A guide to social media for car lovers

Social Media has made it easier than ever for people with passions to find other like-minded individuals to share their hobbies with. Whether it’s films, music or even something like stamp collecting, everyone with an enthusiasm can connect at the click of a follow button.

Those interested in cars are certainly not excluded. In fact, there’s a thriving community of petrol heads dotted across social media, always happy to chat about horsepower and fuel consumption.

How Social Media has Become a Haven for Car Enthusiasts

The most obvious people to follow are celebrities. ‘The Grand Tour’ trio of Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson), Richard Hammond (@RichardHammond) and James May (@MrJamesMay) are all on Twitter, alongside the current hosts of their former show ‘Top Gear’: Matt LeBlanc (@Matt_LeBlanc), Rory Reid (@MrRoryReid) and Chris Harris (@harrismonkey).

Indeed, Clarkson, Hammond and May’s influence has stretched so far beyond their initial TV roots that they have even set up their own social media network, DriveTribe.

Launched in 2016, DriveTribe allows users to sign up and join a range of different ‘tribes’. Each tribe covers a different aspect of the automotive community and holds unique content, essentially creating a one-stop shop for fans to indulge their passion.

Instagram also has some great personalities for car lovers to follow, above and beyond the accounts of traditional media outlets covering the automotive industry. The likes of Alejandro Salomon (@salomondrin), Tim Burton (@Shmee150) and David Patterson (@thatdudeinblue) post incredible car content across Instagram as they road-test a variety of cool rides.

Does Social Media Hold Practical Value for Car Lovers?

However, there’s much more to social media for car lovers than just famous people. These platforms are also hugely beneficial for the ordinary person on the street who’s looking to sell their car second-hand.

Hashtags are a huge help with this. Designed to group posts around a similar theme together, they make relevant content easier to find and share, and while they were primarily associated with Twitter, they are now also used across most social networks in a similar way.

Success in selling a car online is about more than just making it easy to find; it’s important to give all the relevant information clearly and concisely. This should include the make and model, as well as key information about current usage. Location needs to be mentioned as well, so that any potential buyer knows how far they will have to travel to up their new wheels.

With social networks now focusing strongly on visuals, it’s also important to offer some photography of the car. Twitter allows up to four pictures to be added to a single tweet, while Instagram allows for up to 10.

Adding images can give potential buyers a much clearer vision of what the car looks like and will help to promote the vehicle’s good condition and benefits much more powerfully. YouTube delivers even greater value in this regard as car sellers can show off performance and give a much more detailed view of the vehicle’s condition.

Whatever form the promotion of the vehicle sale through social media takes, it’s also wise to set up a detailed listing on a recognised car resale site such as Gumtree and link through to it from the social site.  

The Last Word

By doing this, buyers can offer more detail on their vehicle and, as these sites are well respected, they help build a sense of legitimacy, again helping make the sale more likely.

They also totally eliminate any privacy concerns, as there’s no need to give out any personal details such as phone number or email address. All communication can happen through the seller’s profile on the site they sell through.

By following this advice, selling a car can be made far easier, helping sellers avoid any of those frustrating bumps in the road and head to the finishing line for a tidy profit.