Facebook Advertising For Car Sales: A Guide For Dealerships

Facebook Advertising For Car Sales: A Guide For Dealerships

Facebook Advertising For Car Sales: A Guide For Dealerships

Facebook Advertising For Car Sales A Guide For Dealerships

Imagine if your dealership  could reach over 2 billion monthly visitors. That enormous footprint now exists in the digital realm thanks to Facebook. Savvy car dealers are leveraging the world’s top social platform to engage buyers where they already spend time online. 

This comprehensive “Facebook Advertising For Car Sales” guide will explore how to transform Facebook into your digital showroom. By implementing targeted advertising campaigns, you can drive qualified traffic to your on-lot or online inventory. We will cover approaches for dealers both new to Facebook ads and those with existing strategies.

The Benefits of Facebook Advertising For Car Dealerships

Facebook advertising comes with a unique set of benefits that make it highly appealing for car dealers who want to target  online, in-market  customers:

Laser-Focused Facebook Targeting Options

With Facebook ads, you can target users based on location, demographics, interests, behaviors and more. This level of precision paired with Facebook’s extensive user base allows you to put your ad dollars in front of highly-targeted, high-intent customers.

Unrivaled Retargeting Capabilities with Facebook Advertising

Your dealership can create custom audiences of people who have already engaged with your website or dealership’s Facebook page. By retargeting this group, you can turn cold leads into hot prospects and prime them until they’re ready-to-buy, and  from your dealership!

Increased On-Lot Traffic for Dealerships

Well-designed Facebook ads displayed to targeted groups in your area can drive significant traffic directly to your dealer lot. This influx of foot traffic leads to more test drives and on-lot sales.

Higher Lead Conversion Rates

Users who engage with your ads signal they are open to learning more. You can provide lead forms directly in Facebook, allowing customers an easy path to convert.

Measurable ROI for Facebook Advertising

The platform makes it easy to track conversions from your ads directly into leads and sales – and being aware of your ROI helps optimize your ad spend.

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If you are ready to explore how Facebook advertising can impact your dealership’s bottom line, click here to learn more about Dealers United’s Facebook Advertising Solutions.

How Facebook Advertising Works for Car Dealerships

Facebook advertising is based on an auction model where companies like dealerships bid against each other for ad placement. Your bid, along with the predicted impact of your ads, determines how often your ads are displayed to relevant audiences.

When setting up a Facebook ad, you choose audiences, placements, messaging and imagery, calls-to-action, and bids and budgets:

  • Audiences – Select the target customer demographics, behaviors, interests and locations that best align with your ideal purchaser.
  • Placements – Choose to display your ads in the Facebook News Feed, Instagram Feed, Facebook Marketplace or within popular videos.
  • Messaging & Imagery – Craft compelling ad copy and visuals that stop people from idly scrolling and pique interest.
  • Calls-to-Action – Such as “Learn More”, “Shop Now”, “Schedule Test Drive”, that match different stages of the car buying journey.
  • Bids & Budgets – Set a daily budget and cost-per ad click/impression bids based on your sales goals.

Once your campaign launches, Facebook provides detailed analytics on performance. By monitoring metrics like cost per lead, click-through-rate and conversion rate, you can optimize for better ongoing results.

Want to learn more about how Dealers United can help you set up conversion-driven Facebook advertising? Click here to learn  about Dealers United’s Facebook Advertising solutions tailored to dealerships.

Facebook Advertising Campaign Examples & Best Practices For Dealers

The key to success with Facebook advertising lies in understanding the core consumer motivations and triggers. Approach each campaign by putting yourself in the shoes of the shopper.

Think about how you can attract their attention and keep it long enough to convert them into your customer.

Two common Facebook ad examples dealerships should execute in line with best practices are inventory/price based campaigns, and limited time special offers:

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Inventory / Price Based Campaigns

These campaigns display actual vehicles from inventory at set pricing. They work well especially for dealers promoting new car makes or particular models.

