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INTRODUCTION: A SHIFT AWAY FROM “TRADITIONAL DIGITAL”
Back in 2018, reaching car shoppers was much easier.
All you had to do was cast a net on Google or Facebook, and you were able to capture the majority of the online car shopper population. This is what we call the era of “Traditional Digital.”
But in today’s digital-first world, car shoppers are no longer confined to a single ad platform; instead of using 1 or 2 apps consistently, they dabble in various apps unpredictably.
In fact, today the average person has approximately 40 mobile apps on their phone, and their online time is primarily spent on just 18 of them. (Source: TechJury)
(And the “app-explosion” continues. When we were writing this guide, the new app Threads launched and Twitter rebranded to “X”!)
As consumer attention has shifted, dealership advertising budgets have followed…
The National Automobile Dealers Association reported that in 2016, just 33.6% of a dealer’s budget was allocated to internet ads. Just five years in 2021, that budget grew to almost two-thirds, or 63.6%, of a dealership’s total advertising expenditures.
And now in 2023, “Internet Advertising” is no longer limited to Facebook and Google. Now, “New Digital” is here, with hundreds of apps all vying for car shoppers’ attention.
But despite the fact that the explosion of digital platforms has diluted consumer attention, research shows that 91% of the U.S. population can be reached through the top 5 social media platforms:
And the best way to do that is with Social Media Ads: Facebook & Instagram Ads (Meta Ads), Snapchat Ads, Pinterest Ads, and TikTok Ads.
However, not all dealers are taking advantage of paid media on these platforms. Worse, many social vendors and automotive marketers are doing what we call “Check-The-Box Social:” doing the bare minimum and wasting ad spend along the way.
The Problem With (Most) Car Dealer Social Ads
With traditional media, repeating and replaying the same ad for a duration ensures maximum retention.
But blasting the same message in the same format across every social platform (AKA, what many social ads vendors and in-house teams do) is a quick way to reach shopper burnout.
Think about it…imagine you’re in-market for a car, and Dealer A approaches you and introduces their dealership: “Hi, we’re Dealer A!”
Now, picture the next time they approach you, and they just repeat the exact same conversation. “Hi, we’re Dealer A!”… even though you already know who they are, they act as if they don’t remember any of that interaction. What would you do? It’s likely that you’re not going to respect or trust them…and you’re definitely not going to be buying a car from their dealership!
For dealers, this repetitive approach hinders credibility, objective, and is a waste of their ad dollars.
A more effective Social Selling System involves a method that nurtures a relationship with the consumer over time, tailored to each platform.
It shows that you’re not just spraying the same message across all channels to all users and hoping it resonates with them – it shows that you are taking the time to deliver content that the car shopper actually is ready to view.
But the reality is that dealerships today aren’t taking the time to curate their cross-platform messaging, which is blowing opportunities left and right.
A dealership that crafts a true Social Selling System focuses on a strategy that builds a relationship with the consumer over time – wherever they are spending time.
This strategy builds trust through brand awareness BEFORE broadcasting special incentives or asking for a contact to submit a lead and schedule a test drive.
And it’s called a Full-Funnel Omnisocial strategy.
A Proven Full-Funnel OmniSocial Strategy
Omnisocial, or Omnichannel, refers to a multi-platform advertising strategy that works to provide a seamless customer experience. This approach delivers the next relevant message at the right time in the auto buyer journey, on the platform where they are spending time NOW.
Full-Funnel refers to breaking down the sales process into multiple stages, where you bring the consumer in through the top of the funnel, nurture the relationship mid-funnel, to ultimately identify the hottest in-market shoppers at the bottom of the funnel.
By combining these practices, advertisers can accelerate the auto buyer journey to not only maximize exposure and engagement, but also optimize their ad spend and ROI.
Let’s start with understanding the different funnel stages and the roadmap to building a relationship.
3 Stages of the Full-Funnel Social ADS Strategy For Dealers
The three stages of the roadmap include getting the auto shopper to know you, then to trust you, so ultimately they choose to work with you!
This aligns with three campaign objectives in a full-funnel social ad strategy: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.
