Advertising on Facebook is a great way for dealers to generate leads for their sales team and improve brand awareness. Here are some of the steps your dealership can take to maximize your sales using Facebook ads.
The first thing you’ll need to do to get started is set up a Facebook Business Manager Account and link your page. Once you’ve done this, you can create your ad account. Enter your billing info and assign roles to your employees, and you’re ready to start your campaign. For help getting your ad account set up, check out this guide.
Whether it's to increase VDPs (vehicle display pageviews) or brand awareness, make sure to choose the right objective when creating your campaign through Facebook. These objectives will fall into one of the three stages of the buyer’s journey: awareness, consideration, or conversion. Within these buckets are more specific goals like reach, video views, and store traffic. Based on your selection, Facebook’s algorithm will optimize your ads differently to help you reach your goals. This will also help you measure the most relevant metrics for your campaign to ensure you are always on track.
Within your campaign, there are numerous ad types to choose from that each offer unique benefits. For example, you can use video ads to show off your dealership and vehicles. Carousel ads allow you to display several options of vehicle models you have available to consumers. This can be done with both photos and videos.
Facebook also offers dynamic ads that allow you to upload your inventory and create ads that are targeted directly to shoppers looking for a specific vehicle. They’ll be able to see the year, make, model, mileage, and more, all within the ad. These ad formats are a great way to drive traffic directly to your VDP. If you’d rather keep it simple, you can also use basic photo ads to drive traffic to your website or entice customers to sign up for a deal or showroom visit.
To ensure your ad will be published, you must adhere to Facebooks ad regulations. One of the most important rules to be aware of, and the one that comes as a surprise to many businesses, is the 20% text rule. This rule means your images (including video thumbnails), can only contain 20% text at maximum. If you have too much text in your ad, it won’t be approved, so plan ahead for this when designing your ads.
When reviewing your ads, Facebook will also inspect your landing page, along with the ad itself, to ensure it is functional and adheres to their policies. As long as you are advertising the cars on your lot and nothing is misleading, you shouldn’t have too much trouble passing this test. If your ad is not approved, and you’ve met all the requirements, you can request an appeal.
Facebook also has numerous requirements when it comes to ad formatting. For example, images will need to be under 30MB and should also be at least 1080x1080 pixels. Videos have a maximum file size of 4GB and must be at least 120x120 pixels. It is important you keep these guidelines in mind, so you won’t have to go back and re-format your ads. For more detailed information, read Facebook’s full list of requirements.
Your ads are only as good as their results. To maximize click-throughs, use simple yet engaging imagery and ad copy that prompts consumers to take an action. You can ask them to take advantage of an offer, visit your showroom, book a test drive, and more. In each ad, make it clear what your offer is and what next step the consumer should take.
It is also important for dealerships to utilize multiple ad types, including inventory-based dynamic ads and carousel ads, that tend to be more engaging than simple image ads. If a shopper sees that that you have the car they’re looking for available, they will be much more likely to visit your website or showroom than if they only saw a generic ad for your dealership.
Use a partner to set up and connect your inventory feed to your Facebook account. If you don’t know where to start with setting up Facebook ads, ZeroSum can help. Book a demo today to see how ZeroSum can fully manage your social media and other paid channels so that you can drive sales hands-free.