Best Practices for Inventory / Price Based Campaign:

  • Feature your very best discounted vehicles to maximize interest
  • Keep ad copy succinct with clear call-to-action
  • Drive traffic to a dedicated inventory or specials landing page on your website
  • Retarget engaged users across devices with discounted pricing

Limited Time Special Offers

Leverage the power of scarcity and urgency with special deals only available for a short period. These ads can boost traffic during sales events or clearance offers.

Best Practices for Limited Time Special Offers:

  • Make the expiration date very clear
  • Limit to your highest perceived value vehicles or very low prices
  • Pair the offer visuals with strong text overlay like “Offers End Soon!”
  • Point traffic directly to online vehicle listings the customer can act on

Facebook Advertising for Car Sales: The Bottom Line

Facebook advertising checks all the boxes for affordability, targeting and measurability. For dealers looking to scale online leads and sales, Facebook ads represent an essential component of your digital marketing strategy.

And the platform keeps getting better. With new formats and expanded targeting, costs per lead acquisition remain highly competitive relative to other paid channels.

Dealers United can help your car dealership build an intelligent Facebook advertising plan tailored to your sales objectives.

Dominate Social ADS

Written By Lauren Blackwell
Lauren Blackwell is a skilled content marketer who has spent the past 3 years working in automotive advertising technology and now brings her unique experiences to Dealers United. From running ad campaigns, to curating auto-specific resources, Lauren is empowered to create valuable content to help automotive dealers thrive on social media.

Drive More Leads and Sales Through Online Advertising for Car Dealerships

Drive More Leads and Sales Through Online Advertising for Car Dealerships

Drive More Leads and Sales Through Online Advertising for Car Dealerships

Secrets to SEO Success - Blog

In today’s digital age, most car buyers start their search for a new vehicle online. In fact, studies show that the majority of vehicle shoppers now use the internet in their research process before ever setting foot in a dealership. As a car dealership, you need to make sure your online presence captures this huge audience and drives them to your store through multiple channels – like Dealers United’s Full-Service digital solutions do for dealerships…

Implementing the right online advertising strategies can help you connect with more prospective buyers, increase leads and sales, and grow your business in a competitive marketplace. This article explores the most effective types of online ads for car dealerships and how to optimize each one.

Fast track your online advertising presence with Dealers United’s Full-Service digital solutions. 

Paid Search Ads

Paid search ads, also called pay-per-click or PPC ads, should form the foundation of your dealership’s online strategy. These small text ads appear alongside organic search engine results when a user enters a relevant keyword search.

For example, when someone searches for “Toyota RAV4 for sale,” your PPC ad can appear as one of the first results with your store name, discounted pricing offers, and a link to drive traffic to your website or special landing page.

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Benefits of PPC ads for dealerships:

  • Highly targeted based on search keywords
  • Appear high in search rankings, above organic results
  • Get instant results and can measure ROI accurately
  • Control your budget and spend only when ads are clicked
  • Flexible, make changes to improve results

Follow these tips to maximize your PPC campaigns:

  • Research high-volume, relevant search keywords
  • Create targeted ad copy and landing pages
  • A/B test different ads to improve CTR
  • Set up conversion tracking to optimize efforts

Facebook and Instagram Advertising For Car Sales

80% of surveyed U.S. car buyers use Facebook for auto research. Facebook and Instagram  offer extensive targeting capabilities, allowing you to serve ads to users more likely to buy based on demographics, interests, behaviors and more.

For a dealership, effective Facebook advertising strategies include:

  • Retargeting ads for website visitors
  • Local ads for area shoppers
  • Offer-based ads like discounts on leases
  • Carousel image ads displaying latest inventory

Facebook and Instagram make it easy to create professional, eye-catching ads then monitor performance and capitalize on what’s working best.

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Display & Video Ads

Beyond search and social, display advertising reaches car buyers as they browse sites across the web. These visually compelling ads appear on premium websites, news pages, informational content sites and more.

Video ads also capture attention as shoppers engage with interesting video content. You can retarget people who have watched certain videos with your dealership’s ads.

Benefits of offsite display and video ads:

  • Broad reach to an engaged audience
  • Innovative ad formats like 360-degree interactive
  • Frequency to drive brand awareness
  • Retargeting warm prospective leads
  • High visual impact
  • The key is placing these ads where your target audience is most likely to see them through strategic website partnerships and managed ad exchanges.

