Social media has become an essential tool for consumers to conveniently shop and compare their options whilst having direct contact to brands. For businesses, this has meant that social media is becoming all the more important as a touchpoint and a way to communicate their offerings and brand values. For car subscription providers, planning and executing a robust social media strategy will help them educate on the benefits of car subscription and how their businesses deliver on these benefits - which will ultimately lead to early market share advantages.

Building brand equity

Regardless of the social media platform, social media as a marketing channel should be used to achieve long-term objectives such as building brand equity. Brand equity is defined as the perception that current and future customers have of your business. As such, businesses must first identify their brand values in order to understand how to shape their messaging and position themselves against other competitors.

For car subscription providers, these values can include: 

• flexibility
• affordability
• innovation
• being EV curious

Focusing on long-term objectives

Extending upon the principle that social media is a long-term strategy, businesses need to also remember that it is important to not get caught up with short-term and rather vanity metrics such as the number of likes, comments and shares your posts receive as these can distract you from the aforementioned objective of building long-term brand equity.

‍Rather, when measuring social media success, metrics such as growth in following as a measurement of brand awareness will be more informative of your performance. Another metric worth measuring can be the number of enquiries or messages submitted through the social media platform which can inform you of the level of genuine interest and engagement with what your car subscription business has to offer.

Paid vs organic growth

To grow their reach and following, social media platforms offer both organic and paid tools. While paid campaigns such as Facebook and Instagrams are effective in maximising reach, the results should be used sparingly to ensure longevity in growth. Paid campaigns are most effective when they are used for:

• remarketing campaigns that retarget individuals who have shown prior interest in your car subscription, or have subscribed before with your business
• seasonal promotional campaigns where ad campaign duration is shorter and the offering is valuable enough for audiences to be incentivised to take immediate action

On the other hand, organic growth can be fostered through activities such as community building where customers share their subscription experience, and you sharing insights into your business such as the processes as a way to build transparency with your audience.

Incorporating digital touchpoints

Since consumers appreciate social media for its convenience, they are going to expect to be able to quickly access important information on your social media channels. These include contact details such as email and customer support number, directions to your warehouse and in some cases, a quick link to your website. There many tools out there such to help you ensure these are delivered in the most seamless way possible.

Social media as a channel for customer support

Social media platforms have developed to become direct communication channels between customer and brands. Whether is through Facebook chatbots or Instagram direct messaging, it is very likely that customers will reach out to your business via social media to ask questions regarding the car subscription experience. Your team, in particular customer support, should be proactive in responding to these enquiries as these leads can may well convert immediately.

Types of social media content

When it comes to what kind of social media content car subscription providers can produce for their audiences, the following can be included:

• customer testimonials
• customer photos
• photos of new vehicles
• team profiles
• education of a car subscription
• benefits of subscribing with your business
• process of subscribing
• value propositions (E.g. short minimum terms, free vehicle swaps) 
• seasonal promotional campaigns

The power of video is becoming more prominent and this is something car subscription providers can leverage, especially as a way to showcase to their audience on the subscription process such as picking up and returning their vehicle, as well as create excitement with new cars arriving.

It is important to remember that your social media channel should cater to all three customer segments - new, existing and returning subscribers. This means that achieving a balance and an appropriate cadence for your posts that covers all three must be considered in your social media planning.