At Dealer Authority, we aim to help auto dealerships differentiate themselves online through search engine optimization, pay-per-click campaigns, and, last but not least, social media marketing. If you’re wondering how our Facebook Ads: car dealership campaigns stack up against the competition, well, the results are in.
In 2022, we delivered exceptional results for our clients through paid social media advertising through Facebook ads: car dealership campaigns. We didn’t just achieve great client results; we crushed the industry averages.
Read on to learn more about how our paid social performance compares to industry averages and why this matters for your dealership’s marketing plans.
Our Ad Objectives
We spend our social advertising budget across many objectives to meet the varying needs of our dealer clients. Last year, the most significant chunks of our budget went to new inventory website clicks, used inventory website clicks, and post engagement. These are critical for driving potential customers to vehicle listings and engaging them on social media.
Smaller percentages were spent on other important goals like retargeting, which ensures we stay in front of prospects who have already shown interest. Over 25% of our spending went to these additional, tailored objectives for our clients’ Facebook automotive ads.
Lower Costs and Higher Engagement
For dealerships, a lower cost per click (CPC) and higher click-through rate (CTR) mean getting more potential customers to engage with your ads and brand at a lower cost.
Compared to the automotive industry’s average CPC of $2.24, our CPC was $0.75 overall and $0.55 without post-engagement ads.
That means we achieved a three to four times lower CPC than the competition, allowing our clients to gain more clicks for their budget. Our CPC was also two to three times lower than the average across industries.
We also drove much higher engagement, with an overall CTR of 2.85% and 2.27% excluding post engagement, which was 2.5 to 3.5 times higher than the industry averages of 0.80% for automotive and 0.90% for all industries.
Higher CTR means more people are interested in and clicking on our client’s ads, translating to more website traffic, social engagement, and sales.
Segmenting out Post Engagement Campaigns
So why would we segment our campaign data to include or exclude post-engagement campaigns? The answer is simple.
Post-engagement campaigns, which help boost timeline post visibility in your local market, tend to garner much higher click-through rates and lower costs per click. Due to the nature of these campaigns, we knew that post-engagement data could potentially inflate the performance numbers.
Even with the post-engagement campaign numbers excluded from the rest of our data, our Facebook ads car dealership advertising campaigns still smashed the competition.
Lower Costs and Higher Engagement for Website Clicks
For dealerships, website clicks are one of the most valuable objectives because they indicate genuine interest from potential customers. By segmenting out our post-engagement campaigns, we see even stronger performance for driving website clicks.
Compared to the automotive industry’s average CPC of $2.24 for website clicks, our CPC for website clicks, excluding post engagement, was $0.55. That means we achieved a CPC four times lower than the competition for the clicks that matter most. Our CPC was also three times lower than the average across industries.
We also achieved a higher click-through rate for website clicks without post engagement, driving a 2.27% CTR nearly three times the industry average of 0.80% for the automotive industry. That means we were able to gain significantly more website clicks for every ad shown and at a lower cost, translating to valuable traffic and lead opportunities for our clients.
Our ability to optimize for the vital website click objective and outperform industry averages demonstrates why Dealer Authority is the best choice for turning social advertising into sales. Website clicks drive real business, and we are the leaders in delivering more clicks at a lower cost.
Standout Facebook Ads for Car Dealerships in 2022
For Toyota of Wallingford, we created an ad encouraging shoppers to explore pre-owned vehicles with an incredible 6.5% CTR and $0.12 CPC, far surpassing industry benchmarks. For Jeff Schmitt Chevrolet, our ad highlighting their new inventory earned a 10.6% CTR and $0.05 CPC.
We also optimized collection ads, like holiday-themed ads for Ride Now Motors and Szott M-59 Toyota, which had a 5.6% CTR and $0.13 CPC and a 4.9% CTR and $0.10 CPC, respectively.
Standout single image ads for clients included content for Levelland Chevrolet Buick, which earned a 6.8% CTR and $0.08 CPC, and a special promotion for Leonardtown Ford, which achieved a 6.4% CTR and $0.20 CPC.
Results that Drive Business
Thanks to the dedicated, creative, and professional team at Dealer Authority, we achieved significantly lower costs per click and higher click-through rates with our paid social ads compared to industry averages in 2023. Strong performance across critical objectives like website clicks and post engagement, paired with eye-catching creative content, allowed us to drive key metrics and business for our dealership clients. Our proven ability to outperform the competition and get more from advertising budgets results in real leads and vehicle sales for the dealerships we serve.
Overall, our standout results demonstrate why Dealer Authority is the partner of choice for paid social media marketing in the automotive industry. Are you interested in getting ahead of the curve by spending less money for more extraordinary results? Contact Dealer Authority to learn more about our creative and effective Facebook advertising for car dealership options.