Track KPIs & Optimize Efforts

Implementing an online advertising strategy takes consistent measurement and optimization. Track key performance indicators (KPIs) like:

  • Impressions
  • Click-through-rate (CTR)
  • Cost per lead
  • Lead quality
  • Inventory views
  • Sales conversions

Analyze this data regularly to determine what’s working and what’s not. Shift budget toward highest performing platforms, targets, and ad creative. Continual testing and improvement will maximize your dealership’s online advertising ROI.

Work With Dealers United for Proven Car Dealership Marketing

As you build an impactful digital advertising program, leverage the expertise of Dealers United – our dedicated team focuses on driving leads and sales for car dealerships like yours.

We handle setting up and managing your search and social campaigns while providing complete transparency into the results. With Dealers United, you get decades of dealership marketing experience focused on one goal—growing your business.

Click here to learn more about how Dealers United can help optimize your online advertising strategy and exceed your lead generation goals this year.

Dominate Social ADS

Written By Lauren Blackwell
Lauren Blackwell is a skilled content marketer who has spent the past 3 years working in automotive advertising technology and now brings her unique experiences to Dealers United. From running ad campaigns, to curating auto-specific resources, Lauren is empowered to create valuable content to help automotive dealers thrive on social media.

Leverage Video to Drive Car Sales for Your Dealership

Leverage Video to Drive Car Sales for Your Dealership

Leverage Video to Drive Car Sales for Your Dealership

Secrets to SEO Success - Blog

Incorporating videos into your content strategy has become an essential component of any successful dealership. For car dealerships looking to boost sales, video provides an unparalleled opportunity to showcase inventory while building trust and credibility with customers. The opportunities are endless…and with the right video marketing approach, your dealership can drive more qualified traffic, increase lead conversion, and ultimately sell more cars.

Dealers United can help you incorporate custom social media video ads into your campaigns. 

Craft Compelling Dealership Videos

Well-produced video allows customers to experience your dealership and inventory in an engaging, low-pressure environment. Rather than salesy commercials, focus on crafting relevant, valuable videos designed to inform, educate, entertain or otherwise provide value for viewers.

For example, create walkaround videos highlighting key features of popular models on your lot. Produce explanatory videos answering common questions buyers have about financing, leasing, or how to use modern vehicle technologies. Share behind-the-scenes videos giving customers a feel for your service center and staff.

Brief video clips work well for social media, while in-depth videos are better suited for your YouTube channel or website. In all cases, high-quality video production is a must to convey professionalism and boost view rates.

Optimize Video for Search Visibility

The right optimization and promotion strategy can help your videos appear prominently in relevant YouTube or Google search results. For each video:

  • Carefully target keywords and organically work them into the title, description and captions.
  • Include your dealership name, location and other relevant identifying information prominently in metadata.
  • Insert links back to your website within video descriptions driving viewers to take action.
  • Promote videos across all your dealership social channels, email campaigns, and websites.
  • Monitoring analytics to see which videos gain traction, then doubling down on production of more content around popular themes or vehicles.

Build a Multichannel Video Strategy

While a YouTube channel serves as your video hub, extend the reach of video content by cross-promoting it across other marketing channels:

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Email Campaigns: Share new vehicle walkaround or dealership videos via email outreach. Insert clickable thumbnail images linking to full videos.

Social Media: All major platforms now emphasize video content in their algorithms. Develop brief, engaging video clips tailored to each network.

Website: Embed relevant videos on inventory, financing or service pages. Videos can boost time-on-site metrics for better SEO.

In-Person: Install video displays in high-visibility areas of your dealership, showcasing current inventory vehicles, customer testimonials or other relevant content.

A cohesive video marketing approach connecting these channels will amplify viewership and overall impact on prospects and customers alike.

Why Dealers United for Your Video Marketing

As leading social media ad experts for car dealerships, Dealers United has helped our clients drive countless sales through custom created video initiatives optimized for today’s most popular channels. Our team can handle all aspects of ideation, production, optimization and analytics/reporting so you focus on selling.