Stage #1: Car Dealership Awareness Campaigns
The “Awareness” stage introduces your brand to your community, and it starts even before they may be in-market. When they get the idea that they may be interested in trading in or buying a new vehicle, we want your name to come to mind because you’ve already laid the groundwork about who your dealership is and why you’re the best.
Ads that work great in this stage use videos of not just inventory, but your team as well. If you have someone who is comfortable in front of a camera, you can definitely use this to your advantage.
Car dealer social ads that include “Why Buy Here” messaging educate and influence shoppers to want to purchase from you, instead of your competition.
Free Download: Need some help getting started with ad copy for your ads in the Awareness stage? Download our free “Writing Why Buy’s” guide!
When we surveyed dealers, we found that only 77% have adopted this strategy. This leaves a lot of room for improvement and opportunity to make sure your brand is top of mind.
Awareness Ad Inspiration:
- “Why Buy Here” copy
- About Us or “Bring Your Own” Videos
- Meet The Team images
- Behind-the-scenes videos
- Testimonials
- Human-first content
Audience Targeting for Awareness Ads:
- All website visitors (180 days)
- Target within a 50-mile radius of your dealership’s address
- Oracle audiences can also be added here!
Awareness Metrics to Measure ATTENTION:
- Reach
- Impressions
- Frequency
- Views
- Video Plays %
Stage #2: Car Dealership Consideration Campaigns
In the “Consideration” stage, buyers have typically begun researching which vehicle is best for them, and are evaluating what dealership they should go to in order to buy it.
This is when dealers need to deliver Model Line ads and Automotive Inventory Ads featuring vehicles similar to what they’re already searching for. Our goal here is to get them to a VDP on your website.
During this stage where car shoppers are formulating a shortlist of vehicle makes, models, and dealerships, use “Ready to Buy” messaging with available inventory, and inform them about current incentives or special programs.
Ad Inspiration for the Consideration Stage:
- Use “Ready to Buy” messaging with available on-the-ground inventory
- Continue “Why Buy Here” messaging, building on your Awareness ads
- Highlight features and your latest model lines
- Inform about current incentives or special programs
- Vehicle walkarounds shot by your team!
- “Your new [Model Line Name] is waiting…”
- “Looking for a pre-owned car?”
Audience Targeting for the Consideration Stage:
- All website visitors (30 days) and in-market shoppers
- Exclude users who have filled out lead forms
- For retargeting campaigns, target within a 50-mile radius
- For prospecting campaigns, target within a 25-mile radius of your dealership
Consideration Metrics to Measure Action:
- Clicks
- Cost Per Click
- Click Through Rate
- Messenger Conversations
- Landing Page Views
Stage #3: Car Dealership Conversion Campaigns
The last stage of the car buyer journey is “Conversion.” Ads in this phase are designed to—you guessed it—convert shoppers into leads. At last, you can serve lead form ads, ads with a call-to-action to send a direct message, or ads that drive to a lead form on your website. Our goal is to get the buyers to reach out, so your team can do what they do best: close the deal.
This is also the stage in which you want to retarget shoppers with exact VINs viewed on your dealership’s website or engaged with your ads. Because of this, it’s essential for all of your social ad platforms to receive and deliver signals to and from one another, so that a shopper who engaged with your SUV ad on Facebook then gets retargeted with your live SUV inventory on TikTok.
Then, once a car shopper becomes a lead, your Conversion campaigns can evolve to help you make the sale. Continue to push your “Why Buy Here” messages, and leverage customer testimonials to showcase the buying experience from another perspective.
