What to Know About Adding Inventory to Your Dealership’s Facebook Page
Facebook has the ability to be an important extension of your dealership’s website.
While promoting your dealership’s inventory on Facebook certainly isn’t a new concept, auto dealers now have a new way to display inventory directly from their dealership Facebook Page for free!
“Vehicle Inventory Solutions on Dealership Pages” is a collection of three new features for U.S-based auto dealerships to get the most out of their Facebook marketing strategy.
Why is Inventory on Dealership Pages a Big Deal?
Like we mentioned earlier, promoting your dealership’s inventory on the Facebook platform is nothing new.
Facebook advertising using inventory catalogs allow you to showcase your inventory to a qualified audience based on their interests or web browsing activity.
While inventory promotions through ads are beneficial in many cases, they come up short in one area:
- Facebook ads display throughout a person’s newsfeed or on another Facebook-owned website. While the person may be qualified for the vehicle you’re showing them, they may not be in the shopping mood at that moment and pass by your ad.
Note: Meta is removing the ability for business pages to post vehicles to Marketplace. Read our blog post if you’re looking for alternatives.
Picking Up Where Marketplace Leaves Off
Additionally, Facebook announced changes that ban vehicle and home listings that come from partner catalog feeds back in September 13, 2021. This means auto dealers are left to create manual listings via their business pages, making the process of showcasing your inventory that much more tedious.
Facebook’s inventory solutions on dealership pages pick up where Facebook advertising leaves off. Shoppers can access your new, used, and certified pre-owned inventory directly from your dealership Facebook page.
Plus, connecting your inventory catalog to your dealership Facebook Page allows your marketing manager to build ads directly from your Page without Ads Manager.
Why is This Update Relevant for Dealership Owners?
A digital-first marketing strategy is the route many dealership owners have taken since the pandemic.
Digital retailing among dealerships soared in 2020 and 2021, and also helped owners and marketing managers realize a digital-first strategy can lead to success.
While you as an owner may not be involved in the day-to-day Facebook activities of your dealership, it’s important to support your marketing team’s efforts to create a cohesive marketing strategy.
To help support dealers in their digital marketing journey, Facebook has three updates to dealership Facebook Pages:
1. Create, Manage, and Promote Vehicle Listings in One Place for Free
If you already list your used inventory in Facebook Marketplace, you likely see a “Manage Inventory” option on your dealership’s Facebook Page.
From here you can connect an Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA) product catalog to your page which allows you to manage listings on both Marketplace and your Page.
Don’t have AIA set up for your dealership? Find set up instructions here.
And with the recent changes to Marketplace for auto dealers, it is a wise option to list your inventory wherever it’s available on Facebook (aka Inventory Dealership Pages).
2. Create Ads to Promote Inventory in a Few Clicks
While building Facebook ads the traditional way in Ads Manager isn’t a bad practice, some dealers will love the convenience of now being able to create inventory ads directly from their dealership Page when connected to their inventory catalog.
Another perk of building ads directly from the dealership Page is that marketers have the ability to create ads using a pre-filled template.
While in most cases we recommend coming up with your own unique ad copy, these templates can be a good starting point to find inspiration to make these ads unique to your dealership.
3. Showcase New and Used Inventory on the Dealership Page for Free
Perhaps the most basic and useful feature of this Page update is that there is an option to view new and used inventory directly from the Facebook Page.
From here shoppers can filter based on different criteria such as price, make, mileage, and more — just as if they were shopping on your website!
If someone wants to learn more, they can take a closer look at the vehicle on your website, or they can message your dealership directly through Messenger.
Make the Most of Your Facebook Marketing for Auto
Your dealership is (hopefully) active on Facebook, so why wouldn’t you use the platform to its full potential?!
If there’s one thing certain about Facebook, it’s that the platform is always making updates that can help (and hurt) auto marketers.
It’s a lot to keep up with, which is why our dedicated team makes it a priority to create free Facebook resources for dealership owners and marketing managers looking to make the most of their Facebook marketing strategy.
Ready to prove ROI of your Facebook or other digital marketing efforts?
Check out our marketing ROI and reporting packages on our site. If you’re looking for more, we can get a custom package set up for your dealership.
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