Facebook Ideas for Car Dealers
With the growing awareness and interest in “Web 2.0″ for car dealers, the pressure is on to conceive truly impacting ways for dealers to sell more cars with today’s web technologies. I for one have no doubt that Web 2.0 is key to the success of car dealers, but I also realize the climb has hardly begun.
It’s important to consider proven marketing practices and techniques when leveraging technology. Often people shift towards tools and technology because they are new and then try to find clever ways to make them viable. Take something like Facebook for instance. It’s free and available to everyone so dealers are signing up for it and then wondering how they can put it to good use.
Facebook is a sophisticated application and there are numerous ways to utilize it for sales and marketing purposes, but its not going to be easy. First you have to develop an audience which takes time, commitment, and creativity. You don’t develop an audience in social networks by advertising and soliciting to people. You develop it by observing your connections, interacting with them, and creating interest in them for you. Not realistic if you have an ulterior motive. But that’s the reality of social media networking.
So what can dealers do with Facebook? Well, I think a good start would be to keep it simple by using the Events functionality. Let’s say you are having a tent sale in a few weeks. First you would create an event on your Facebook to announce the event. Then you would blast an email to your permission-based email audience about the event, maybe using a short video to introduce it and invite people to connect with you on Facebook.
Then, at the event, set up a table with a Facebook banner and some materials to educate people at the event about your efforts on Facebook. Take lots of pictures, some videos, maybe even get some written testimonials. Essentially, document the event with multi-media. Heck you might even consider hiring a professionals to do this like you would for your wedding.
After the event, update your Facebook with all the pictures and videos and such, like a journal entry. Make it look sharp, fun, and appealing. Now shoot out another email to your list thanking them for attending and encouraging those that weren’t there to make a check out the pics and stuff anyway.
Hopefully you get the idea. This is no easy task but you want to start somewhere. To pull this off you need buy-in from staff and possibly professional help from select partners, and of course an audience interested in your efforts. But it’s these sorts of efforts that will allow you to build trust with your audience, evolve your dealership, and selling more cars (and service them too). Do this regularly and you could be on to something.
November 12th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hi, I would be interested to see if what you’re suggesting would actually work. In fact I’m struggling to see if Facebook has any benefit to a dealer except for the backlinks it would create. From a UK perspective, consumers are very unlikely to use Facebook in their buying process. It may be different in states but I still feel buyers aren’t interested.
Or am I missing something?
November 13th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Hi Steve,
You stated something key, “consumers are very unlikely to use Facebook in their buying process”.
This would be because dealers do not use Facebook in the buying process. As dealers learn to find ways for using Facebook as part of the buying process then I would expect your customers to naturally become a part of that process.
Think of the telephone, fax, and email. Well, the phone might be a stretch b\c it has been around as long as selling cars has, but when fax and email first hit the scene they were not part of the car buying process. But today they are a staple.
My post presents a real-world use for Facebook with dealers and their customers and I hope to experiment with it on some of my dealership customers. I am confident it would help the dealer build their Facebook network which if done consistently would indeed lead to sales.
Appreciate the response Steve and let me know if there is anything with which I can be of assistance for you.
-Ryan
November 13th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
There is a good discussion at the Grok which distinguishes Social Media and Networking sites for building relationships and networking rather than for SEO and advertising, which I wholly agree with.
November 14th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Great points… also do not forget to post an ad in the Facebook Marketplace. Fastest way to build your network is look-up your walk-ins/appointments on face book and other social sites. Keep your self in the prospective mind. Now and then share some news with them… write on their wall etc.
You can also go broad and create groups… your business group, scion group, local ford group etc… etc…
November 14th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Hi Ryan,
I understand where your coming from and understand how Facebook can work in other industries and initiatives. But in the context of automotive, and seeing it from the perspective of a potential customer, I wouldn’t go onto Facebook, I would ignore Facebook if it appeared on my Google search and EVEN IF I did go on and read what a dealership had to say, I don’t think it would influence me to purchase from them.
I believe that if the website is a manufacturer or C2C website then Facebook can play a good part. Consumers are looking for recommendations and reviews on brands and models of car to help them decide which to buy. Only 19% of consumers at the moment are even considering this type of social medium when researching their purchase online. http://www.vlane.com is such a site that can and do use Facebook to promote their site, but they aren’t a dealership.
Again, I’m looking at it mainly from my 12 years web experience, 8 of which in automotive in the UK, so it might all be different in the USA.
If you haven’t already check out the Cap Gemini Report 08/09 to gain an insight into what people are doing online.
Cheers
Steve
November 23rd, 2008 at 3:17 am
I agree that web marketing would help the dealers but facebook would help or not i am not sure. I go with Steve Taylor that facebook may work in other industries but automotive i am doubtful. By what you have explained if we can get good business then we must give it a try.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Vehicle listings from Oodle will soon appear in Facebook. This should help generate some more traffic for dealers. Oodle listings are even free! Inventory management companies like VinSolutions send their dealer’s inventory to Oodle.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Wasn’t Oodle looking to do this over 2 years ago? I think I can remember reading something about it a while back.