Ad Inspiration for the Conversion Stage:
- “Here are some vehicles we know you’ll love…”
- “Still interested?!” (Show specific VDPs)
- Contact Us Now
- Schedule Test Drive
- Lead Forms
- Messenger CTA
- Trade In or Buy Back
- Incentives with urgency
Audience Targeting for the Conversion Stage:
- Page or ad engagements (video views, swipes) within the last 10 days
- Retargeting audience of users who browsed your VDPs within the last 10 days
- Within a 50-mile radius of your dealership’s address
- Expiring lease
- Last vehicle purchase >365 days
Conversion Metrics to Measure ATTRIBUTION:
- Leads, Cost Per Lead
- Lead Conversion Rate
- Close Rate
- Cost Per Sale
- Sales Matchbacks %
Now that you have a clear understanding of the three stages in a full-funnel social advertising strategy for dealerships, ranging from building awareness to driving conversions, it’s time to jump into the practical steps needed to create a successful Omnichannel advertising approach.
6 Steps to Create a Full-Funnel Omnichannel Advertising Strategy
By implementing the following 6 key steps, you can effectively navigate the dynamic landscape of social platforms and tailor your messaging to engage potential buyers at each stage of their journey.
Let’s dive in!
The 6 Steps:
1. Choose Your Social Media Platforms
Step 1: Choose Your SOCIAL MEDIA Platforms
Social ad platforms for car dealers are constantly evolving to meet the needs of not only the consumer, but also the advertiser.
First, let’s start with the technical capabilities for each platform. Check out the table below to identify which platforms you can use custom audiences for, third-party data like oracle, or even use offline events to track car sales.
In addition to technical capabilities, there are also important characteristics of each platform to consider, like the demographic of their users, user reach, and other nuances. Now let’s dive into the stats, pros and cons of the most popular platforms…
Watch our latest webinar recording where we cover the latest features of advertising on Facebook & Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and TikTok for car dealers.
Stats, Pros, & Cons For Facebook & Instagram (Meta) Advertising For Car Dealers
Stats:
- 81% of people who use Instagram search for products and services
- 80% of surveyed U.S. car buyers use Facebook for auto research
- 83% discover new products or services
- Instagram was the 2nd most downloaded app in 2022 worldwide and in the U.S., Facebook was 8th worldwide, and 10th in the US. Messenger was 9th
- 4 of the 10 most downloaded apps of 2021 were published by Meta
Pros
- 251M Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in U.S.
- Widely used
- Multiple placements
- Lowest dollar KPIs
- Dynamic ads: Multiple ad combinations to identify which placement performs best
Cons:
- Data privacy: When Apple released their iOS 14, they provided users with a way to opt-out of any tracking of their movements across apps, so if someone opts out of tracking from Facebook, as a dealership, you could begin to see limited attribution in Facebook metrics Off-Facebook, such as Landing Page Views and Website Leads, and see a change in audience sizes
- Housing, Employment, Credit (HEC) information is required to deliver certain types of ads, which limits available audiences to select from Facebook.
Stats, Pros, & Cons For Snapchat Advertising For Car Dealers
Stats:
- Snapchat has 293 million daily active users worldwide
- 92 million of Snapchat daily active users are based in North America
- The Snapchat daily active user base in North America has grown by 55.7% since 2016
- Snapchat reaches over 75% of the millennial and Gen Z population in the U.S.
- On average, 5 billion Snaps are created every day
- 65% of U.S. internet users aged 15 to 29 use Snapchat
- In the U.S.: Snapchat users who are 18-29 years old make up 65% of the audience, while 30-49 years comprise 24% and 50-64 years make up 12% of the audience
- The Snapchat ad audience predominantly consists of female users with 56.4%. The male audience makes up most of the remainder, at 43.1%
- Snapchat was the 5th most downloaded app worldwide and in the U.S.
Pros:
- 108M Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in U.S.
- Easy to view insights and navigate
- Dynamic vehicle inventory ads
- 40% of Snapchat users do not use alt social platforms on any given day
Cons:
- Must wait for audiences to populate before using (other platforms allow you to use the audiences as they build)
- Housing, Employment, and Credit (“HEC”) Ad Policy limits you to brand awareness objectives
Stats, Pros, & Cons For Pinterest Advertising For Car Dealers
Stats:
- 87% of people on this platform want to be educated and persuaded toward a purchase
- 87% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest when actively considering products/services to purchase
- Pinterest reaches 52% of U.S. adult internet users with a household income of over $100,000
- Pinterest reaches 3 out of 4 moms in the US
- The platform has grown to 84M users in the U.S. (Source: Statista)
- 47% of active users on Pinterest are 18+ and are in-market to purchase within the next 6 months
- 88% of life moment planners on Pinterest use the platform for inspiration for things to do and buy for their major life moments
Pros:
- 100M Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in U.S.
