[Facebook Guide] Free Tools To Keep Your Dealership’s Community Informed

by Brooke Jensen | Apr 30, 2020 | Identity and Branding, Social Media

[Facebook Guide] Free Tools To Keep Your Dealership’s Community Informed

Facebook just dropped their newest resource for automotive dealers: “Free Facebook Tools to Keep Your Community and Customers Informed During the COVID-19 Crisis”.

In the guide, Facebook details how dealerships can connect to their communities to begin building long-term relationships—and create lifelong customers.

Read on for a brief overview of the guide, and to see examples of each tool!

Click here to download the resource!

As social distancing continues, US social network users are spending more time than previously estimated. (Source: eMarketer, US Adults Are Spending More Time on Social Media During the Pandemic)

We believe this increase on social media is not only due to more down-time from social distancing, but also because users want to connect with their friends, families, and communities more than ever as they navigate these uncertain times.

By presenting value on these channels now, your dealership can position itself as a community leader and begin to build relationships with future customers, setting yourself up to “unlock shopper demand” when buyers come back in-market.

Facebook’s latest resource gives dealers free tools to help start connecting with their communities today. Get the full guide here!

Facebook’s Free Tools To Keep Your Dealership’s Community Informed:

Pinned Posts
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Live
Facebook and Instagram Stories

Let’s dive into each tool a little further!

Pinned Posts

You can pin a post to the top of your Facebook Page’s timeline so that visitors can find important information about your dealership quickly. These can be things like:

Updated hours of operation
Sanitation procedures
What services you’re currently offering
Virtual appointment and at-home service options
What incentives you’re currently offering

Facebook Messenger

Messenger is Facebook’s instant messaging platform. It is connected to your dealership’s Page and can be answered by anyone with the appropriate permissions. Using Messenger, your dealership can:

Set up an automatic greeting to Page visitors
Let site visitors know that you’re answering any questions so they never have to leave the platform

Facebook Live

Facebook live is a video feature where your dealership can instantly broadcast video to your followers. It notifies users when your Page is going live, and they can interact in real time.

Live broadcasts are also saved so if people miss it live, they can go back and view later. Use a Facebook Live video to:

Do a live Q&A with your followers
Walk around your dealership and show sanitation procedures
Introduce the staff
Vehicle walkarounds

Facebook and Instagram Stories

Stories are a casual way for people to engage with your dealership.

With Stories, your dealership can post as briefly and frequently as your want about anything you want.

Stories are posted to the top of user’s feeds and also on your dealership’s Page. You can do any of the same options as your can with Facebook Live, only without getting immediate feedback from viewers.

PRO TIP: Utilize your Facebook Cover photo to bring your latest updates to the forefront, and make it easy for prospects to get in touch with you by updating Page’s main Call-To-Action button to “Call Now,” “Message Us,” or “Book Now” with available appointment times.

Click here to get the free guide and see how you can freely and easily apply any of these Facebook tools to connect with your community!

More free tools to help your dealership

If you’re looking for more ways your dealership can stay connected with auto shoppers, visit our Resource Center here.

You can also find our specific COVID-19 resources at www.www.dealersunited.com/covid-19.

Looking for more COVID-19 Resources to help your dealership?

Click Here

Written By Drew Detweiler
Drew manages inbound and outbound marketing for Dealers United. When he’s not at work, he’s probably enjoying the outdoors, fishing, or eating.

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Auto Dealer Guide To Unlocking Market Demand

by Brooke Jensen | Apr 28, 2020 | Industry News, Social Media

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Auto Dealer Guide To Unlocking Market Demand

As dealers prepare for post-COVID-19 actions to help their local communities get back to work and back to normalcy, plans to unlock the market demand need to be put in place now.

Watch the video below for our Auto Dealer Guide to Unlocking Market Demand:

According to a survey conducted on March 28th, Cox Automotive found that 35% of auto intenders who were in-market to buy within the next 6 months were delaying their vehicle purchase due to COVID-19.

As state, local, and federal governments look to slowly start reopening the economy, pent up demand IS coming.

Now that tax season has been extended, almost $100B has been directly deposited into Americans’ bank accounts, and OEM incentives are higher than ever before, auto dealerships have the opportunity to help these shoppers buy sooner and maximize potential savings.

