Short-Form Video Playbook
Turning your search and social data into short-form video that wins more organic visibility.
Contents
Two low-competition ways to know exactly what your customers want to know.
The exact prompt that turns that data into a 30-90 second video script.
A few small habits to ensure your videos actually get picked up organically.
How to tell if it’s working, beyond view counts.
Here’s the Sitch…
Website traffic is declining. Leads are declining with it. Affordability pressure, interest rates, global conflict, and inflation are all pointing toward a real correction in this market.
None of that means car shoppers have stopped buying. It means the competition for the good opportunities is about to get sharper, and the dealers who win will be the ones generating higher quality opportunities, relationships, authority, and trust.
The most reliable way to do that is by creating authority-building content that increases your visibility online, and drives more engaged shoppers to you.
Welcome to the Attention Economy
More people, more of the time, are seeking out content on the specific topics they care about. The dealers who show up with real answers to real questions earn attention that advertising can't buy.
To capitalize on this, your marketing channels and activities must be aligned, feeding into one another to work toward generating better quality leads.
The question isn't whether to create that content, but how to find out, with precision, what your specific shoppers actually want to know. There are two low-competition ways to find out, both underused by dealers, both nearly free.
By capturing this attention, you directly combat the declines in traffic and leads, shifting from passive survival to actively winning the high-quality opportunities in this market.
The Foundation of the strategy: They Ask, You Answer
Every search and every query is an implied question. Customers are online looking for information that helps inform their vehicle purchase decision. Whether in Google traditional search or via an LLM, customers are looking for reputable answers, and the dealers who can do that win trust.
So how can we find out what car shoppers want to know?
tactic #1: mine your website data
Google Search Console and Google Analytics already know what your shoppers are searching for and which pages on your site are earning their attention. Most dealers have this data sitting untouched. Here's how to put it to work.
01 Log into your Google Search Console and navigate to “Performance” in the left menu.
02 Filter your list by the last 3 - 6 months to view the top queries that have driven traffic to your website.
03 Export the data, and upload to your LLM of choice.
04 Copy the following prompt
the prompt
You are an expert social media and video content strategist with a deep understanding of video scripting strategies that will hook car shopper attention, give them value that answers their questions, and close with a strong CTA to drive traffic and shopping activity on my website. Each video script you create will be between 30 and 90 seconds long. You are deeply aware of the best practices for platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, and will provide me with the script as well as the description for the video. Each time I provide you data from my website pages or other sources, you will look to identify the best opportunities to create content, and provide me with the script based on your analysis. When the data supports it, work a specific number or comparison into the script instead of a general claim.
tactic #2: tiktok “content gap” data
You can augment your website data by leveraging TikTok’s content gap tool. Through this tool, TikTok is handing you data about the video topics they need more video content about in order to satisfy viewer demand.
01 Open the TikTok app on your phone. Search for “Content Creator Insights.”
02 Click to view content gap to see the growing video topics TikTok needs more content about.
03 Click to view your topic of interest. TikTok provides demographic and demand data, alongside ideas about the video you could create on that topic.
04 Take screenshots and feed to your LLM and utilize the exact same prompt as provided above.
Record & Publish
Record your content using an app like Edits by Instagram. Edits makes recording videos with scripts easy because of the built in teleprompter feature. The faster you can record the videos with fewer takes, the more likely your team will keep the momentum going. Publish the video content to your social profiles, Google Business Profile, and Website.
Bonus: Google Business Profile
Check your Search Console data and you might be surprised to learn that a large share of your organic website traffic comes from your Google Business Profile. Google’s algorithms focus on two main goals:
Relevance: how well your content matches what users are searching for
Accessibility: how easily both users and Google’s systems can find and read your answers
Your Google Business Profile connects those two goals. Because Google knows your location and understands user intent, it will surface optimized, relevant business listings in search and maps, helping people find the businesses that best match their query.
You might already be viral! 👀
Some Google Business Profiles are getting upwards of 100,000 unique views per day! Those views represent real search intent and interest. By posting your short-form videos on your profile you are leveraging an existing audience that is already showing up. The point: you aren’t starting from scratch!
Bonus: Inventory Promo Videos
01 Walk onto your lot and pick a row of vehicles.
02 Position yourself at the front ¾ view of the vehicle.
03 Record a selfie video with the following script:
“Hey there, [your name] here at [dealership name] in [location]. Listen; I’m standing in-front of this [new/used] [year/make/model] for sale in [your location]. If you’re looking for the best deal on [year/make/models], give me a call at [phone number] or click the link to view our in-stock [make/model] inventory today.”
04 Add minor variations to how you speak about the vehicle. “Beautiful 2026 Chevrolet Silverado” could also be “Red Crew Cab 2026 Chevy Silverado.” Additionally, think about what shoppers are searching for. “Best deal on,” or “best experience purchasing a…” are also ways to add variation to your video content.
05 Create a video for each new/used vehicle on your lot. Upload the video to your Google Business Profile and YouTube channel. Doing so adds more content to the engine, with more opportunities for Google and LLMs to rank your video content in search results, building your visibility and authority in the market with short-form video content.