- Access to very specific Campaign Objectives like Shopping or Awareness
- Flexible with ad assets and sizing – they look great to the end user too!
- 97% of searches on Pinterest are unbranded. This makes Pinterest a relevant advertising opportunity, no matter your product or service
- 52% of the U.S. adult Pinterest users have household incomes of $100k+
Cons:
- “Clunky” ad builder
- Less available ad formats/ no dynamic options
- New only! Cannot (currently) use pre-owned or CPO vehicles in shopping ads
Stats, Pros, & Cons For TikTok Advertising For Car Dealers
Stats:
- #1 most downloaded app worldwide and the #1 in the U.S.
- The average user spends 89 min/day on the platform!
- Over 9,067 TikToks are created every minute
- 546B video views consumed per month
- 100M+ U.S. monthly active users
- 47% U.S. users planning to buy or lease a vehicle in the next 12 months
- 68% of TikTok users are either the “Decision-maker” or “Highly Influential”
- 80% of TikTok users are likely to use a financing option if they purchase a vehicle
- After seeing Auto ads or content on TikTok: 12% purchased or leased a vehicle, 30% searched for more info about a vehicle, 18% contacted an online/local dealership, and 35% talked about It with friends and family
- TikTok users are in market for: 41% for cars valued <$40K USD, 36% for cars valued $40-80K USD, 23% for cars valued $80K+ USD, 56% likely or very likely to purchase an EV or Hybrid, and 46% for domestic brands
Pros:
- 100M+ Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in the U.S.
- Incredible ad building options with video editing
- Easily turn organic posts to paid ads with Spark ads (think Boosting)
- TikTok engagement rates are beyond other video-based media platforms!
Cons:
- For dealers who want to drive leads and clicks, TikTok may not be best; TikTok is best for high-funnel metrics around impressions, views, and awareness
- Previously, you could only run DMA targeting (*new zip code targeting in beta testing through Dealers United (Read more in our latest TikTok blog!)
- Less optimized to drive traffic off-platform
- “Whitelisting” is needed for Shopping campaigns and other interesting features
Step 2: Select Your ADVERTISING Budget
Unfortunately, you can’t Google your way into finding the right ad spend budget for your dealership.
Your dealership is unique! There are many factors that will determine what your ad spend should be, like your area and audience size, what type of radius around your dealership’s location you want to reach, and which platforms you want to use.
Luckily, we created a tool to help you take the guesswork out, and let real data drive your dealership’s decisions when it comes to advertising.
Using tools like the Market Analyzer, your dealership can gather information to help put together campaigns with a Full-Funnel Omnichannel strategy on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and TikTok.
Learning your specific goals helps us craft the ultimate digital advertising plan. The more we can understand about the market area, target demographics, and inventory on the ground, the better we can hone a strategy and pick and choose the right channels to advertise on.
Click here to access the MarketAnalyzer now and unlock Target Market Analysis, Suggested Monthly Spend, Potential Results, Market Inventory Breakdown, Market Competitors, and User Demographics.
Step 3: Create Your Messaging
As you learned earlier when we broke down the funnel stages, you don’t want to speak to every consumer the same way in every stage. The first place to start is to identify your brand differentiators or “Why Buys.”
Here are some tips for writing great “Why Buy’s:”
👉 Be specific!
👉 Be unique: think about what sets you apart.
👉 Use emojis! This sounds silly, but it helps. We’ve tested it.
👉 Use phrases and keywords, not full sentences.
And here are some examples to kickstart your ad copy:
😃 Family owned and operated for {x} years
✅ Guaranteed credit approval
💰 Trade-in bonus of {x}
🔧 Warranties on every vehicle
Step 4: Identify your resources
One of the biggest challenges we see automotive marketers face when running social ads for dealerships is a lack of resources, buy in, and/or help from their team.
