Let's face it, Facebook advertising has been a bit of an enigma for Automotive Dealers and it has come with a lot of trial and error.

Most dealerships offer some sort of contest or offer for people who 'Like' their page but are we really getting any sales conversion from this?

I hear a few folks that swear they've sold cars because of their Facebook following, and to them I say congratulations! But I wonder how much time was invested, and if the return was really worth it.

Thankfully I've found a strategy that is hands down the BEST for true conversion for Automotive Dealership Sales (And any business for that matter) from Facebook so get your pen and paper ready because this will easily add another $100k to your bottom line without spending much at all!

The first thing you need to do is change your thinking regarding Facebook display ads - Most of us are spending a few hundred dollars here and there to drive people to 'Like' our Facebook Page but ask yourself one question: Why? Liking your page doesn't sell you a car plus, Facebook gives a person the ability to just 'hide' your posts so they won't see them on the timeline again unless you pay Facebook even MORE money to promote those posts.

So in the traditional way of doing business with Facebook, you pay when they click your ad, you hope they like your page, then you may pay more to promote your posts in their timeline.

Instead, CREATE ADS THAT NOBODY WILL CLICK!!!!!!

Right now you may be thinking that I am crazy but by the time you finish reading this ad, you'll be on facebook building your first ad - guaranteed! Facebook offers you the most affordable way to make your dealership visible if you do it right.

How to do it right.

Many of you know that I own a company that deals with SMS (Texting) and we practice what we preach. Below, you'll see the picture of my facebook ad. You'll notice that my ad targets over a MILLION users. What you don't know is that I set up my campaign so that I'm willing to pay $4 per click! (HOLY COW THAT'S A LOT RIGHT?)

Nope, I won't spend more than $150 over the next 90 days for this Ad and I'll easily generate another $5-10,000 in revenue from that ad.

There are two keys to success with this strategy:

Key #1 - You must have a visible call to action that has a benefit to the ad viewer

Key #2 - Your visible call to action must generate a trackable lead for you immediately

As you can see in our ad image, there is a visible call to action that has benefit for the ad viewer. Since we are looking to grab the attention of people who want to advertise, the call to action says "93% of our Ads get Read...Text EYES to 71441 & find out how you can connect with customers on their mobile phone for $3 day" 

When someone sees that ad there is NOTHING that would make them want to 'click' the ad right? And that's exactly our goal! We want them to see the ad and take action so that we can generate a lead for that prospect. NOTE: You can text EYES to 71441 yourself to see what an Ad Viewer would receive.

When someone texts in to our Ad, they get back an instant response with a coupon offering a special incentive for trying out KonigCo Mobile Marketing and we get an instant lead notification containing their mobile phone number so we can call immediately and set an appointment to walk through our product!

This means that over the next 90 days, over a million people will see my ad, and let's say that just one percent of the people who see the ad actually text in for info - that's 10,000 leads with valid contact information! Seem too high? Let's back it off and divide it down to one percent of that - That's 100 new leads with VALID MOBILE NUMBERS TO CONTACT!

How much did those 100 leads cost me? ZERO on Facebook, and a few hundred bucks for the SMS service.

That's how it works for me, the advertiser, but how do you shift this for a local business like a dealership for example?

1. You need to sign up for a QUALITY SMS service (shameless plug here) so sign up with KonigCo. We're month to month with no contract and you can get a special deal if you text EYES to 71441. You need this in order to capture the mobile numbers from your prospects. Don't worry, we'll even build the image for your facebook ad so you don't have to :)

Your Ad could say something like "Instant Savings on Honda Vehicles! Text SAVED to 71441"

2. When you design your facebook Ad, you need to target with two demographics in mind. First, you want to focus on people 18+ so they're old enough to make a purchase decision. Second, you want to target a geographical area within the appropriate radius of your business.

You want to structure your ad budget to a 'Lifetime Budget' of something realistic - usually $200 is plenty. Then you want to set your cost per click between $3-$4. The reason you set it that high is because the higher you bid per click, the more often your ad will be shown. The more often it is shown, the more likely people are to text in and generate a LEAD!

Each time people text, they could get a response with a redeemable coupon for a discount at your dealership like: "Redeem at ABC Honda and receive an additional $200 off your best deal".

When they receive that response, you'd receive an email with their mobile phone number so you can call and say: "This is Bob at ABC Honda calling to make sure you received the coupon that we sent to your phone..."

Now you have a REAL PHONE UP from your Facebook Ad and best of all, you'll get plenty of these before you ever hit your Ad budget because there's nothing that tells people to 'click' your ad.

What if they do click your ad? NO WORRIES! They'll be taken to a landing page that your SMS Partner Create's for you so your $4 click can covert to a lead as well. It would say 'enter your number below to receive an instant savings coupon sent to your mobile phone'. (Hopefully KonigCo would be that partner - hint hint)

Shameful plugs aside, we've used this strategy for over a year now. The first time I used this strategy was to promote a weekend camping event last summer and it cost $128 total for the campaign which resulted in $45,000 of ticket sales!

On a side note, we need to remember that Facebook was created to be a social network so people are losing their tolerance for your 'advertising' through natural posts. This is why they 'hide' your posts from their news feed.

They don't go to facebook to buy a car, they go there because they want to connect with people they actually like talking to.

If you actually use facebook Ad space to advertise instead of hijacking their newsfeed, people will respect your business more because they won't feel like you're interrupting their personal space.

Remember that consumers turned to the internet in mass to get away from the interruption advertising of the past so interruption advertising on facebook and other social networks won't win you any friends.

Use the ad space, generate real leads...and what the heck, one more plug...let us help!!!!

Helping the best get better,

Mat Koenig
CEO & Founder
KonigCo
www.konig.co

"Marketing made easy."