Digital Dealer - December 2017 - 34

By Scot Eisenfelder
Executive Chairman,
Affinitiv

COMMUNICATIONS

APRIL 21-23, 2015 * TAMPA, FL
APRIL 21-23 * TAMPA, FL

Rethink How to Market
with Facebook and Instagram
When I mention Facebook and Instagram
to dealers, I often get the
eye roll reaction. It's
understandable. For many
people, it's difficult to
separate personal and
professional opinions
about Facebook. On a
personal level, some
people view it as fun or
frivolous; others view it as
superficial or even a
complete waste of time.
On a professional level,
many dealers have spent
a lot of money and time to
maintain presence on a
platform that has delivered uncertain results.
Ironically, one of the top
reasons why you may not
like Facebook is the exact
reason why you should include it in your marketing
mix. If you believe Facebook is a "time waster,"
guess where a lot of your
customers are spending
their time?
According to Statista,
in 2018 the number of
projected Facebook users
in the U.S. will be 207
million. The average time
spent on Facebook per
visit is 20 minutes, according to Infodocket.
I also want to talk about
Instagram, which hasn't
been around as long as
Facebook but is increasingly important to business marketers. In 2018,
approximately 96 million
Americans will have Instagram accounts, according
34

DECEMBER 2017

THE ABILITY TO TIE A CUSTOMER
NAME IN YOUR CRM TO A SOCIAL
MEDIA PROFILE ALLOWS YOU TO
TRACK ALL OF THEIR ACTIVITY,
INCLUDING VIEWS, CLICKS, WEBSITE
CONVERSIONS, LEAD GENERATION,
APPOINTMENTS, STORE VISITS, SERVICE
APPOINTMENTS AND SALES.
to Statista. Eighty percent
of Instagram users follow
at least one business, and
they are 58 times more
likely to like, comment or
share a brand's post than
Facebook users, according to Forrester Research.
Impressive numbers,
yet simply having a presence on these platforms
does not guarantee that
your followers will visit
your dealership and buy
a car or make a service
appointment. I know from
my own experience that
one of the most frustrating
aspects of social marketing is that it has been

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

impossible to come up
with a tangible ROI.
Until now.
RETHINK YOUR
GOALS

For years you've
probably heard that
the measures of social
success are the number
of likes, fans, shares and
comments. More recently
with social ads you can
see the number of views
and clicks. But what do
any of these metrics tell
you about whether your
marketing efforts are
successful?
Dealerships market
because they want more

business. Their goals are
to build awareness of their
dealership and to drive
more website traffic, leads
and service and sales
appointments. In marketing, our goal is to reach
as many consumers as
possible, as many times
as possible. This is called
reach x frequency.
You may have heard
that the reason you need
to be on Facebook and
Instagram is to build relationships and influence
minds. Eventually, this
may lead to more business...or it may not.
IT'S TIME TO RETHINK THAT GOAL.

The reason you need
to be on Facebook and
Instagram is because
that's where your current
and past customers are
spending their time. The
goals you have for these
social channels should be
the same goals you have
for the rest of your marketing channels.
Instead of counting your
"Likes" and comments,
you should be measuring
your lift in brand awareness. Instead of trying
to get more shares, you
should be trying to convert
more views into website
visitors and leads, and to
have customers contact
your dealership to make
service appointments.
Instead of trying to influence, your goal should be
customer retention.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - December 2017
