It’s impossible to talk about selling automobiles in 2019 without discussing Facebook. The social media behemoth, which has nearly 2.4 billion monthly users, isn’t just for posting vacation photos or cat videos. Increasingly, it’s a marketing, research and shopping channel – with built-in peer reviews – for millions of people, many of whom are in the market for a vehicle.
In acknowledgement of this, Facebook recently launched some new and updated tools that can help dealers adjust to a plethora of new shoppers who are using Facebook as a primary tool for vehicle searches and purchases.
Dealer Playbook is a step-by-step guide for automotive dealers to craft marketing and promotion campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. It helps dealers understand how they can use the social media platforms to court “influencers” on social media (people whose brand endorsements have a lot of influence) and be in the right place at the right time when Facebook users begin looking for a vehicle. The Playbook covers four marketing and branding areas: helping customers understand why it’s in their best interests to purchase from dealers, reaching “ready-to-buy” customers, extending the customer lifecycle, and generating buzz around promotions and events.
The other tool being launched by Facebook is an update to Blueprint, the company’s free e-learning tool for businesses. Facebook Blueprint is a series of self-paced courses that help sales professionals learn how to create Facebook ads and use the platform’s audience insight tools. Though Blueprint was launched in 2015, it has now been updated to add more in-depth education for auto dealers. The dealer focused course will “provide a deeper layer of instruction for how to execute campaigns,” according to Facebook.
Kim Stonehouse, head of Facebook Auto, told Automotive News that the courses “should allow anyone to become more of an expert and, most importantly, use our tools in the most efficient way.”