By proactively building audiences of auto-intenders who recently received tax refunds or stimulus checks, who own your brand, or have leases expiring, we can help you position you to be the first out of the gate to reach these local, in-market auto shoppers who have delayed a vehicle purchase.

Our latest COVID-19 Playbook, “Unlock Demand,” is designed to:

Stretch your ad dollars with precise data targeting on tax refund status, receipt of stimulus checks, make/model owners, and lease expirations.
Use a full-funnel Facebook & Instagram strategy to strategically show shoppers that now is the right time to purchase a vehicle.
Complement your Facebook strategy with ready-to-go retargeting banners, email campaigns, and YouTube videos for a complete, multi-touch campaign

We recommend dealers also leverage onsite tools such as Payment Calculator, Trade Evaluation, Credit Application, and Incentive pages by reaching and driving in-market consumers to these key tools on your site.

Are you ready and prepared to unlock shopper demand?
Visit http://www.unlockdemand.com today and be up-and-running with our comprehensive campaigns within 48 hours.

Car shopper demand is coming.

Build a plan now

Written By Brooke Jensen
Brooke handles all of Dealers United’s digital marketing. In addition to her love for design and copy, Brooke also adores her two dog-like kittens, playing the electric violin, and walking barefoot around the office.

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5 Ad Campaigns Dealers Are Running To Defeat Traffic Decline During COVID-19

by Brooke Jensen | Apr 24, 2020 | Company and Events, Social Media

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5 Ad Campaigns Dealers Are Running To Defeat Traffic Decline During COVID-19

Unless you’re a toilet paper salesperson, the past couple months have probably presented some serious challenges for your business.

Auto dealerships are experiencing extreme decreases in foot traffic, and in many cases. sales departments are being forced to close as stay-at-home orders continue throughout the US.

Online traffic is taking a hit too, with Dealer Inspire reporting industry web traffic decreasing by almost 10% and web leads decreasing by over 17% from February 2020 to March 2020.

But while industry web averages are still low, many of our dealer-partners are experiencing increasing in audiences sizes and decreases in cost per action.

Dealers United Facebook Customers Experiencing Lower Costs, Higher Performance

While there has been a decline in search, direct, and 3rd party site traffic, Facebook is experiencing tremendous growth in traffic, and is amassing new records in usage almost every single day.

Of our dealer-partners that are running one of our COVID-19 Playbooks, CPM (cost-per-thousand reached) has decreased over 40% month-over-month.

Additionally, all of our dealers are experiencing an almost $2 decrease in CPM month-over-month. What’s more, we’re seeing decreasing in cost per click, landing page view, AND leads.

So with almost all search volumes down, why is Facebook succeeding right now?

Simple.

Facebook and Instagram are proactive platforms. You’re not waiting on shoppers to search for a dealership in your area, or to go on Cars.com and click on your inventory.

Using data driven audiences on Facebook and Instagram, advertisers can reach out to potential shoppers who are likely to be in-market.

Ad campaigns dealerships are running to increase traffic during COVID-19

1. D’ELLA Honda, Safe Service

D’ELLA Honda is in Queensbury, New York. With New York’s local ordinances, the dealership needed to prioritize messaging that their service lane was still open and they were taking all necessary precautions to keep customers safe.

Using Dealers United’s Coronavirus Service Playbook, they ran a campaign of 20+ ads, reaching over 20,000 local service shoppers and driving 570 landing page views at $0.91 each.

To get our Coronavirus Service Playbook, consisting of over 10 ready-to-drop ads and strategies, click here.)

2. Cavalier Ford of Greenbrier, No Payments For 6 Months

Cavalier Ford of Greenbrier in Chesapeake, Virginia was looking for a playbook to show local shoppers that they can take advantage of never-before-seen Ford offers and defer their monthly payments.

Using the Coronavirus Sales Playbook and specific model line specials, Cavalier Ford reached over 98k shoppers in 31 days, driving more than 1,110 landing page views at only $0.81 each!

To get our Coronavirus Sales Playbook, with 10+ ad plays to help combat COVID-19 sales decline, click here.