Trust Dealers United as your dealership video marketing partner and start converting browsers into car buyers today!

Dominate Social ADS

Written By Lauren Blackwell
Lauren Blackwell is a skilled content marketer who has spent the past 3 years working in automotive advertising technology and now brings her unique experiences to Dealers United. From running ad campaigns, to curating auto-specific resources, Lauren is empowered to create valuable content to help automotive dealers thrive on social media.

Optimizing Your Social Media Ads Budget for Car Dealerships

Optimizing Your Social Media Ads Budget for Car Dealerships

Optimizing Your Social Media Ads Budget for Car Dealerships

Secrets to SEO Success - Blog

Every dealership needs to be advertising on social media if they want to reach new customers and increase sales. It’s a no-brainer. However, with limited marketing budgets, it’s important to spend your money wisely to get the best return on investment. This article provides tips on how to optimize your social media ads budget as a car dealership, from social media advertising experts at Dealers United.

Set Clear Goals and KPIs

Before allocating your budget, your dealership will need to set clear goals and identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) you want to achieve with social media ads. Common goals include:

  • Increase website traffic
  • Generate more leads
  • Boost brand awareness
  • Drive dealership foot traffic

Establishing metrics to track for each goal such as click-through rate, cost per lead, and conversion rate will help guide budget decisions.

Research Your Audience

Conduct thorough consumer research to understand your target audience’s demographics, interests, behavior patterns, and media consumption habits. This will allow you to determine which social platforms and types of ad content will resonate most. The better tailored your ads, the better the performance.

Software like Google Analytics can provide insight into existing audience data from your website traffic. Additional tools like Facebook Audience Insights allow you to analyze target customer groups.

Or, with Dealers United’s social ads, your dealership can magically change your ads based on shopper behavior. Our ad solutions are so intelligent that your ad copy, placements, and even calls-to-action will change based on how shoppers engage with you.

For example: If a shopper visited a VDP but didn’t submit a lead, your ads would evolve to then show that exact VIN paired with lead forms to get them to come back and convert.

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Click here to learn more about Dealers United’s ad solutions. 

Test Different Social Advertising Platforms

All social media platforms have unique advertising formats and audiences.  It’s important to test different platforms to see which one generates the highest ROI for your dealership.

Start by allocating a small budget to run A/B tests across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and LinkedIn. Look at relevant performance indicators, then allocate more budget towards the best-performing platforms.

Optimize Your Social Ad Creative

Well-designed creatives make a big difference in the success of ads. Work with designers to produce visuals and copywriting that grabs attention and conveys your brand style.

You will want to find social ad experts like Dealers United’s who will go above and beyond to design unique ads for your dealership that stand out. 

 

Analyze and Adjust Social Ads in Real-Time

Make sure that your dealership is consistently analyzing your ad performance and making changes when needed. Many social platforms provide real-time reporting dashboards to monitor metrics, so it’s important to optimize based on performance.

If an ad concept is underperforming, it’s as simple as pausing it and trying new creative to see what resonates with your audience. If a platform isn’t generating enough conversions, shift budget to those ads that driving more leads and sales. So long as you stay agile, you will always be aware of what you can try to boost performance.

Targeting and Retargeting Techniques for Engaged Customers

One proven tactic is to create custom audiences of people who have engaged with your brand and retarget them with ads. This could include:

  • Website visitors
  • Past lead form submitters
  • Video viewers
  • Foot traffic

Pro tip: Retargeting to warm leads and existing customers has higher conversion rates for lower cost.

Set and Refine Rules-Based Budgets

The best practice is to establish overall monthly budgets as well as daily/hourly limits that automatically pace spending. Use this as a starting point then refine over time.

Schedule more budget around weekdays or weekends when engagement is higher. Set flexible guardrails around ideal customer actions to control overspending. Continue assessing data then optimize budget allocations.

Importance of Optimizing Your Social Media Ads

Optimizing your social media budget takes consistent effort, but each small gain compounds over time into major performance and savings benefits. Work closely with your marketing advisor to track KPIs and align the budget to what’s working best.

