Facebook Likes for your dealership - How are you getting more?

[ddavis]

I'm with Kcar on this deal. Somebody has to show me the money. At small dealerships, I don't see where an Internet Director has the time. At the larger stores, pawn it off to the Consumer Relations Manager.

 

[danoneil]

Kcar & ddavis I could not disagree more. Don't have a lot time to give my 2 cents worth. I'll be back.

 

[ryanabbott]

Yeah. It's not about selling cars on FB it's about creating brand awareness. I sold 5 cars last week from our Dealership FB page as well as my personal FB page. I had three different friends mention that they were "car shopping". They didn't seek me out, I sought them out and commented on their status' for them to check out foxdealerships.com. All three did and all three bought within 36 hours. They would have never bought from us had I not chimed in. It does work. You just need to pick your spots and stay in front of the opportunities.

I'm not saying to invest all your time and all your budget on Facebook. What I am saying is to keep tabs on it and offer your services when the moment comes. Think progressive... Not old school!!

 

[ddavis]

I sold 5 cars last week from our Dealership FB page as well as my personal FB page.

Ryan, I guess you showed me the money. That is impressive and the first time I have heard anyone put a number on it.

 

[ryanabbott]

By I, I meant the dealerships. They were 5 referrals and I gave their information to my ISM's. they set the appointments that day and got them in. The Sales Teams did the rest. BUT, they were 5 referrals that I wouldn't have seen if not for FB.

 

[yagoparamo]

By I, I meant the dealerships. They were 5 referrals and I gave their information to my ISM's. they set the appointments that day and got them in. The Sales Teams did the rest. BUT, they were 5 referrals that I wouldn't have seen if not for FB.

Ryan,

Without going into hard detail;

since you have seen the site grow do you at least feel that having 621 members in FB has contributed in any way to some sales (whether is cars or service it doesn't matter)?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

By I, I meant the dealerships. They were 5 referrals and I gave their information to my ISM's. they set the appointments that day and got them in. The Sales Teams did the rest. BUT, they were 5 referrals that I wouldn't have seen if not for FB.

Ryan, how and why do you think this happened?

I realize this is a broad question but I believe you can answer it quite simply.

There IS money to be made in Social and it has one very positive ROI. In order to do this, one must understand the different levels of engagement, with whom they wish to engage - the psychographics of your FB customer base.

Who gives a shit about more "Likes". Go after QUALITY and the right quantity will come organically.

Waiting to hear your answer Ryan.

 

[ewalraven]

By I, I meant the dealerships. They were 5 referrals and I gave their information to my ISM's. they set the appointments that day and got them in. The Sales Teams did the rest. BUT, they were 5 referrals that I wouldn't have seen if not for FB.

Third in line

In the same boat - I don't mean to peg to hard or try and dig into your "secret formula" here, but this is honestly the first time I've ever heard about this happening especially to this extent. I mean, were any of these buyers "sold" because of FB contact?

- Were they all friends/family of each other?
- Were you running a special promotion on facebook?
- Were they long time members of you FB page?
- Anything else in common?

I'll be honest, it's just really hard for me to believe that five sales came from a FB page. Now if you tell me they were long time customers, came in for service and didn't like the bill, saw a promotion on FB then I believe you. Either way, no matter how they were marked up. It's gotta look good on the EOM reports to have 5 sales under the 'FB/social media' row! lol

 

[Jeff Kershner]

First off - Link to a relevant article over on the blog - Creating a Social Sales Funnel at the Dealership - Like to Leads

moving on..

I mean, were any of these buyers "sold" because of FB contact?

Are there any buyers "sold" due to any one advertising source or medium?

Let's replace Facebook with other channels of advertising/marketing and get some more thoughts around this...

"..were any of these buyers "sold" because of AutoTrader?"
"..were any of these buyers "sold" because of Cars.com?"
"..were any of these buyers "sold" because of your dealership website?"
"..were any of these buyers "sold" because of your your reviews on DealerRater?"
"..were any of these buyers "sold" because of your your reviews Edmunds or Google+?"
"..were any of these buyers "sold" because of your TV commercial?"


??

 

[danoneil]

Great questions Jeff.

Whether you sell Ford, Honda,Subaru etc... Your manufacturer is on Facebook.

I know you have to pay someone to keep your Facebook active, but it really does not take a tremendous amount of time to like a post from your manufacturer or make a quick comment . Since FB is viral, your message goes out the the peole who have already liked the manufacturer ( Ford , Honda etc..) . They may be local customer that could possible reach out to you. They will not possibly reach out if your not on FaceBook.

If you keep your FB page active, it will draw potential customers & the cost is minimal.