3. Middletown Honda, Service Sanitation

Middletown Honda, located in Middletown, New York, also needed to show potential customers that their service department was open and performing sanitizing procedures to keep customers and employees protected.

Using a brand awareness reach campaign, Middletown Honda reached over 22k people in 31 days, helping to provide the needed boost of service customers the dealership needed.

4. Greeley Subaru, Contactless Shopping Experience

Greeley Subaru in Greeley, Colorado is still able to provide customers with a new vehicle from the safety of their homes.

Using messaging around “Contactless” online shopping, the dealership was able to reach 5,549 shoppers, drive 108 landing page views, and 27 leads with just a $8/day retargeting budget over the last 2 months.

5. Garden City Mazda, We Are Here For You
Garden City Mazda is located in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Rochelle, New York.
They needed to let customers know the state of their business, as well as what they were doing to protect them if they needed a vehicle serviced.

Vice President of Leader In Cars, Michael Renaud, created a simple video in selfie format on his phone explaining the situation to customers, what they were doing to prevent the spread of the pandemic, and a message that “We are here for you.”

Things are trending upward

While website and search traffic for auto dealers is still low, proactive platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are thriving and receiving cheaper results than ever.

It’s important to stay in front of your market with a caring, community-first approach, positioning your dealership for the very near future when the economy begins to reopen.

Considering many factors, such as many state and local governments reducing restrictions on businesses, OEMs offering never seen before incentives, tax season being extended, and Americans receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus payments, auto shopper demand IS coming.

Click here get our “Unlock Shopper Demand” playbook and see how your dealership can be ready when the dust settles.

Looking for more COVID-19 Resources to help your dealership?

Click Here

Written By Drew Detweiler
Drew manages inbound and outbound marketing for Dealers United. When he’s not at work, he’s probably enjoying the outdoors, fishing, or eating.

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Facebook Spotlights Dealers United Video Strategies In DEALER Magazine

by Brooke Jensen | Apr 17, 2020 | Digital Marketing, Social Media

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Facebook Spotlights Dealers United Video Strategies In DEALER Magazine

This month’s issue of DEALER Magazine published a Facebook Q&A series about helping dealers leverage digital video.

In the Q&A, Facebook highlighted Dealers United for our successes with video campaigns in the automotive industry. Two Dealers United dealer-partners, Power Ford and Rob Sight Ford, were also featured in the article for maximizing our video strategies and using video to drive real business results.

Video is important. We hear it all the time. But did you know that 80% of all internet traffic is estimated to be from video content, and 500 million people watch videos on Facebook every single day?

But not only is video important, but it’s important to have in the correct format.

According to Facebook, the average adult spends 40 minutes consuming video from mobile devices alone.

So what does it mean to optimize a video for mobile?

Here are the steps needed to ensure your dealership has an optimized video, according to Facebook’s “Mobile First Creative Best Practices:”

Shoot with the phone vertically, so it fits into mobile screens held right-side up
Reinforce the your dealership name in captions or superimposed text
Use the majority of the video to showcase the dealership, inventory, or offers
Choose attention-grabbing video thumbnails

Power Ford and Rob Sight Ford, both family owned single-point franchises, were both featured by Facebook in the article for utilizing these Mobile First Best Creative Practices.

Here’s a look inside each dealership’s strategy:

A closer look at Power Ford’s Facebook video strategy

In Q4 of 2019, Power Ford was able to attribute 21 sales and 127 service visits to Facebook video campaigns alone.

Using dealership branding videos, model line videos, and custom Quick Lane service videos, the dealership was able to target and engage with their future customers where they were spending their time, on mobile devices browsing Facebook and Instagram.

To get more insight into Power Ford’s video campaigns, click here to see “The 3 Biggest Facebook Even Advanced Dealer Marketers Are Making,” where Matt Sneed, Director of Marketing and Customer Experience at Power Ford reveals his core video strategies that help him increase sales.

Behind-the-scenes on Rob Sight’s Facebook video strategy

Rob Sight Ford operates in an extremely competitive market where there are over 10 Ford dealerships.

Using mobile video on Facebook and Instagram, Rob Sight was able to use their own creative branding videos to get exposure in their marketplace.

In addition to branding, the dealership also leveraged video to showcase model line incentives, specifically 2020 F-150s.

