In the following interview, Bob Lanham, Facebook’s head of automotive retail, discusses the latest version edition of their Dealer Playbook and takes us through the new sections covering products, tools, and partnerships that enable a dealer to successfully execute the four core strategies outlined.
Dealer Magazine: Hi Bob, thanks for joining us again for another Q&A. Facebook released an updated Automotive Playbook for Dealers last month. Can you tell us what’s changed since the last version?
Facebook: We received feedback on sections dealers wanted us to expand on, as well as products they wanted us to include. This latest version includes expanded “how-to” guides on the setup of the tools needed to execute and measure Facebook campaigns properly. We added sections for Marketplace and Messenger products. We also included a Partner section which outlines the providers who offer automated solutions that enable a dealer or dealer agency to execute our playbook at the lowest cost.
Dealer Magazine: Can you tell us more about these providers and what they offer dealers?
Facebook: We have added additional providers to help remove friction by automating 1) inventory feeds for our automotive inventory ads, 2) DMS/CRM audience creation for remarketing and/or creating lookalike audiences, and 3) match-back of sales data for dealers to see return on ad spend against their Facebook campaigns. Similar to CDK Social Connect, new providers now include DealerSocket, Oplogic, and Reynolds & Reynolds powered by Naked Lime.
DriveCentric has come out with an integration that enables dealers to further enhance the customer experience. For instance, a dealer can share a delivery photo with the customer and have it automatically posted to the dealership’s Facebook page– delivery photos are great for dealership branding! Also, they offer a Facebook Messenger application that directly integrates Facebook Marketplace conversations into their CRM for tracking and responding.
On the creative side, Waymark has built video templates mapped to our Playbook’s strategies to help dealers easily build effective video ads. Additionally, the Constellation Agency is working on a creative library where a dealer can customize, purchase, and download Facebook/Instagram creative.
Dealer Magazine: What about Marketplace? How should dealers work with Marketplace, and are there any ad opportunities there?
Facebook: Facebook Marketplace is now one of the most popular places in the U.S. to shop online for used vehicles, with more than 20 million people clicking on vehicle listings every month¹. There are three ways every dealer should be taking advantage of Marketplace:
- Listing Inventory: Facebook does not charge to list vehicles on Marketplace. To get started, dealers can automatically list and manage their inventory at scale by working with a Marketplace Listing Partner. Marketplace also offers an option for smaller dealerships to manually upload listings on a one-by-one basis on their phone or desktop using their Facebook Profile or Business Page.
- Click to Marketplace: Facebook is launching “Click to Marketplace” automotive ads in the U.S. The name says it all. Instead of having the ad click to the Vehicle Detail Page (VDP) on the dealer’s website, the ad directs mobile users to a vehicle listing on Marketplace or generates a listing from their catalog. Faster mobile page-loading on Marketplace (versus the dealer’s website) helps engage potential buyers sooner and reduces bounce rates.
Consumers can now research vehicle details in a mobile-optimized environment, discover additional dealer listings, and contact the dealer directly via Facebook Messenger. Having Messenger be the primary form of communication allows for a more seamless consumer experience, and replaces the need for inconvenient phone calls or lead submission forms. For more information, make sure to read why messaging businesses is “the new normal” here.
- Fixed Placements: Through automatic placements, dealers can easily scale ads from News Feed across the entire Facebook family of apps, including Marketplace, leveraging the same creative, targeting, optimization and measurement. Dealers can reach people in their audience more efficiently by showing ads to them wherever they are spending the most time (whether on Facebook, Instagram, Marketplace, etc.).
Dealer Magazine: Speaking of Messenger, we keep hearing about how “messaging bots” or “chatbots” are going to change how people interact with businesses. Can you elaborate?
Facebook: We’re excited about the new opportunities Messenger brings to businesses around enhancing customer experience and loyalty. People feel more confident messaging businesses than using more traditional customer service channels. Our studies show that among people surveyed in the U.S. and other international markets, over 58% feel more confident messaging a business than calling them on the phone or filling out a form on a website; of those surveyed, over 61% say messaging is the easiest, most convenient way to contact a businesx².
Here is a great example of how a chatbot is making it easy for customers to do business with dealerships. CarNow has created a scheduling bot called ScheduleNow for Facebook. This bot connects directly with a dealer’s scheduling platform and enables the user to schedule their service appointment through Facebook Messenger with no human interaction. The bot, powered by artificial intelligence, handles it all— creating a frictionless service scheduling experience for both the dealer and the customer.
We expect more chatbots to come to market soon. Look for best practices from us on how to best handle messaging via your business development center.
Dealer Magazine: Where can a dealer download this new Playbook to learn more?
Facebook: Dealers can find our newly updated Automotive Playbook for Dealers on Facebook’s Dealer Hub.
Sources:
1 Facebook Internal Data, Jan. 2019
2 “Motivations, Mindsets and Emotional Experiences in Messaging (vs. Feed)” by Sentient Decision Science (Facebook-commissioned survey of 8,156 people in BR, GB, IN and the US), Jun 2018. Research refers to people surveyed who use a messaging app daily and have messaged a business in the past three months using one of their most commonly used apps.
