If you want to see everything from what your friends are having for lunch to what is going on in their relationships to up-and-coming trends, look no further than Facebook. In 2015, online sales reached a staggering $334 billion, and they are expected to climb from there, with numbers reaching $480 billion by 2019. Consumers are doing their shopping, researching, and sharing about products and services online—and they’re looking to Facebook and other social platforms to offer up the information they need before buying.

For businesses, this is exactly where you want to be. When you share on Facebook, you’ll be joining other brands who are finding success in social media.  65% of top brands on Facebook post 5 times a week or more in order to reach their consumers and share content that resonates with their customer base.

Why Are Brands Posting to Facebook?

Think about this.  38.6% of the world population uses Facebook.  And in the U.S. alone, there are 191.3 million users.  Are you reaching that many people with traditional marketing and advertising?  Let’s take it one step further and consider what happens when you leverage the reach of your entire dealership by encouraging your employees to post and share on your behalf.  Their reach is 10x that of your brand alone, which allows you to reach incrementally greater numbers of potential shoppers for your dealership.

Your Highlight Reel

For individuals, Facebook should be a highlight reel—a compilation of the good things going on in your life—so things like family, friends, work, and hobbies and passions should rule your feed.  The same thing goes for your dealership.  You’re on social media to be social with your audience, gain brand recognition, and build relationships that will bring consumers to you when it’s time to buy.  That means it’s not your platform for hard-core, in-your-face selling.

Facebook has remained popular and continued to gain users for many reasons, primarily because it’s easy to use.  In addition, however, users can keep in touch with friends, entertain themselves with games, and easily share things like photos.  All these things work together to give you the optimal platform to meet and interact with consumers.

Facebook is the go-to when it comes to passing time, getting news updates, learning about friends, and interacting with trusted brands.  For you, this means it’s a great place to post about things you’re doing in the community, events that are happening at your dealership, vehicle news, or things you’re involved in that will pique the interest of your followers.  Your customers want to see what’s going on with your dealership, and potential customers will feel better about a dealership that’s open and willing to build relationships.

Building your brand is the ultimate goal. Everyone wants a brand that is a titan in the market—with the reputation everyone else strives to achieve—and Facebook can help you do this.  It’s a brand-builder that will get people involved with your dealership.  Not only can your active followers like and share your content, you’ll also affect the 90% of Facebook users who are best known for reading and not engaging.  Although they may not engage, they’re still there and your content is still visible and influential.

Posting daily, or even more often than that, will get your dealership quite a bit of exposure to your customers, however, avoid posting too often because your followers may not want to hear from you every time they scroll through a few updates.  There’s a sweet spot for every business, and when you take the time to post—as well as monitor what you’re posting—you’ll be able to get a good gauge on what your audience is interested in and how often they want to interact.

Smart businesses everywhere have learned Facebook is the place to be to build relationships with consumers.  An easy-to-use networking platform, people are already there planning to share and exchange information, so it’s time to get your dealership active and start sharing your highlight reel!

Also check out the video!