To combat this, we recommend first starting by making a list of the resources you have and don’t have, and then prioritizing where you need to fill in the gaps. This list of resources could include team members who you know don’t mind getting in front of a camera, videos your dealership already has handy, or even content you have already created or recently received from your OEM.
Resources you should consider when building social ads for auto dealers:
- Team members who enjoy creating content or being in front of the camera
- A video creation strategy for “Bring Your Own Video (“BYOV”) assets (Meet the team? Behind the scenes? Service technician explainers? Vehicle walkarounds?)
- Content from your OEM, like latest model line assets and specials
- Your Internet Marketing or Social Media Coordinators
- Any partners, vendors and agencies who can help you execute
- A weekly meeting where you challenge yourself and your team every month: What is our messaging goal? (Think about more than just inventory: Service, Hiring, Community)
- Ability and desire to test and learn: start small and grow your budget from there!
One of Dealers United’s partners, Zeigler Automotive Group, empowers team members to take ownership of content that can be used in their paid social ad strategies across Facebook and TikTok to help humanize their brand. (Watch: Zeigler Automotive Group On Humanizing Their Brand Through Social Ads)
“Social media is the new gathering place of humanity; its where our customers are, where they reside. It’s a fun, exciting, different way to have impact. It first translates into culture, and who we are, and makes us proud of what we do. But then it ends up translating into ‘Hey, I want to do business with Zeigler Auto Group because I see you are having a heck of a lot of fun, you really truly enjoy what you do, and I want to be apart of that.’”
— Sam D’Arc, COO at Zeigler Auto Group
Step 5: TECHNICAL SETUP
Making sure your accounts are set up correctly is fundamental to performance. And there’s a TON of tedious tasks that you need to do before you put your ad strategy into drive, including the 8 steps below…
Technical Setup – Step 1: Define Budget & Platforms
Before moving forward with any paid media strategy, the first thing you need to do as a dealership is figure out how much you are willing to budget for your ad spend, and where you are going to spend your ad dollars..which isn’t easy when users today are hopping between countless apps all day long.
Don’t forget! Use our MarketAnalyzer tool to figure out your suggested ad budget and which platforms you should invest in.
Technical Setup – Step 2: Create Ad Accounts & Business Managers Across Each Platform
Once your dealership determines where to spend your ad budget, the next step is to actually create accounts so that you can move forward with advertising on the desired platforms. You can find everything you need to successfully setup assets in our “Technical Asset Setup Guide: Build Your Omnichannel Ad Accounts.”
Technical Setup – Step 3: Create and Install GTM & Pixels
One of the most crucial integrations for the setup of social ad accounts is Google Tag Manager (GTM). Your dealership will need to work with your Site Provider to install the GTM code on your website in order to optimize your ads and ingest signals from each social platform through their respective pixels. Once installed, this little script of code compiles data from each platforms pixels and ALL other website traffic.
Technical Setup – Step 4: Setup Events For Conversion / Lead Tracking & ADF / XML Lead Distribution
Automotive dealerships need to set up events for conversion and lead tracking, as well as implement ADF/XML lead distribution, to effectively manage and optimize your advertising. ADF (Auto-lead Data Format) / XML streamlines the lead distribution process, ensuring leads are delivered quickly and accurately to your dealership’s CRM.
Technical Setup – Step 5: Create and Connect Vehicle Catalogs
Inventory displayed in Inventory Ads comes directly from your dealership’s Feed Provider. You will need to follow each social platform’s instructions and work with your Feed Provider to sync your dealership’s vehicle inventory with a “Catalog” to generate Automotive Inventory Ads across TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Pinterest.
We have put together a library of resources to help you activate your social ad accounts correctly. Access it here: 13 Resources to Boost Auto Sales on Social Media.
Technical Setup – Step 6: Create Ad Audiences For Advanced Targeting, Add + Set Up Oracle
Diving into the audience targeting tools provided by platforms is often times complicated. It requires dealers to master each channel’s features to accurately target their specified audience – and with each platform having a unique set of options, you must tread carefully…because all it takes is one mis-click to lead to ineffective ads.