As a result of video campaigns, Rob Sight Ford attributed 7 vehicle sales in Q4 of 2019.

To see an in-depth feature of Rob Sight Ford’s video strategy, click here.

With more and more people using social media daily, it’s important that your dealership is reaching prospective shoppers proactively where they are spending their time and with media forms that they are engaging with most—video.

Our team has hundreds of video strategies that your dealership can take advantage of right now, from custom-video scripts and best practices, to proven, mobile-ready videos of your incentives and inventory specials.

If you want to learn more about video for your dealership, click here to check out our On-Demand, Instant demos.

Watch our On-Demand Demos to learn more about our video strategies.

Click Here

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Written By Drew Detweiler
Drew manages inbound and outbound marketing for Dealers United. When he’s not at work, he’s probably enjoying the outdoors, fishing, or eating.

How Dealerships Can Continue Driving Sales During Coronavirus

by Brooke Jensen | Mar 13, 2020 | Industry News, Social Media

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How Dealerships Can Continue Driving Sales During Coronavirus

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Regardless of what is fact VS. what is fear, there are still A LOT of people who simply aren’t going to public places due to the COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus).

It’s important for dealerships and local businesses alike to have messaging and plans in place to continue operations, while still staying safe and preventing the impact of this virus.

It’s also important for your dealership to shift to where shoppers are spending their time, if it’s not on your lot.

Keep reading for tips on how to communicate any changes in your operations, ways to maximize the increase in social media usage from people staying home, and messaging ideas that can help drive sales.

1. Communicate Changes Around Your Daily Operations.

Be sure to over-communicate that your business is open or closed and let your community know you have a plan.

If you’ve made changes to your daily operations, update your business hours on Google My Business, and update your business description to reflect any changes and updates such as:

What are your hours of operation?
If you are temporarily closing your store, what services are you still providing, and how can they get those done?
How can someone reach you?
Should they expect delays in response, service, etc?

Your website should also reflect this messaging. Update your Contact Us page, and create a blog article or website page with all the answers to how your business operations may be adjusting.

Add an alert at the top of your website that links to this article, or adjust your homepage so that it is front and center.

Lastly, don’t forget to update your phone’s automatic greeting. Let callers know immediately if you are open or closed and how they can do business with you.

2. Be Digitally Visible and Available.

As more consumers turn to the web and social media to pass the time, it’s important to have a strong digital presence.

How can you provide your customers with an amazing car shopping experience, even if they don’t leave the house?

Use live inventory ads or Facebook Marketplace listings to provide local shoppers with up-to-date vehicle information, amazing photos, and the latest pricing, all at the tip of their fingers.

Next, be sure your Live Chat on your website is being managed around the clock to handle all inbound inquiries.

Facebook Messenger is also a great way to communicate back-and-forth with prospects, perform video/virtual showings, send pictures of vehicles to consider, and set up in-home test drives.

You can even promote that your Sales reps are available to Facetime, text—whatever it takes!

3. Offer and Promote Convenient and Frictionless Retail Experiences.

Ask yourself: In the face of Coronavirus, are you making the car buying process easier or harder for your customers?

As our local communities urge us to avoid more and more public places, it’s time to heavily consider offering at-home vehicle deliveries test drives.

EVERYONE is going to be spending more time than ever on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Take advantage of this extra exposure as your platform to inform local buyers about your new, convenient buying experiences.

KEY POINT:
As our local communities urge us to stay inside during COVID-19, more people will be spending time online and on social media. Be sure your dealership is there, too.

One of our dealer-customers called us this week letting us know that they were getting hit with a huge drop in foot traffic due to a nearby quarantine in their market area.

He asked us what strategy he should deploy to help counter the decrease in in-store shoppers.

The #1 thing we suggested is to remove all sources of friction in their buying process right now, and to over-communicate that shoppers don’t have to come onto the lot to buy a car.

You can also use Facebook Reach campaigns to retarget your current website visitors and leads to let them know you’re open and how they can reach (and buy!) from you today.

Use the “Message Us” call-to-action to direct all inquiries to Facebook Messenger, or send users to a page with all of your convenient buying options.

Now is the time to show prospects that you are the dealership who is always putting the customer first—no matter what.

