Social media team boosts engagement for Maryland retailer

Like dealership groups everywhere, Jones Junction had to figure out how to continue attracting customers' eyes to its available vehicles during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As businesses scaled back in-person operations last year, the dealership group in Bel Air, Md., employed a strategy it had been testing since early 2018 by ramping up digital retailing at all eight of is stores.

Amid social distancing and lockdowns, Jones Junction began showcasing vehicle home deliveries on its social media pages to emphasize that people were still buying cars.

As a result, the group was able to more quickly adapt to the pandemic than other stores in its market, said Jeffrey Ramsey, Jones Junction's e-commerce and marketing director.

"I do feel like we were ahead of the curve before" the pandemic, Ramsey said. "We were a leader in social media. The pandemic hit ... and we saw what really can be done and how we can reach our customers."

Ramsey joined Jones Junction in late 2017, hired on for the purpose of increasing sales and overall business. His goal since then has been to market cars while also humanizing the group, using social media to showcase events such as new employees starting, birthdays and anniversaries — much like people post on their personal accounts.

In March 2018, Ramsey started putting together an in-house marketing team focused on using creative and social media to capture consumers' attention.

Its tasks included redesigning the website, improving search engine optimization, answering customers' Facebook inquiries as quickly as possible and advertising giveaways and contests.

"The automotive market has been pretty strong the last couple of years, but even on top of that, our growth since we implemented an in-house marketing team that's connected to our community ... we're selling a lot of cars," Ramsey told Automotive News.

In 2020, the group sold a record 12,500 new and used vehicles. It has sold nearly 30 percent more vehicles a month this year through May.

Ramsey said the marketing strategy has increased the group's market share and the quality of its social media traffic.

"Everything is measured to see what converts best," Ramsey said. "We started using emojis in our social ads and saw a click-through increase of 75 percent. Every detail matters."

The team, currently made up of Ramsey, graphic designer Hannah Busenitz and social media specialist Sydney Segal, plans to add someone dedicated to Facebook and Instagram in the coming year.

The general idea was to give the group a unique personality, Ramsey said, and the marketing team welcomes input from other staffers. Sales professionals, managers, human resources staff and even the group's president, Bryan Kilby, have reached out with ideas.

That has translated into more customer engagement, Ramsey said.

Three years ago, Jones Junction was averaging only one to two likes per Facebook post. Now, each post regularly gets 10 to 15, and some draw more than 100.

"We've done some giveaway posts online where we've gotten 3,000 to 4,000 mentions on it," Ramsey said.

Facebook messages to the dealership group have shot up as well, to an average of more than 10 a day.

"I think we've shown our customers that our Facebook is being handled by us, so when they message us or they communicate with us, they're talking to a real person," Ramsey said.

While the dealership's primary connection to the community comes from Facebook, the team is experimenting with platforms such as TikTok, where it posts music-backed snippets of employees showcasing new vehicles. One video featuring a 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon with a power roof has garnered more than 162,000 views.

"That's my favorite thing — when customers say, 'We saw the content,' " Ramsey said. "You can't track it, but when people mention they're seeing it, they'll remember it. That's what I want."