For franchise stores and independent dealers, social media advertising is a great way to increase brand awareness, announce a new product or service, sell more cars, and, most importantly, generate more sales, parts and service revenue.
Facebook is a critical marketing channel for car dealerships. With nearly 2 billion active users worldwide, it’s easy to understand why social media is so impactful. Facebook offers dealers a unique opportunity to reach both current and potential customers quickly and affordably.
Facebook ads are unique in that they target actual people. The cookie-based advertising of many other ad platforms means you’re limited to showing an ad in a specific browser on a particular device, but Facebook gives you the power to track and reach your audience no matter where they might be.
For most of us, Facebook is a part of our daily routine, and we’re logged in on multiple devices. Do you spend more time browsing Facebook on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet? No matter where or how we access our Facebook account, all activity is tied to our individual profile. This means we see your ads across different devices, so you can always deliver the right message at exactly the right time.
Why it’s valuable for dealers and automotive groups-
Facebook also gives dealers the ability to expand beyond your core audience and reach other potential customers who share similar interests. Through profile information (like demographic data and content that someone has liked or shared), activity on connected websites or apps, and information shared with Facebook by other advertisers and marketing partners, Facebook can identify people who are likely to have an interest in your ad.
This allows for more granular targeting and more effective, relevant ads, and a higher ROI.
By connecting your inventory feed to your Facebook page and Facebook Business Manager, you can target and re-market specific vehicles based on the persons’ behavior. If someone clicks on an SRP or VDP for a truck, you should always retarget them by displaying the same VIN specific truck or by (people also viewed) similar body styles in their news feed. It’s all about reach and frequency, right?
Why use Facebook Ads? Doesn’t Facebook have enough money? Shouldn’t we get all our reach for free? I know it’s frustrating that Facebook has changed the visibility of Pages but there are still some very compelling reasons to use Facebook Ads. Here are 5 of my favorite reasons.
5 reasons why you should use Facebook Ads-
#1 Inexpensive
Facebook Advertising is one of the cheapest forms of advertising out there. There are a LOT of choices these days on where you can advertise – magazines, banner ads, Google Adwords, Twitter, LinkedIn, direct mail, radio, TV, local events and more. LinkedIn can range from $2-15 per click and some of the other options are not as easily trackable.
#2 Highly Targeted Traffic
Facebook can target some pretty amazing keywords but there’s much more to the targeting! Here are a few things you can target by:
Demographics – age ranges, college education, home owners
Local area – either zip codes or a radius (10-mile radius minimum)
Job titles – this has recently been
Fans of another page – this is only available for certain pages but you can show your ads to the fans of other pages.
Income level – if you know your perfect customer is in a higher income bracket, you can narrow your audience down and use your advertising budget to reach your best audience.
Behavior – people who shop for organic food for example, or people who own a certain type of car, or shop online. This is HUGE!
#3 Easily trackable marketing – track leads and sales
One of the best things about Facebook Ads is that you can track exactly how much it costs you to get a lead or a sale. To do that, you must use the Facebook Pixel on your website. Better yet, when you test 2 different ads, you can see which one leads to better cost per conversion. Now you are saving money on your advertising!
#4 Promote your best content where people are hanging out
There are over 2 Billion people logging into Facebook every month and on average people are spending 20 minutes on Facebook every time they log in. You work hard on your content. Why not make sure people see it? So, you first post your content on the Facebook Page, wait a couple of hours at least to let it get some organic engagement, then give the post a boost. I have a full Facebook Boosted Post strategy that I use and I don’t spend too much money on boosting posts but get great cost per link click to get more traffic to my website. Typically, I’m boosting my posts to my website visitors (also known as retargeting) because I get cheaper cost per clicks that way. But you can also choose keywords to become more visible with people who are interested in that type of content.
#5 Stay top of mind with a warm audience
It’s easier for your business to get repeat customers rather than brand new customers. So why not spend a little of your marketing budget on getting in front of your current audience? The good news is when you are re-targeting your ads, your audience is much smaller and it’s very inexpensive to reach them. Even if you are emailing your customers or posting organically, people miss your content. How good is your email open rate? Even if it’s 20%, you could be missing 80% of your customers when you just send one email! You can combine your Custom Audiences to make the audience size larger.
There is no secret formula to building a successful business or a successful digital marketing strategy. Both take planning, hard work, dedication, and execution. By implementing an effective marketing strategy, you can give yourself a distinct advantage in your marketplace. Your business name will be seen more, you will earn more clicks from potential customers, and that adds up to more revenue.
If you want your business to start growing quickly, you need to ensure your social media and digital marketing is on point. Contact us today and ask for our case studies! We do this all the time and would love to show you exactly how! Give us a call at 314-879-4049 or click here to send us a note. Thank you for all that you do! You are appreciated!
