The part that is really starting to hit home and become a bigger priority in the automotive industry is the branding component. Dealers are putting effort into making sure that they’re putting out the type of content that can get them attention, reiterate their status in the community as an automotive resource, and highlight what the dealership is doing for people, charities, and the local area. This component is important and I would never tell a dealer to let it go, but here’s the thing. It’s not the most important component. Getting your brand out there and keeping your name at the top of mind for consumers when they’re ready to buy a car is absolutely a worthy effort, but there’s another side.
As we’ve discussed in the past, there’s tangible return on investment in the form of driving car shoppers to your website through social media. We’ve seen clients realizing that Facebook’s targeted Polk data, custom audiences, and dark posts combine to drive hundreds, even thousands of in-market buyers to the right pages on their websites. We’ve seen them increase sales, set records, and achieve better profits as a whole.
Why is this not used more often? Why aren’t ad agencies and other vendors pushing this imperative aspect of social media? Why are dealers spending $3-$5 (or more) per unique visitor when they could be spending $1-$2 each? These are good questions and there’s a great, albeit unfortunate, answer to all of these. It’s time consuming and manual. If you want to turn an ad agency or bulk automotive vendor off on a product, tell them that they’ll have to invest manual effort into the product and it’s certain to get pushed to the side.
We’re proud to provide both ROI components to our clients. Isn’t it about time that you contact us about it?