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Why You Should be on Automotive Forums

Lots of do it yourselfers and auto enthusiasts reference automotive forums for advice everyday. You could be taking advantage of this for marketing to the consumers when they are in a state of researching what they may require and where to get it. In this post we are going to discuss how to find forums, what to post and how often to post in order to draw in the business without being considered spam.

How To Find Forums

The best way to find auto forums is through trade publications and good old fashion Google searching. You can type your dealership brand plus the words ‘auto forum’, ‘advice’ or ‘enthusiasts’ into a Google search and the best forums are going to show up within the first few pages, since these are the ones with the most active content among its users and therefor Google ranks them higher in their search results. You can find auto clubs, groups and advice sites to post on in order to become an authority or member that people trust to point them in the right direction when they need information, help or advice.

Here’s a short-list of automotive forums below: 

  1. www.autoguide.com
  2. https://www.internetbrands.com/our-brands/automotive/
  3. www.automotiveforums.com
  4. http://forums.automotive.com
  5. http://jalopnik.com/tag/automotive-forums
  6. www.xmarks.com/topic/car_forums
  7. www.carforums.com/forums
  8. www.reddit.com

What To Post

The best posts avoid sounding like spam and offer users real advice and responses to questions being answered. As parts department professionals you gain insight into the typical plights and needs vehicles have, so you can respond to anything you feel you might have some insight on. For example, if someone is asking for advice to upgrade their vehicle, you can offer tips for the best parts for the job and include links to some of your product pages to help them in their search. You can also point local users in the direction of your dealership service department for diagnostics and offer your website URL as a way to buy parts for less should they require repairs.

Keep in mind that you don’t need all the answers, just a willingness to listen to the needs of someone posting and then make a suggestion that could offer them some form of help. Maybe someone is debating going aftermarket because the OEM is too expensive and you can give them a discount code to use on your website and encourage them to use original parts and accessories to keep their vehicle in the condition intended by the manufacturer and preserve their warranty? These are the types of posts that are less likely to be viewed as spam and will get attention in a positive way!

How Often Should You Post?

Once again, you don’t want to rush into a forum site and do a post on everything or others will see this as spam. You want to make a list of maybe 3-10 sites that you will post on and then keep track in Excel so you can post when you have down time on one or two topics that interest you. The more naturally interested you are when making a post, the more users will feel engaged and the less likely your posts will feel like work and seem like spam. If you are working in automotive then you must enjoy autos right? Well at least that is why we do it! So then let that show when you select topics on a weekly or monthly basis as the ebb and flow of your department allows.

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