Have you ever been at a party, and you’re having a decent time, but then you look at your phone and get a text from your friend that there’s ANOTHER party nearby that is just as good AND has a bouncy castle? That’s kind of how Facebook advertising works. Let me explain.
By combining Facebook’s latest ad products with precise targeting based on users’ in-market shopping behavior, social media interests, and location, you can tailor specific messaging and offers to specific people. That means you can show ads to customers that seem like they’re made just for them, for that very moment, and persuade them to come to your party instead (you have a bouncy castle, or maybe a special on the model they’ve been searching for).
This level of targeting allows us to make your advertising dollars go further by reaching only the audiences that are most likely to buy from you, and speaking directly to them. Let’s dive-in to how it’s done.
Local Awareness Ads
Local Awareness ads are used to reach a local audience within a set geotarget. These ads will only reach people who live within that area or people who have recently visited that area. Targeting users who are in a very specific location and layering in other forms of targeting such as in-market targeting and interests targeting is a unique way to reach potential customers in moments that matter the most. When you know where a customer is, and what they like, you can tailor ads exactly for them.
In-Market Targeting lets us show ads to people who have recently demonstrated intent to buy a car based on the content of sites they’ve browsed, clicks on relevant ads, and even offline consumer behavior.
Interests Targeting allows us to target based on the posts people like and share on Facebook and Instagram, apps they use, ads they click, and pages they like.
Local Awareness ads are a powerful tool for conquesting competitors, because they allow you to precisely target the physical area around a competitor’s dealership and reach people who are actually there, shopping the lot for their new ride or sipping coffee in the waiting room. Let’s be honest: who doesn’t open Facebook at least once pretty much every waking hour? That guy sitting in your competitor’s waiting room waiting for his salesperson to come back is PROBABLY on a “liking” spree this very moment. And that is the PERFECT moment for your dealership’s ad to show with a better offer!
You’ll want to employ a persuasive and compelling offer, especially if targeting competitors’ locations. Give the customer a reason to visit your website and cross shop, or even make the trip over to your dealership. Does your dealership have a “Beat Any Deal” selling proposition? Here is where you can Throw. It. Down.
Lead Generation Ads
Lead generation ads let advertisers create custom forms that quickly capture contact information right inside Facebook. The ads look just like any other Facebook ad, but pop up a form when clicked that the user can fill out with their contact information.
Lead Ads can be customized to meet both yours and your customer’s needs. The user experience is simple, quick, and convenient. When creating Lead Ads, you should include a compelling offer, engaging creative, or some kind of special reward for filling out and submitting a form. Your customer’s information is valuable to them, so they should feel like they are being compensated for providing it. Once the information is collected, it is crucial that you reach back out to that consumer with solutions to their needs in a timely manner.
What are some ways dealerships can use Lead Ads?
- Offer special value for trade-ins and collect information on current vehicle make, model, year, and condition
- Offer special lease prices and collect information on current customers’ current leases
- Offer a service coupon and add the leads to your CRM for regular service reminder
How can the gathered leads be used?
- Send newsletters, vehicle demos, and vehicle or service offers via email campaigns
- If you collect emails from a lead form you can then create a custom email list to target these same users with different ads
- Collect customer profile information by asking open-ended questions about lifestyle and interests, then aggregating responses and developing segmented audience targeting for other ads
Dynamic Retargeting Ads
With Facebook Dynamic Retargeting, you can deliver ads to customers who have already looked at specific inventory on your site. The ads are delivered in a carousel format and customized to the user’s browsing history on your site. For example, if a consumer looks at a 2017 Honda Civic VDP and an SRP of pre-owned 2014 Honda Accords, the dynamic ad will show a combination of those vehicles to the user the next time they’re scrolling through their news feed.
Dynamic retargeting ads are an essential component of your lower-funnel PPC strategy. You need to re-engage users who have demonstrated real purchase intent on your site, and implementing these ads on Facebook closes the gap on reaching users in their day-to-day online and mobile patterns.
Let’s Get to Work!
My teammates and I are here to connect you with more customers online, so shoot me an email if you want to learn more about using Facebook as an advertising platform for your dealership!
