Any dealers using TikTok for marketing campaigns?

[Dealersolutions]

Dealerships ought to establish a presence in any selling environment relevant to their buyers. That said, Tiktok is in fact a platform which offers phenomenal exposure, visibility and product placement opportunities. Far too often dealerships estimate that their end consumer isn't on tiktok. Be that as it may, those end consumers have friends, family and neighbors who are active on those platforms. The buying process is generally impacted by the end consumer's network. It's important not to quickly overlook the people who influence the end consumer throughout the buying process. What's important to keep in mind about this platform is that if you don't really know what works, naturally whatever you're trying probably isn't generating the type of results that would justify the time of day. Many dealerships throw in the towel way too soon and not just on Tiktok. They abandon some of the best digital selling environments simply because they threw some things against the wall and they didn't immediately stick. Sound familiar? Or, they tried something that someone recommended and that too wasn't anything to write home about. I know this firsthand because I work with dealerships and see this everyday.


<--removed for self promoting-->

 

[kylewilliam]

I attended an OEM webinar on TikTok a couple of weeks ago, and they were very out of touch with reality.

Dealers can barely do a decent job with Facebook after 10+ years; how do we expect dealers to add TikTok to the mix when it's much more involved with shooting captivating videos that capitalize on current TikTok trends.

All that webinar did was get a bunch of confused general managers excited and bugging their poor, already overwhelmed internet managers to start selling boatloads of cars on TikTok.

What they failed to point out is TikTok organic posts (can) have national reach so it's difficult for a single-point dealer to reach local car buyers.

What good is a TikTok view from some kid halfway across the country? Maybe we could ship them a car in normal times, but certainly not in today's inventory shortage.

And technically, a TikTok business page is not allowed to use trending songs; they are forced to use crappy music from the royalty-free music library.

But hey, maybe I'm just an old geezer and this OEM was onto something. So I decided to check out their official TikTok pages to get some inspo.

-OEM Brand A had never posted on TikTok.
-OEM Brand B hadn't posted since February.
-OEM Brand C also hadn't posted since February.
-OEM Brand D hadn't posted in over a month and it was pretty much limited to their sponsorship of a sports event.

So here the OEM is preaching how great TikTok is check out ChiroPraise | Chiropractic Marketing Agency | Chiro Marketing, but then they aren't even using it themselves...do as I say, not as I do?

Despite my TikTok skepticism, I believe OEM's are missing out on a massive opportunity here. They can reach millions of consumers nationwide (for free) and make them future buyers. Let's call it conquesting so it excites people.

And I do believe TikTok still has potential for dealers in these areas:

TikTok Paid Ads - This will be the next frontier for car dealers to advertise on. Dynamic catalog-based inventory ads are coming out of beta soon. And guess what? You can target local car buyers.

Instagram / Facebook Story Ads - Wait I thought we were talking about TikTok? We are, but what makes TikTok magic is the organic user-generated content feel of their videos. Savvy dealers will take this "TikTok-style" video and run them as ads on IG / FB stories. The organic non-ad feel really performs well with an audience sick of traditional ads.

Salesperson Expert / Dealership Niche - Kind of like Mike Davenport the Chevy Dude did with the Corvette on YouTube, there's a big opportunity for a salesperson or dealership to become that nationwide expert in a specific niche on TikTok. As Mike and others have proven, that can translate into real sales. Next up, Brad the TikTok Bronco Bro?

Nationwide Dealer Groups - Lithia / Driveway, Autonation, Carmax, etc can really capitalize on the free national organic reach of TikTok and have it actually convert into business since they have a national footprint.

OEMs - Come on anonymous OEM, let's start practicing what you preach and help bring new buyers to dealers

Hey everyone, I've been considering using TikTok ads to promote my business, but I'm a bit hesitant. Has anyone here tried them out? I'm curious to know about your experiences—did you see a significant return on investment? How does the cost compare to other platforms like Facebook or Instagram? Also, are there any specific demographics or niches that tend to perform well on TikTok? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated before I dive in. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Todd Thompson]

Hey everyone, I've been considering using TikTok ads to promote my business, but I'm a bit hesitant. Has anyone here tried them out? I'm curious to know about your experiences—did you see a significant return on investment? How does the cost compare to other platforms like Facebook or Instagram? Also, are there any specific demographics or niches that tend to perform well on TikTok? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated before I dive in. Thanks in advance for your help!

Would be interesting to know and how they are tracking their 'success'. Certainly the eyeballs are there, but is anyone really anywhere near a funnel when killing time on an app like that? Maybe a 'presence' type play.. if thats what you really want to pay for. I'm guessing if I totally ran out of better advertising options and still, regardless of my best efforts... still had money to blow, maybe tiktok. Maybe.

 

[kylewilliam]

I attended an OEM webinar on TikTok a couple of weeks ago, and they were very out of touch with reality.

Dealers can barely do a decent job with Facebook after 10+ years; how do we expect dealers to add TikTok to the mix when it's much more involved with shooting captivating videos that capitalize on current TikTok trends.

All that webinar did was get a bunch of confused general managers excited and bugging their poor, already overwhelmed internet managers to start selling boatloads of cars on TikTok.