Technical Setup – Step 7: Create Ad Copy & Graphics
Curating ad creative and graphics for your dealership’s ads is time consuming, but it can make or break how your ads perform. The way that your ads look determine whether or not your ads are a scroll-stopper, or straight scrolled past. You only have so many chances to capture the attention of car shoppers before your competition gets to them first.
Technical Setup – Step 8: Publish Your Ads & Begin Performance Reporting
Your dealership’s ads are ready to deploy – now it’s time to see how your dealership’s ads are actually driving action off of the lot. Keep reading below for Step 6: “Build and Measure Your Ads!”
Step 6: Build & Measure Your Ads
How will you ensure your dealership’s social media ads are actually selling cars?
The last step to setting your dealership up for success with social media ads is to establish cross-platform reports and setup Offline Events (also known as Matchback Reports) for each channel.
While you can login to each platform to get a comprehensive report on performance, this can be a real pain since each channel has different metrics, ad managers, and attribution. Because of this, it’s nearly impossible to get a single snapshot of how ALL of your social ad channels and investments are working together.
(Check out the animation below – here’s how we report on multiple social channels at Dealers United! Our dashboard uses API integrations with each social platform to aggregate your results in one, easy view.)
South County DCJR’s Awareness Campaigns:
During the “Awareness” stage, South County DCJR used “Why Buy” messaging, Branding, and BYOV messaging, along with testimonials.
These ads drove 4,397,998 Impressions with a $6.23 CPM (Cost Per 10,000 Impressions) in only 90 days.
South County DCJR’s Consideration Campaigns:
During the “Consideration” stage, South County DCJR ran Inventory Ads and Model Line Ads, along with ads that showcased their dealership’s specials, vehicle features, and vehicle walkaround’s.
In Q1 2023, the dealership’s Consideration campaigns drove 41,207 Clicks with a 0.95% Click Through Rate (CTR) at a $1.01 Cost Per Click (CPC).
South County DCJR’s Conversion Campaigns:
During the “Conversion” stage, South County DCJR’s entire strategy generated 1,119 Leads at $26.14 CPL (Cost Per Lead) and resulted in an additional 86 cars sold!
You now know the framework and have access to our library of resources to setup and analyze your social ad campaigns for your auto dealership.
Here are 3 more social ads case studies we love to share about how ad campaigns solve real dealership business challenges:
1. Power Ford was losing to a local Ford competitor who had claimed the #1 local Ford dealer spot for 28 years. Then, the dealership switched from traditional advertising to Facebook and Instagram. This change led to them cutting costs by $285,000, increasing sales by 10%, and securing their spot as the #1 selling Ford dealer in New Mexico for 4 years straight. (View case study here)
2. Healey Brothers Hyundai wanted to quickly move new inventory, differentiate themselves from their competition, and target highly qualified in-market shoppers.
By working with Dealers United, they developed a full-funnel Facebook and Pinterest ad campaign that included “Dealership Awareness” ads alongside “Product Catalog” Inventory ads which drove 29% of Q1 2023 sales. (View case study here)
3. DELLA Chevrolet of Plattsburgh had a surplus of specific models they needed to move off their lot fast. They collaborated with the Dealers United team to customize full-funnel Facebook and Instagram ads, leveraging the power of video combined with scrolling inventory. The campaigns returned a 34.25% Lead-to-Sale Conversion Rate with 75 Sales Matched to social ads in Q2. (View case study here)
The Key To Dominating Social Media For Dealers
With every swipe of the thumb, dealers have the opportunity to get their brand on valuable visual real estate. But, what separates an average campaign from the best converting setup is a full funnel strategy. Specifically, leveraging different ad types intentionally with thoughtful messaging that coincide with the mindset and stage of the auto buyer journey.
By pairing the right platform for your dealership’s goals with full funnel, omnisocial messaging, you will have a formula that is proven to dominate your market.
To learn more about how Dealers United can help you build a bulletproof social ads strategy at your dealership, click here to book a call!