Which Social Media Site Works Best For Your Business?
Pick a social media platform to best showcase your car rental business
It’s been roughly a generation since social media first nudged its way into the cultural mainstream. What seemed like a novelty back then has since become compulsory for marketing, promotion and even revenue generating, meaning if you’re not on this virtual bandwagon, you’re already a mile behind the starting blocks.
But for car rental companies that avoided the temptation to get on board, it’s better late than never. The biggest advantage is taking advantage of the reach potential without investing a single dime, although what you save in your bank account might take up some considerable time to build up your social media presence. And as everyone knows, time is money.
Still, with at least a couple billion global citizens logging onto social media platforms, that time investment could result in returns you might never have imagined. But where to start? Besides figuring out what type of audience to reach, your business goals and what type of information to publicize, let’s begin with figuring out which social media platform might work best for your car rental business.
Even though Facebook was launched in 2004, it’s considered the granddaddy of all social media, having hit the web before any of its competitors and enjoying the largest worldwide audience pegged at more than two billion. That’s good news for established car rental firms in that a Facebook business account is a good way to connect with a clientele that’s also growing with you.
According to 2018 figures, its biggest audience is in the 18-29 demographic, although that age group is dropping fast. But the good news is that more and more older people are logging on. As far as other audience information is concerned, it’s a bit more open-ended, as gender presence slightly favors females at 52 percent, while there’s an almost equal representation of users regardless of education and income level.
Regardless of their representation, audiences love one thing on Facebook, and that’s content and more of it. Facebook users spend roughly 35 minutes daily on the site, more than any other social media platform. The best way to utilize content is by creating material to engage readers, such as fun facts about your business or industry. If you’re aiming on selling or promoting, it’s best to dedicate one out of every five posts for that purpose.
Whatever ground Facebook is losing, much of it is being picked up by Instagram, which is a favorite among millennials (especially women) despite a relatively smaller audience of users sitting at 800 million worldwide. If your car rental agency wants to grab a younger audience, nothing’s impossible, despite that demographic’s preference for ride-sharing options.
Still, the best way to reach them on Instagram is via images and lots of them. If you’re handy with a camera that can do both stills and video, it’s a great way to introduce your company in a more picturesque fashion. However, make sure your shutter skills are up to the task, as it audiences prefer looking at high-resolution images.
Despite Twitter’s popularity in mainstream media coverage, it still has a much smaller audience than Facebook or Instagram and is particularly harder to promote your business on such a platform. A lot of it has to do with the fact that each post (or tweet) has a character limit of 280 (roughly 56 words). So businesses wanting to do a spiel about their services or wares learn how to edit on the spot before sending.
What Twitter does have as an advantage is its sharing capabilities, meaning that more people than you can imaging might read your message if readers deem it suitable for other eyes. Or if there’s a trending topic relevant to your business (usually listed with a # hashtag reference), some savvy businesses might be clever enough to comment with a tag making the tweet more accessible.
For instance, if there’s a climate change topic making waves and your car rental fleet includes an electric vehicle, joining that conversation might get more attention.
While the majority of Twitter users are male (roughly 54 percent), it does skew towards millennial and Gen X audiences with relatively lower incomes. Roughly a quarter of its audience has a post-secondary degree. Still, if there’s an advantage to reach such an audience, focus on the verbiage of your tweets accordingly.
Snapchat
One of the newest kids on the social media block, Snapchat is a buzzhub of social media activity, mostly because it’s dominated by younger users. In fact, only 14 percent of its 300 million regular users is 35 years old or older.
And while a car rental company’s notions of grabbing a share of that Snapchat majority might seem like a pipe dream, employing some of the same know-how that involves Instagram and Twitter will help.
But be prepared to deliver content frequently, as it’s a social media platform where most of its viewers post at least once daily. Posting occasionally will result in your messages getting lost in the shuffle.
Although LinkedIn barely has more than 100 million users worldwide, it’s generally seen as the one that suits businesses the best, even though marketing, promotions and sales campaigns doing exactly go over well on the platform.
What LinkedIn is best at doing, however, is connecting like-minded people in the industry. So for a car rental company, LinkedIn is ideal for network with companies providing everything from office supplies to office parts, although the site might be ideal for generating leads in markets you might never have considered. Skeptical? According to one 2018 study, more than 80 percent of business-to-business leads came from LinkedIn.
It’s also a sight that implies acting as professional as possible to make a great impression. You’re more likely to find updates from Richard Branson than Kim Kardashian on this site, which has a highly affluent user base, with nearly half of them making at least $75,000 annually.
—
Better software, better support, better value. For over thirty years, Bluebird Auto Rental Software has been supporting its many, many happy customers around the world. Our flagship product, RentWorks, provides all the tools you need to run every aspect of your car rental business or service loaner department from the front counter to the back office.
Call us today toll-free at 800-304-5805, or email us at sales@barsnet.com. We will be happy to walk you through Bluebird’s Auto Rental Software.