Statistically, powersports buyers spend hours researching a vehicle online before they ever step foot into a dealership. According to a study performed by Cox Automotive, 90% of individuals surveyed considered photos to be extremely important in the decision-making process of purchasing a vehicle.

Expectations are high among online shoppers, with a desire to see much more than one photo of a vehicle listing. Instead, they want to see multiple, compelling images of different angles, features and engine components to help them make a decision. Adding high-quality images and content can not only land a sale, but it can create lifelong buyers who are interested in your brand.

“High-quality content in general is going to set you apart from the average social media user and help you stand out among a timeline of content that is filled with subpar cell phone footage,” said Gabriel Cruz, media development manager at HISUN Motors. “Not to be misunderstood, cell phone footage does play its part in certain areas, but high-quality content delivers a much different experience to the end user.”

As generations who were raised on social media grow older, buying habits are changing. “Millennials and Gen Z are more subject to buying lifestyles and experiences that they see on social media,” Cruz explained. “The product itself is second nature, but if they can envision themselves looking like their favorite influencer or posting a cool piece of content on social media, they are as good as sold.”

For many dealers, the task of online content creation can be difficult to manage. As a result, OEMs like HISUN Motors have created programs to facilitate the process.

“HISUN Connect was inspired to help give our dealers another tool to utilize,” Cruz said. “HISUN spent countless hours creating content, breaking down data and analyzing results. Providing this information to our dealers is a no brainer and leveraging the results through HISUN Connect goes hand in hand.”

HISUN Connect, effectively and automatically posts to dealership social media channels, which includes high-quality digital assets, like photos, stock unit images, pre-made ads, website headers, social media headers, as well as videos.

“It is our job to find the places where people, brands, media and technology connect. With HISUN Connect, we can implement forward-thinking digital strategies for our dealers. We strive to keep fresh content in the mix and switch up our offerings to coincide with our current dealer programs.”

Mike Thurber, general manager of E Motors West in Caldwell, ID, uses HISUN Connect to help his dealership thrive digitally, specifically by posting high-quality content on social media.

“HISUN Connect has helped our dealership on Facebook,” Thurber said. “HISUN has been hands on and is getting a lot more involved to help dealers to be successful.”

For dealers taking the first step into improving their marketing tactics with high-quality images and content, Cruz suggests a few pieces of advice for dealers to get started.

“All digital marketing plans will differ depending on market area,” Cruz explained. “My advice would be to test out different types of content to determine what works best for you and your dealership.”

For example, types of content to be tested could include UTVs vs. ATVs, sport vs. utility, full-size vs. mid-size vehicles. Once that content is available, analyze the engagement.

“This data should tell you what your customers are interacting with the most and help you determine the best content mix,” Cruz added.

“In my opinion, when advertising digitally, videos seem to work well,” Thurber said. “It provides a fun, visual experience for the customer. When it comes to the HISUN product, we try to key in on the two-year warranty. That always seems to grab the customer attention!”

Cruz also advises dealers to run digital ads in small doses, over short periods of time, “I would recommend running ads for $5-$10 over the course of one day. This will help you better determine which ads will perform best before spending countless dollars on ads that are not effective.”

“As far as planning a dealerships digital marketing plan, it depends on what you can afford,” Thurber said. “Plan a budget and stick to it. Be consistent. We have found it takes a little time, but when it starts rolling, it is very much worth it the investment.”

With proper planning in place, marketing your business via high-quality images and content can be the key to unlocking more sales at your dealership.

This article was sponsored by HISUN. For more information, visit our website at hisunmotors.com.