How Your Team Can Sell Cars with the #1 Social Media Platform: TikTok

A Time Before TikTok

Formally known as Musical.ly, in 2018, the name we’re all familiar with today, “TikTok,” was born! After being bought out by a Chinese internet technology company, ByteDance, the entire app transformed and transported all “Musical.ly” content and users to the now-renamed TikTok application. 

Bottomline: Musical.ly lets users create videos lipsynching to songs approved by the music-focused app. TikTok changed the game by allowing users to use any soundbite (from songs, TV Shows, Movies, Etc) and for users to upload their videos, no soundbite needed. They were taking the application’s focus off of strictly creating music content to encourage users to create their own funny and relatable content.  

This change allowed more people to want to use the app by broadening and allowing others to create any content they want instead of forcing them to use specific song bites. Because of this rebranding, it skyrocketed from 500 Million active users to over 1.5 Billion active users per month… and still growing.

T Got Your TikToks 

As an Automotive Showroom Sales consultant, TikTok was one of the many software applications I utilized to generate leads and continuously sell cars without relying on the dealership traffic! When I began my TikTok journey, I was overwhelmed. Over time I uncovered specific tactics and tools that rocketed my career from 0 TikTok Followers to over 25 thousand followers with over 2.5 Million views making me officially ‘Internet Viral”!

However, being viral is one thing; being able to convert those social interactions into profit is the real secret! With just one of my videos going viral, I sold 10 cars in my first month using TikTok. In my second month, another 8 cars sold solely from TikTok, and soon I had my own Automotive TikTok Sales Pipeline, which encouraged me to continue making content and start encouraging others to join with me.

Get out of your head that “we’re just here to sell a car.” Can and will you sell cars by using these strategies? Yes, but what we’re talking about is more significant than instant sale gratification! Only 3% of car shoppers are entirely ready to purchase a vehicle; these strategies focus on the other 97% of people not in the market purchasing immediately, so when they do become the 3%, they are already aware of you, know you, like you, and will purchase with you!

After deciding your purpose, and with that in mind, you need to find your audience! Dealers need to remember who their content is for. You need to start thinking, “what do my customers search for online” or “what content would attract people interested in purchasing a vehicle.” For example, if your TikTok is about showing off all of your dealership’s sports cars and high-class vehicles, you will attract consumers solely in the market for those high-ticket items! Vice versa, if your TikTok shows tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your trade-in or car deal, then the audience you’ll attract will be more customers in the market who are conscious about their trade-in! Start thinking from the shoes of your customers. 

Lastly… start creating content! Don’t get hung up on “being perfect” or not knowing how to create the “right content”. The best way to get better with the platform is to use the platform. In the book Atomic Habits, the author references an experiment where a photography professor tests the quality vs. quantity debate on his students:

The Danger of Aiming for Perfection

On the first day of class, Jerry Uelsmann, a professor at the University of Florida, divided his photography students into two groups.

He explained that everyone on the left side of the classroom would be in the “quantity” group. They would be graded solely on the amount of work they produced. On the final day of class, he would tally the number of photos submitted by each student. One hundred photos would rate an A, ninety photos a B, eighty photos a C, and so on.

Meanwhile, everyone on the right side of the room would be in the “quality” group. They would be graded only on the excellence of their work. They would only need to produce one photo during the semester, but to get an A, it had to be a nearly perfect image.

At the end of the term, he was surprised to find that the quantity group produced all the best photos. During the semester, these students were busy taking photos, experimenting with composition and lighting, testing various methods in the darkroom, and learning from their mistakes. In the process of creating hundreds of photos, they honed their skills. Meanwhile, the quality group sat around speculating about perfection. In the end, they had little to show for their efforts other than unverified theories and one mediocre photo.

Quality comes with quantity; the more TikToks you make, the more you perfect your skills.

It’s time to hit that ‘plus’ button at the bottom, choose a funny TikTok sound, and start posting! Happy TikToking!

FAQTs (Frequently Asked Questions to Tianna)

We All Know Your Story of Gaining Over 2.5 Million Views on Your Viral TikTok Video & Then Converting Those Into 10 Instant Car Sales THAT Month… How Did You Convert the Engagements into the 10 Car Cales?

“This was the tricky part; you would think gaining the views or interactions or even going viral would be tricky, but like any recipe, if done correctly, you will be guaranteed your desired results! The secret sauce was getting my viewers to trust me and want to message me to continue the conversation. I was their “Friendly Neighborhood Car Salesman” and was there to answer any questions they had, needing nothing in return. The result? Of the many people that messaged me, I weeded out around 15 individuals around my dealership area (they knew where the store was since it was in my biography) with whom I could do business that week. I created a list of individuals I could sell that MONTH, and so on. I mined my list like any salesperson and sold 10 cars that month. Therefore, I continued selling vehicles through TikTok– because of the trustability and likeability it gave me as a car salesperson!”