Welcome to another edition of the Car Dealership Guy Industry Spotlight Podcast Recap newsletter—the key lessons from top operators, founders, and execs shaping the future of auto retail.
In today’s episode, host Sam D’Arc is joined by Matt Hogan, GM of Taverna INFINITI North Miami, and Omar Mohammad, CEO of Nomad Content Studio, to discuss the best viral content strategies for dealers, overcoming generational gaps in automotive marketing, and the future of social selling.
Brand transitions create unique opportunities for content-driven growth.
New franchise acquisitions require aggressive market awareness strategies that traditional advertising can't match cost-effectively.
"As a consumer of social media myself, you know, I followed a lot of the car guys that are doing the social media and, I was always curious about, if we got into that, how much more business can we get?"
— Matt
Moving from independent used car operations to a new Infiniti franchise after just 30 days demanded immediate brand recognition in a competitive Miami market.
Viral content happens faster than most dealers expect with the right approach.
Strategic content creation can generate massive reach within weeks, not months or years.
"We had him hop on, taught him what we call our five buckets of content. And within two weeks from the moment that he started with us, we had our first post go out. And how soon would you say our first viral video was? Probably about a week to maybe three weeks in? Probably about two weeks in, actually."
— Omar
This timeline challenges the assumption that building social media presence requires long-term investment before seeing results.
Customer consent for filming is less problematic than dealers fear.
The biggest barrier to dealership content creation is often imagined rather than real customer resistance.
"We train the videographers there to do this. They come up to a customer. They use language that's very unassuming, very nonchalant…And if the customer says, ‘Yeah, that's cool with me,’ we just keep the cameras rolling."
— Omar
About 70% of customers agree to be filmed when approached properly, and those who decline simply move on without incident.
Relatability drives lead generation more than view counts.
Videos that allow prospects to see themselves in similar situations consistently outperform high-view content that lacks personal connection.
"What I've had a lot of success is people with not the best credit. So it'll be a video of me, [and] a salesperson will come to me with a credit application, I'll get them approved, and people will see me talk to the client and talk about their credit."
— Matt
This creates a direct pipeline where viewers think, "If he can do it with that person, they can do it with me," and reach out immediately.
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The five-bucket content system covers every customer interaction type.
Systematic content creation prevents creative blocks while ensuring comprehensive coverage of dealership operations.
"So the five main buckets. We have phone calls with customers [and] customer interactions in person. A bucket that…you can call them reality situations. Car reviews, which is number four, and then number five [is] kind of [an] umbrella…which includes like memes, skits, questions, things of that nature, trending content."
— Omar
Each bucket serves specific purposes, with phone calls and in-person interactions driving the highest lead conversion rates.
Social media leads cost 98% less than traditional digital sources.
The cost difference between social and traditional digital marketing is so dramatic it fundamentally changes dealership economics.
"Organic, when you factor in the videographer, you factor in what we pay Omar per lead is probably somewhere around $4 a lead for organic, $5 a lead. And for the paid ad, I think we got that all the way down to about $3 per lead on the paid ad."
— Matt
Compared to traditional digital leads at "$300 per deal," social media represents a complete disruption of automotive marketing cost structures.
Young sales teams adapt to content creation faster than expected.
Generational differences in social media comfort levels make implementation smoother with younger staff.
"It's not a part of the job description, but everyone actually enjoys it now. Because for the most part, everyone is a part of it. And…my staff is pretty young. My average salesperson is probably about 25 years old. So this is the world that they grew up in."
— Matt
Rather than requiring formal job description changes, team members naturally embrace content creation when they see the lead generation results.
Authentic content outperforms polished marketing materials in paid advertising.
Running paid ads on successful organic content generates better results than traditional advertising creative.
"The strategy really is, we find, organically, what videos work well. And most dealerships on the paid side are running graphics and carousels and commercial OEM videos that aren’t really engaging…So your cost per lead is extremely high versus the organic videos that are engaging that people want to watch. We then run paid on it as well. And that brings in like three dollar leads with people that are actually watching the so-called advertisement."
— Omar
This approach eliminates the disconnect between advertising and actual dealership experience that hurts traditional marketing performance.
Content creation requires minimal daily time investment for maximum impact.
The operational burden of social media marketing is significantly lower than most dealers assume.
"Me? With a videographer, it helps a lot…and she'll come to me [and say],‘Hey, today we got to do this video, we have to do that video.’ And I'll just say, ‘Okay, let's do it.’"
— Matt
Twenty minutes daily of content creation is generating 50 units monthly in social media-driven sales.
Trust-based relationships form before customers ever visit the dealership.
Social media creates pre-qualified prospects who arrive with established confidence in the dealership's capabilities.
"The person who's clicking on that video or on that ad already has trust-based relationship with that dealership."
— Omar
This eliminates the traditional sales process challenges of building rapport and credibility from scratch with cold prospects.
