Thinking about investing in traditional marketing channels? Think again.
Traditional channels like TV and radio are continuing to price themselves out of dealers’ reach. The same goes for third-party listing sites that charge a fortune without delivering real leads.
Fortunately, it’s never been easier for dealers to run their own digital advertising.
Digital advertising isn’t just less expensive — it’s more effective in reaching your dealership’s ideal audience. Plus, it does more to build customer loyalty compared to traditional marketing channels.
Facebook is one of the most important platforms for dealers looking to transition into digital marketing. It’s accessible, simple to learn, and incredibly cost-effective — if you know what you’re doing.
We’ve created this guide to help you get started. Keep reading for our tips on getting the most out of your dealership’s Facebook advertising.
Your Guide to Automotive Facebook Advertising
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past decade, the fact that 1.6 billion individuals use Facebook each day should come as no surprise. Instagram, which is part of the Facebook ecosystem, boasts an additional 500 million daily users.
That’s a lot of potential customers. So what does that mean for dealers? Let’s take a look:
- 78% of consumers find social media useful when making a new vehicle purchase
- Click-Through-Rates (CTRs) for vehicle ads on Facebook are among the highest compared to other industries.
- 75% of car buyers say internet research, including social media, was the most helpful medium when selecting a dealership.
The best part: Facebook offers a wide array of advertising tools made specifically for dealers. These tools help dealers create ads that are optimized to drive leads and bring in buyers.
Creating facebook ads
Businesses have 6 ad formats available for them to use on Facebook. We recommend dealers focus on the following 4:
- Image/Text: The most basic ad format, comprised of a single photo, text description, and CTA button.
- Video: Similar to image/text ads but allows for videos up to 240 minutes in length.
- Carousel: Allows you to include multiple photos/videos to showcase different vehicles, offers, etc.
- Dynamic Inventory Ads: Dealers can connect their inventory data to create ads that include VIN-specific information like make, model, price, and mileage.
Dynamic Ads connect with your inventory data to automatically fill templates with vehicle details and images. Dynamic inventory ads are an incredible tool for dealers wanting to connect with active buyers interested in their inventory. They help streamline ad creation and have a 1.6x higher conversion rate compared to basic image ads.
Use High-Quality Photos & Videos
Facebook and Instagram are visual platforms. If you’re not using high-quality images, customers will likely scroll right past your ads. That means avoiding stock images from the manufacturer. Instead use custom photos that truly showcase your inventory to customers.
And don’t forget about video! 60% of car buyers say they visited a dealership after watching a video of a vehicle they were interested in. Use video ads to feature vehicle tours, customer testimonials, and other upcoming offers.
Include Eye-Catching Descriptions & Superlatives
Target the Right Buyers
Use Special Ad Audiences to pinpoint who you sees your ads. The reason behind Facebook Ads’ impressive ROI compared to other platforms: it’s advanced targeting. That’s largely made possible by Facebook Pixel, a tool that can be added to your dealership website to log and track visitor data. This data can then be used to serve Facebook Ads directly to customers who have visited your website.
Dealers can also manually adjust who sees their ads. Using Special Ad Audiences, dealers can serve ads to their preferred customers by specifying demographic information. This is critical to helping your ad spend go as far as possible.
Make Adjustments
Creating effective campaigns takes trial and error. You’ll need to pay attention to what’s working and what isn’t. One of the most effective ways to do this is through A/B testing. This allows you to create and run two different versions of a single ad. Dealers can then identify the most successful elements from each to help refine future ads.
It’s also important for dealers to pay attention to ad placement. Facebook tends to recommend placing ads across its entire Audience Network, including News Feeds, Instagram, and Messenger. This can be a helpful starting point, but dealers should monitor the effectiveness of each placement to maximize their cost-per-click (CPC).
Use a Precision Marketing platform to get the most out of Automotive Facebook Ads
It’s true that Facebook is one of the most accessible platforms for dealers to try their hand at digital marketing. But while it may be easy to learn — it can be much more difficult to master.
Creating effective Facebook ads, running them, reaching the right customers, and tracking ROI can quickly become a full-time job. Things get even more complicated when you start running ads on additional platforms. That’s where AdCue comes in.
AdCue is a revolutionary automotive advertising platform built for today’s digital world. It handles the heavy lifting for you by connecting your inventory data directly with Facebook and Instagram. Using this data, it automatically generates ads using eye-catching photos and vehicle descriptions. The best part: AdCue’s automated campaigns let you serve these ads to your ideal audience across both platforms without ever having to lift a finger.
Are you ready to start advertising on Facebook like a pro? Schedule a demo with us today to learn more.
