As customers spend more time at home and online, using the right social media tools in the right ways can help a dealership connect with a potential customer — or continue a relationship beyond the transaction.
"Your dealership Facebook page is becoming more widely used before and after the sale," Bob Lanham, head of automotive retail at Facebook, said Thursday at the NADA Show.
"I'll never, in a presentation, say that because an ad was delivered on Facebook, that's why they bought that car or executed a repair order in your dealership," Lanham said. "But what I will say is, your ad was shown and delivered, click or no click, to someone who ended up doing business with your dealership."
There are a number of new ways dealerships can use platforms such as Facebook to bolster their sales prospects, he said.
Using the "Stories" feature on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Facebook Live, Facebook groups and the platform's job feature can all boost interest in a retail outlet.
Dealerships can show a location or vehicle walkaround, provide current and prospective customers an update on specials and incentives, do meet-the-staff sessions, give updates about the dealership and post customer-delivery photos.
"Pinning" — or flagging specific content to be the first post that prospective customers see — can emphasize important information about the dealership, such as hours of operation, specials and deals, updated sales and service phone numbers, and even information about the dealership's digital retailing experience.
Facebook groups can be especially beneficial for dealers, Lanham said.
"Think about service, your No. 1 loyalty strategy," Lanham said. "Create a group, have all your customers in this group and you can post your monthly service specials, so you ensure they come to your service drive and not another dealership's — or more importantly, a third-party service drive.
"Whether it's your dealership's Facebook page or a group that you create, make sure you have a platform to stay connected with your customers," he added. "It will become quickly one of your biggest and best-performing customer retention or loyalty strategies."
Forty percent of consumers go to a dealership's Facebook page to see what others are saying about the dealership, Lanham said, and 39 percent go to the page to get a sense of what the dealership is like.
"The experience has now become more important than the price of the vehicle," Lanham said. "They're coming to your dealership Facebook page to see what type of experience you're going to offer."
With that in mind, post content on social media pages, "A couple of times a week, but don't overthink what you should be posting," Lanham said.
"They want to see what type of experience they're going to get if they consider your dealership to purchase an automobile."
