Twitter users are on a mobile device
- 585 gallons of coffee are consumed every week at Twitter’s HQ
Isn’t Twitter A Waste Of Time?
Yes, it is for a lot of people, but don’t follow them. Literally, don’t follow their methods and motivations for using Twitter. Anyone can jump on Twitter and start barking about how their company, product, service or event is better than all of their competitors. In the automotive industry, you’ll find people using Twitter like a bully pulpit on a daily basis. Pay no attention to those annoying wind- bags and their intentionally destructive behavior. The same people that talk big through a keyboard and an email address are 100x worse on Twitter, so don’t listen to them. The truth is, Twitter offers a wealth of information and is largely an unknown opportunity for car dealers.
Invitation, Encouragement, Recommendation
I’m a big fan of experience, so I want to invite and encourage you to experience Twitter. You should experiment with how to “Tweet” and “Follow” people and businesses, but I think you’ll see true value for your dealership with one of my favorite Twitter features. Search. Real time information at your fingertips. If you’ve never used this feature, jump online and go to search.twitter.com. It should look like this:
Twitter Search Operators
You may want to briefly study these Twitter Search Operators. They will help you find very specific information. I know some of you literally just gave up because it sounds like homework and you don’t care to make the effort. Can I encourage you? This is how the “experts” in the automotive industry become experts. They find the information, they immerse themselves and they gain experience by using, testing, learning and doing it over and over again. Become an expert yourself and cut some of your dependency on the “experts”.
| Operator | Finds Tweets… |
| Twitter search | Containing both “twitter” and “search”. This is the default operator |
| “new car” | Containing the exact phrase “new car” |
| Toyota OR Dealer | Containing either “Toyota” or “Dealer” (or both) |
| Beer –root | Containing “beer” but not “root” |
| #newcar | Containing the hashtag #newcar |
| From: mashable | Sent from “shaunraines” |
| To: dealeron | Sent to “dealeron” |
| @techcrunch | Referencing “dealerauthority” |
| “new car” near:”dallas” | Containing exact phrase “new car” and sent near “dallas” |
| Near:dallas within:15mi | Sent within 15 miles of Dallas |
| Superhero since:2010-12-27 | Containing “superhero” and sent since date “2010-12-27” (year, month, day) |
| Ftw until:2010-12-27 | Containing “ftw” and sent up to date “2010-12-27” |
| Movie –scary 🙂 | Containing “movie”, but not “scary”, and with a positive attitude |
| Dealership 🙁 | Containing the word “dealership” and with a negative attitude |
| Traffic ? | Containing “traffic” and asking a question |
| Hilarious filter:links | Containing “hilarious” and linking to URLs |
| News source:twitterfeed | Containing “news” and entered via TwitterFeed |
Still Skeptical?
It took me a few years to warm up to Twitter, so I can appreciate those of you who are skeptical. Maybe you’re one of the people that don’t really know how Twitter works or how to use it. If you’re in need of Twitter 101, the best place learn is directly from Twitter.
For the Twitter basics, visit https://support.twitter.com/articles/215585. You’ll find-out what Twitter is, how to use it, tips and tricks, the official Twitter glossary and a lot more. Twitter’s support actually has tons of excellent insight and information. You can become a Twitter expert in the quietness of your home or office without feeling embarrassed or shy to ask some self-made automotive Twitter expert a single question. How’s that for a slice of fried gold? Explore, learn, enjoy and thank me later.
Will It Help Me Sell More Cars?
You had to ask, didn’t you? Well, in case you don’t find it easily during your first visit to support.twitter.com, you’ll want to check out this case study https://business.twitter.com/success-stories/zender-ford. If you’d like more automotive specific Twitter examples, you can find them here https://business.twitter.com/success-stories/industry/automotive.
So Tweet it up and have fun.
If you liked this article, “Follow” me @shaunraines and let me know.
