Today, Facebook is launching a deals program similar to those on sites like Groupon and Living Social, testing offers in five major cities across the U.S. These deals will include major discounts and exclusive offers for tickets, passes, and more. People can then share it by “liking” to potentially get greater discounts if friends buy into an offer. Although this program is still in a test stage, once released in all areas it will have great potential for automotive advertising on social media.

Facebook’s new deals program takes social sharing of deals to a new level. Groupon and LivingSocial offers come through email and do encourage people to share these socially for the deal to be activated or become free. Facebook’s program will start with the deal showing up in a “deals” section when people log on and also showing up in friend feeds when someone likes an offer.

When the new deals program comes out for everyone, auto dealers can take advantage of it to offer specials for people to buy into. Service specials provide the best offers to use for this, marketing your fixed operations to drive in people who might not be ready to buy a new vehicle. You can give a discount to drive people into your dealership and drive up your branding. For example, a $10 oil change would be an appealing offer.

People will “Like” the offer and then share it with their friends, ultimately reaching thousands of people around your area. The potential for your dealership to promote itself in social media greatly increases with this new deals program.