Convert Unsold Leads with Facebook (part 1)

The 3 Primary Marketing Options

Your marketing message gets the most traction when it’s delivered to places where consumers are already spending their time. In recent years, social media has increasingly become that venue, and the biggest player on that field is, and has been for some time, Facebook.

Not only is Facebook a proven method to connect with in-market vehicle shoppers, it’s also a great place to reconnect with and convert unsold leads.

In this three-part blog series, we’ll be covering:

  • The 3 Primary Marketing Options
  • What’s New and What’s Changed
  • Making the Most of Your Ad Campaigns

First, is your refresher course on what’s available for marketing.

Facebook offers different methods of reaching users, but in general, your options include:

Your Dealership’s Facebook Page

This is the most basic of the options available but still shouldn’t be ignored. By posting on your dealership’s business page, you’ll potentially reach people who have liked and followed your page.

The effectiveness of this option has plummeted in recent years, however. Due to changes in the algorithm Facebook uses to share posts — a new priority to show posts from friends and family, rather than businesses — the estimated organic reach has dropped to between 2% and 6.5%.

Still, people researching your dealership will see your posts once they are on your page, so having a continually updated page — and not one that was started a few years ago and never posted to again — will work in your favor.

Display Ads

While organic reach has dropped for businesses, those willing to pay for exposure have many more options. Facebook offers a variety of tools for marketers to use, both to aim ads at the correct audience (by location area, generation, financial, life interests and other criteria) and to meet various objectives (brand awareness, lead generation, engagement, video views and more).

Facebook Marketplace

The company launched Marketplace in 2007 to compete with Craigslist, offering advertising for job openings, houses for sale and other items. Marketplace was closed down between 2014 and 2016, and then reopened with a new focus on buying and selling locally, competing with eBay and NextDoor.

Used car listings soon became a major part of this renewed focus and, in 2017, the company partnered with Cars.com and other third-party marketplaces to list used automobile inventory.

Which of these options are you utilizing?

Stay tuned for part 2, where we’ll discuss What’s New and What’s Changed.

Learn more about Outsell Social.