At Dealers United, our certified marketing consultants leverage proprietary technology and proven methodologies tailored specifically for car dealerships. Schedule a free assessment to discuss how we can optimize your next digital campaign towards exceeding sales objectives while maximizing your budget.

Dominate Social ADS

Written By Lauren Blackwell
Lauren Blackwell is a skilled content marketer who has spent the past 3 years working in automotive advertising technology and now brings her unique experiences to Dealers United. From running ad campaigns, to curating auto-specific resources, Lauren is empowered to create valuable content to help automotive dealers thrive on social media.

Targeting and Retargeting Techniques on Social Media for Car Dealerships

Targeting and Retargeting Techniques on Social Media for Car Dealerships

Targeting and Retargeting Techniques on Social Media for Car Dealerships

Secrets to SEO Success - Blog

In today’s digital landscape, social media is a must for car dealerships looking to generate more qualified leads and drive showroom traffic. However, simply having social media pages is not enough. Dealers need effective targeting and retargeting social media ad strategies tailored to their audiences and goals. This article explores the latest techniques to optimize social media approaches for maximum conversions.

For hands-on execution of social media optimization, click here to learn more about Dealers United’s Social Ads Solutions.

Laser-Focused Car Shopper Targeting

The major social platforms allow highly customized audience targeting to serve ads. When creating campaigns, dealers should precisely define demographics like age ranges, gender, income levels combined with geographic and behavioral data. For example, target men ages 30-55 with household incomes over $75k who live within 20 miles of your dealership and have searched for pickup trucks in the last 30 days. The tighter your audience focus, the better engagement and downstream conversions.

Lookalike Audiences For Scalability

Lookalike audiences use custom dealership data like existing customer lists or website traffic to find new people who closely resemble your best buyers. Uploading such first-party data to advertising platforms informs their algorithm to seek new leads that share common attributes. With enough source data, lookalikes can effectively model millions of prospects at scale. Aim for at least 100 high-quality customer records for optimal mirroring effects.

While lookalike modeling can be extremely powerful, executing it successfully requires in-depth expertise.

But Dealers United can help you laser-target your ideal audience across social

Remarketing Dealership Website Visitors

Installing tracking pixels on your website lets you build audiences of all site visitors for follow-up ads. If a prospect explored SUV pages on your dealer site, you can then serve relevant ads, such as current purchase incentives or specials on SUV models they showed interest in. This technique essentially allows capturing of ‘lost’ prospects for renewed personalized engagement based on their specific research behavior.

You can also choose to target users based on the timeframe in which they visited your website, for example, you can target all website visitors who have visited your site in the past 180 days, and are:

  • Located within a 15 mile radius of your dealership
  • In-market shoppers
  • Owners of competitive makes and models
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Optimize Based on Performance Metrics

Analyzing metrics like click-through rates, cost per lead acquisition, sales cycle stage progression, units sold, and ROI enable continuous enhancement of both targeting parameters and creative approaches. 

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Determine which audience segments, geographical areas and messaging themes produce the strongest performing prospects for your sales funnel. Select weaker areas and amplify the high-conversion signals. Adapt campaigns rapidly based on measured attribution.

Full Sales Cycle Attribution

Understand exactly how your social media efforts tie not just to lead generation but all the way through assisting prospects during research phases to purchase. Marketing attribution solutions like Facebook’s Conversions API allow tagging leads then tracking them to closed sales, charting how different messages guide buyers across stages. Dial-in messaging matched to each research phase using attribution insights for exponential conversions.

Strategic Social = More Car Sales

In our fragmented media landscape, dealers must employ targeted and retargeted social media strategies tailored for their prospects. Advanced audience segmentation, behavioral analytics, and attribution enable killer campaigns. Click here to find out how Dealers United can help with proven execution of cutting-edge social media advertising.

Dominate Social ADS

Written By Lauren Blackwell
Lauren Blackwell is a skilled content marketer who has spent the past 3 years working in automotive advertising technology and now brings her unique experiences to Dealers United. From running ad campaigns, to curating auto-specific resources, Lauren is empowered to create valuable content to help automotive dealers thrive on social media.

Register for the webinar, “The 3 Biggest Facebook Mistakes Even Advanced Dealer Marketers Are Making”!

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