Most car dealers still use traditional methods of advertising, like newspaper ads, radio, and television. These are tried and true methods of driving sales and have their place.

But…online advertising, especially on Facebook and Instagram, is targeted, cost-effective, and agile. This is the new way to communicate with your potential customers.

Let’s look at each of the above claims as they relate to Facebook and Instagram advertisements:

Targeted – Using the power of artificial intelligence (AI), such as the kind we use at SimpSocial, you’re able to show potential customers exactly the car their looking for or one that meets their criteria. What we mean is: when they search for 4×4 pickup trucks online, their computer will track that information. When they next go on Facebook, they’re shown ads of the actual inventory you have on the lot.

Cost-Effective – Since you’re only paying for the people who actually see the ad, you’re going to get a better ROI (return on investment). With a newspaper ad, you pay for the total number of people that buy or read the paper; the publisher has no idea how many people actually read your ad. With AI and Facebook/Instagram tracking, we can see exactly how many people saw your ad, how many clicked to call you, and how many visited your website. We can even make it all VIN-based to make sure that everyone who searches for your exact vehicle will find it on your lot.

Agile – Because it’s all digital, you can change your inventory in real time. Sold a car? It comes right out of your ads. Brought in a truckload of cars? They will be automatically added to your advertisements. Everything runs through our exclusive CRM (customer relationship management software). For there, you’re able to see everything about the customer and track every step of the sales process. Or it can be loaded through your CRM, as well.

What is Dynamic Advertising?

Have you ever seen the movie Minority Report? As the main character, played by Tom Cruise, walks around, the advertisements in the shopping mall change to speak to him, by name and based on his prior purchases. That’s dynamic advertising.

We can do that for your potential buyers online – minus the iri scans that are used in the movie. As soon as they start searching for vehicles online, Facebook, using a cookie tracker that the customer authorized, knows they’re doing it.

When they log into Facebook to see what’s going on or for a good laugh, they’ll see your ad. As soon as they click on it, the Facebook user can become a lead for your dealership.

Lead Generation and AI

Generating leads is the key to sales, especially big ticket items, like cars. Using Facebook and Instagram ads, we can help you generate more leads than any other form of advertising. It doesn’t require that the customer or any more than click on your ad.

Once they’ve done that, they enter our CRM and become part of the sales process.

In essence, we’re able to integrate social media in the front to the backend CRM through an AI portal. The artificial intelligence processes everything to your CRM with all the data and lots of guidance.

Less Time Wasted by Staff

Your staff can spend a lot less time chasing after weak leads. For example, when someone steps on the lot and had no idea what they want, your salespeople can spend hours going through the cars with them just to help them narrow it down.

Using Facebook Lead Ads, you’ll not only know exactly what vehicle they clicked on and were interested in, but their information will be populated into your CRM and show as a new lead.

These are essentially “self-vetting leads.” The customer is telling you exactly what they’re looking for before you even begin a conversation with them. Hours of guesswork are eliminated. Even if the client changes their mind, they’ve started with an idea so you have some of their preferences to start with.

Success is Trackable

If you buy a $2000 newspaper ad or a billboard, you have no idea if that’s the thing that brought the customer to you. Of course, those things are great for marketing, the process of building a name in your area. They aren’t great for targeting that one individual with just the right ad at just the right time.

Using Facebook/Instagram ads, we can target the right search words and present the ad to the prospect. More importantly, we can see how many people saw the ad, how many clicked, and how many decided to call you. You will have proof that the ads are working. This information includes the date and time that they clicked on the ad.

Changing Business Efforts

Here’s a scenario that you might find interesting: Imagine we find out you have more people clicking on ads on Saturdays at 2 pm than any other time. We can run an ad that invites them down to your business on Saturdays for a special discount or a free item for a test drive or whatever you want to do. We can tell when people are looking so we can adapt your marketing efforts to that information.

Answering a Few Questions

“Facebook is an international website. How can I be sure that only people in my area see my ads?”

Of course, you don’t want to pay for people in Duluth to see your ads. Facebook and Instagram let us set up audiences that can be restricted by location (and gender, income, interests, and much more). This lets us make sure that everyone who sees your ad is someone who might actually buy from you.

“I don’t want to sell cars online. I want them to come to my business and buy.”

These ads will include vehicles that are actually in your inventory, but it doesn’t force you to allow people to purchase online. It will let them see the ad and push a button to call you. They might call and say that they saw the red F-150 and will be right over to test drive it.

“I don’t have time to upload a lot of photos and information to you guys.”

That’s okay. We get our information from whatever you’re doing right now or through our exclusive CRM program. You take photos, enter the basic data, and our artificial intelligence takes over. It creates the perfect ads for you and posts them to automatically online. Our team reviews performance regularly and fine tunes the system when needed.

Summary

Using Facebook and Instagram ads for your auto dealership is one of the most cost-effective advertising techniques you can use. Best of all, there’s tracking data that proves that it’s working.

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