Page 18 - GIADA-May-2018-Final

How to Use Social Media Channels

to Generate More Leads

Facebook and Instagram are ideal channels to generate leads from in-market car shoppers

By Scot Eisenfelder, CEO of Affinitiv

For many years, dealers have been told that irrelevant to them, regardless of where (Facebook IQ/Ipsos MediaCT study).
social media channels can’t be used like those messages appear. • Instagram is important because it’s
other marketing channels. We’ve heard more popular than Facebook among
that social media is best for “soft mar- Why Facebook and younger adults. Also, Facebook owns
keting” objectives, such as raising brand Instagram, and collects an enormous
awareness and increasing likeability, and Instagram? amount of data from users on both
that social shouldn’t be used for selling. Quite simply, because that’s where your platforms.
customers spend their time:
Times have changed. Thanks to big data, • Nearly 158 million adults in the
predictive analytics, and automated mar- U.S. over the age of 25 use Facebook
keting, platforms like Facebook and Ins- (Statista). This data can be leveraged to match the
tagram have developed into channels that • There are more than 78 million Insta- customers in your DMS with Facebook
are incredibly effective at generating leads gram users in the U.S. (Statista). and Instagram users, create lookalike au-
from in-market car shoppers. • Americans spend an average of four diences, identify in-market car shoppers,
hours daily on mobile devices (emar- and keep in touch with your current cus-
Social lead generation does require the keter). tomers.
right marketing strategy, however. Post- • One in five mobile minutes is spent on
ing generic promotional messages on your Facebook and Instagram (Facebook). Let’s focus on identifying in-market car
Facebook page or in ads won’t cut it. Con- • 71% of car shoppers use mobile devic- shoppers, defined as one to six months
sumers don’t respond to messages that are es during the vehicle-purchase process away from purchasing a vehicle. Thanks to

16 | GIADA Independent Auto Dealer MAY 2018