There’s more than one way to market your dealership on Facebook. Of course, simply having an account and posting regular updates and information can help you be discovered by local consumers, and stay in touch with past customers. This method gives you organic reach, but these days, organic reach simply isn’t enough. Car sellers also need to use Facebook’s built-in ad platform, which gives them access to a huge audience while also allowing them to fine-tune their ad targeting, reaching out to customers in their area who have shown an intention to purchase a new or used vehicle—and soon.
For those with little experience in Facebook car ads, though, it can be a little daunting to simply dive into the advanced Facebook advertising platform. The best way to proceed is with the guidance of a Facebook ads expert—and we’ll touch on that later. In the meantime, here are some practical considerations for car dealerships looking to place ads that really get results.
How to Use Facebook Automotive Ads
First and foremost, test. Unless your Facebook auto ads budget is extremely small, there is no reason to limit yourself to a single set of ads. Try running at least a couple of different sets to see which one works better. Always be fine-tuning your approach, based on the ad data you’re able to collect.
Do some general targeting. Facebook’s ad platform allows for some really amazing targeting opportunities. The first thing you’ll want to do is set the geography. We recommend setting it to a 25 mile radius from your dealership. You may also wish to exclude certain cities, if you feel the competition there is too steep. You’ll also have an opportunity to set age and gender demographics, but, unless you’ve had some extensive demographic research done, you’re probably going to want to leave the default settings—both genders, ages 18-65. Narrowing it down beyond that will mean excluding many potential customers.
Next, do some detailed targeting. This is the step that really makes or breaks your ad campaign, and it can be tough to know what to do here. First and foremost, don’t be intimidated by all the options! Facebook will offer you some “suggestions” that can be helpful—for example, people whose “behavior” is set to automotive. Once you select that option, you’ll have some choices to narrow your targeting even further. Simply pick the option that sounds like it most closely matches the goals of your dealership.
Mastering Facebook Car Ads
Using Facebook’s ad platform for your dealership will take some time and some trial and error—but one way you can reduce that is to team with some experts. Get My Auto has an in-house marketing team with years of experience in digital advertising, and a special passion for working with dealerships. We’d love to help you leverage Facebook car ads to their fullest potential. To learn more, we encourage you to reach out to the Get My Auto team today.