Want to learn more about eliminating friction from your dealership’s customer experience in time to tackle COVID-19? Click here to read our latest article, “[Facebook Guide] How To Eliminate 50+ Friction Points In The Car Buyer Journey”.

During Coronavirus, Dealers United Is Here To Help.

If you would like to get in touch with us regarding Coronavirus, or want ideas to help get your brand message out to your local community, schedule a quick strategy call with our team when it works for you at www.www.dealersunited.com/schedule/region, or give us a call at 941-366-6760.

We wish you, your colleagues and families safety, wellness and positivity!

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Looking for more COVID-19 Resources to help your dealership?

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[Facebook Guide] How To Eliminate 50+ Friction Points In The Car Buyer Journey

by Brooke Jensen | Mar 10, 2020 | Digital Marketing, Social Media

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[Facebook Guide] How To Eliminate 50+ Friction Points In The Car Buyer Journey

We all know that today’s digital landscape has greatly influenced how auto consumers discover and buy cars.

But do we know to what extent?

Facebook IQ (an official Facebook resource that provides insights from Facebook & Instagram), recently commissioned Accenture and Boston Consulting Group to survey auto consumers and understand more about the auto buyer’s shifting needs.

Their findings were published in Facebook’s latest report, Zero Friction Future, to help auto dealerships understand how to identify and reduce friction throughout the car buyer journey.

Instant Gratification Meets A Zero Friction Future

When I’m running low on cat food, I simply call to Alexa from my living room, instantly checkout on Amazon, and get a bag delivered to my doorstep within 24 hours.

Hello, instant gratification.

Better technology has led to more convenience, and now we as consumers have high expectations for getting what we want, when we want it.

Image Source: Facebook.com

But while buying cat food on Amazon is much different than buying a new car, consumer expectations and the “I want it now” mindset is becoming the new norm. Even in automotive.

That’s why brands like Carvana are gaining traction. They are capitalizing on these “I want it now” audiences by showing them how seamless and easy the process is.

But you don’t need to offer a vehicle vending machine to give auto shoppers the instant gratification they seek.

Image Source: Facebook Page Transparency, Carvana

According to Facebook’s study, car shoppers are becoming increasingly “less willing to suffer any inconvenience or invest unnecessary time to find the right vehicle that suits their needs.”

In fact, with mobile devices giving consumers more options and information than ever before, 70% of consumers say technology has made it easier than ever to take their business elsewhere. (“Consumer Experience in the Retail Renaissance” by Salesforce and Deloitte Digital, Apr 2018)

This means that every additional step, every broken VDP link, and every second delay is a chance for your customers to abandon their journey and look for a car somewhere other than your lot.

Image Source: Facebook.com

These inconveniences add up to what Facebook found to be “up to 50+ points of friction in the auto buyer journey.”

So where do these points of friction happen?

3 Stages of The Buyer Journey Where You’ll Find Friction

Facebook identified 3 main pillars in which these pain points most often occur:

Discovery: Awareness and evaluation around brands, models and inventory
Purchase: Test drive, negotiations, and purchasing at the dealership
Ownership: The stage once auto buyers sign the dotted line

In the resource, Facebook breaks down the top pain points that consumers reported, as well as solutions to help you identify and solve them for your own business.

Ready to learn more about a Zero Friction Future for your dealership? Download the resource now!

Moving to a Frictionless Future

The modern auto shopper’s desire for speed, simplicity and convenience with technology is paving the way for new, smoother customer experiences.

Dealerships and auto marketers are therefore being asked to really sit down and evaluate their own friction points, then use technology and processes to get ahead of them.

“Just as auto marketers have differentiated on product for years, today’s advantage lies in differentiating on experience,” said Kim Stonehouse, Automotive Head of Industry at Facebook. “The brands and dealers winning more customers are the ones who remove friction to compete on car and convenience.”

Addressing the needs of your consumers is key to winning against your competitors.

Download Facebook’s Zero Friction Future guide now to learn how to eliminate friction & stop car shoppers from abandoning ship!

We’ll also send you 3 success stories of how dealerships eliminated friction with Facebook, and a bonus training video with our CEO, Pete Petersen, about the 3 pillars of a Zero Friction Future!

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