11 Reasons Auto Dealers Need a Facebook Marketing Strategy

Why do businesses still believe that Facebook is not for them? Facebook is an exciting medium. There are amazing success stories and equally amazing monumental failures. Facebook has officially hit 1 trillion page views, according to figures released for web traffic in June, Time magazine's TechLand column reports.

Automotive Facebook marketing is more than simply designing a page and writing about your offers every day. It requires sharing content designed to attract and keep your fans (Likes) coming back day in and day out. Most car dealer fan pages have a few hundred fans. There is nothing more unimpressive as a consumer than going to a Facebook fan page to find ZERO presence. But what about the few automotive Facebook fan pages out there that do have thousands even tens of thousands of fans? Even they are missing the boat.

Let's see what's stats says..

Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the US

Years to reach 50 million users..

Radio - 38 years, TV - 13 yeras, Internet - 4 years, ipod - 3 years..

FACEBOOK added over 200 million users in less than a YEAR...

Right now Facebook has over 150 Million active US accounts..75 Million of those people sign in every day..That means about 1/4 the entire US population, has signed into FACEBOOK..All of these people spend 210 Billion minutes on Facebook..That's roughly 400,000 YEARS!!!

There are over 900 Million objects that people can interact with..

The average Facebook user has 130 friends..the average facebook user is connected to 80 pages..The average Facebook user creates 90 pieces of content each month..collectively that more than 30 Billion..

More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.

Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day

There are more than 60 Million people in the US accessing facebook using mobile devices..

You must be thinking these are only the stats, But what does it means to you as a Dealer?Right?

Facebook provides a great opportunity for a car dealer website to expand its targeted audience by simply increasing your fan page. Facebook offers a unique opportunity to engage people on a personal level. It is something more than that a Socila medium. Facebook is a direct channel for communication between your dealership and your potential customers.

Here are 11 reasons Auto Dealers need Facebook Marketing Strategy

1. To increase traffic to dealer website.

2. To create a conversion path using the Facebook platform to increase leads

3. To create a direct path for consumer engagement.

4. To generate revenue and gain incremental business.

5. To drive "Like's" (Fans) to the dealer's fan page and increase brand awareness in the local market.

6. Marketing on Facebook is about your "Circle of Influence". The average Facebook user has 130 friends. Every time they "Like" something all their friends see it. And the best part is that when they market for you, they bring more credibility to the table than the most brand loyal company on the planet.

7. Dealer's must have Fan Pages! The purpose of your Facebook fans is to become your own free marketing agency. Every single one of them comes with an average of 130 leads130 referrals130 opportunities to earn a customer.

8. Fan pages are even visible to those who are not registered.

9. Fan pages are indexed by Google and are seasrchable.

10. Facebook has a chat and messange facility through which you can interact to your targeted customers.

11. Facebook fans can bulk invite their friends and tell them about your Dealership.

All of those goals were met as a result of the initiative! Here is a Case study of Marlboro Nissan that has proven it..

Marlboro Nissan Fan Page has over 14,000 "Like's" (Fans) and still growing at nearly 100 likes per day! The overwhelming majority of sales resulting from the Facebook marketing initiative were not aware of the Marlboro Nissan brand prior to "Like"ing Marlboro Nissan's fan page. Facebook was the #1 source of traffic to the Service section of Marlboro Nissan's website and #3 source of traffic over all for 2010. The FBML used to drive traffic and phone calls to Marlboro Nissan resulted in a 5% increase in e-mail leads and a 33% increase in phone calls to dealer. "Likes" (Fans) of the page routinely contribute content and engage in Marlboro Nissan's daily posts. By surveying post sale logs and service appointment logs and utilizing Google Analytics and the Dealer CRM holding the initiative accountable became a reality.

Whether or not you choose to create an official presence for your company is irrelevant. Your consumers are going to talk about you. You must have a presence and develop a Facebook marketing strategy in order to be part of that conversation.

If you give more value to your fans or customers, in return the more they give back to you in the form of positive reviews and referrals. This is a time to take a step back from that old traditional marketing methods, and start to build your online presence on Facebook with regular customer interaction and creative deals, so your fans or customers are more likely to stay with your dealership.

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