What they failed to point out is TikTok organic posts (can) have national reach so it's difficult for a single-point dealer to reach local car buyers.

What good is a TikTok view from some kid halfway across the country? Maybe we could ship them a car in normal times, but certainly not in today's inventory shortage.

And technically, a TikTok business page is not allowed to use trending songs; they are forced to use crappy music from the royalty-free music library.

But hey, maybe I'm just an old geezer and this OEM was onto something. So I decided to check out their official TikTok pages to get some inspo.

-OEM Brand A had never posted on TikTok.
-OEM Brand B hadn't posted since February.
-OEM Brand C also hadn't posted since February.
-OEM Brand D hadn't posted in over a month and it was pretty much limited to their sponsorship of a sports event.

So here the OEM is preaching how great TikTok is check out ChiroPraise | Chiropractic Marketing Agency | Chiro Marketing, but then they aren't even using it themselves...do as I say, not as I do?

Despite my TikTok skepticism, I believe OEM's are missing out on a massive opportunity here. They can reach millions of consumers nationwide (for free) and make them future buyers. Let's call it conquesting so it excites people.

And I do believe TikTok still has potential for dealers in these areas:

TikTok Paid Ads - This will be the next frontier for car dealers to advertise on. Dynamic catalog-based inventory ads are coming out of beta soon. And guess what? You can target local car buyers.

Instagram / Facebook Story Ads - Wait I thought we were talking about TikTok? We are, but what makes TikTok magic is the organic user-generated content feel of their videos. Savvy dealers will take this "TikTok-style" video and run them as ads on IG / FB stories. The organic non-ad feel really performs well with an audience sick of traditional ads.

Salesperson Expert / Dealership Niche - Kind of like Mike Davenport the Chevy Dude did with the Corvette on YouTube, there's a big opportunity for a salesperson or dealership to become that nationwide expert in a specific niche on TikTok. As Mike and others have proven, that can translate into real sales. Next up, Brad the TikTok Bronco Bro?

Nationwide Dealer Groups - Lithia / Driveway, Autonation, Carmax, etc can really capitalize on the free national organic reach of TikTok and have it actually convert into business since they have a national footprint.

OEMs - Come on anonymous OEM, let's start practicing what you preach and help bring new buyers to dealers

Hey everyone, I've been considering using TikTok ads to promote my business, but I'm a bit hesitant. Has anyone here tried them out? I'm curious to know about your experiences—did you see a significant return on investment? How does the cost compare to other platforms like Facebook or Instagram? Also, are there any specific demographics or niches that tend to perform well on TikTok? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated before I dive in. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Todd Thompson]

Hey everyone, I've been considering using TikTok ads to promote my business, but I'm a bit hesitant. Has anyone here tried them out? I'm curious to know about your experiences—did you see a significant return on investment? How does the cost compare to other platforms like Facebook or Instagram? Also, are there any specific demographics or niches that tend to perform well on TikTok? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated before I dive in. Thanks in advance for your help!

Would be interesting to know and how they are tracking their 'success'. Certainly the eyeballs are there, but is anyone really anywhere near a funnel when killing time on an app like that? Maybe a 'presence' type play.. if thats what you really want to pay for. I'm guessing if I totally ran out of better advertising options and still, regardless of my best efforts... still had money to blow, maybe tiktok. Maybe.

 

[BillVaughnKMC]

You would be amazed the success we have had shooting Tik Tok videos (reels, etc.) to help us sell young..... APPLICANTS. Out of nowhere, we had a much younger batch of applicants start applying with us. When asked what had them most interested in the job the number one answer wasn't, "Well, it looks like you guys have a lot of fun here." They saw the young guys doing the videos and realized that we weren't afraid to hire young people. They had figured that a car dealership wouldn't hire them with them being so young. Now we have a problem I've never had in my 7 years here: We are having trouble choosing between them! Just for fun, here is an example video:

Facebook

www.facebook.com

 

[Matthew Davis (blog)]

Hey everyone, I've been considering using TikTok ads to promote my business, but I'm a bit hesitant. Has anyone here tried them out? I'm curious to know about your experiences—did you see a significant return on investment? How does the cost compare to other platforms like Facebook or Instagram? Also, are there any specific demographics or niches that tend to perform well on TikTok? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated before I dive in. Thanks in advance for your help!

What is your business? Don't want to assume it's a dealership just because you're posting on a dealership forum..

 

[Todd Thompson]

You would be amazed the success we have had shooting Tik Tok videos (reels, etc.) to help us sell young..... APPLICANTS. Out of nowhere, we had a much younger batch of applicants start applying with us. When asked what had them most interested in the job the number one answer wasn't, "Well, it looks like you guys have a lot of fun here." They saw the young guys doing the videos and realized that we weren't afraid to hire young people. They had figured that a car dealership wouldn't hire them with them being so young. Now we have a problem I've never had in my 7 years here: We are having trouble choosing between them! Just for fun, here is an example video:

Facebook

www.facebook.com

That's great. Can see it for hiring younger people. they definitely go there. Very valid point. Will keep that in mind

 

[Matthew Davis]

Hey everyone, I've been considering using TikTok ads to promote my business, but I'm a bit hesitant. Has anyone here tried them out? I'm curious to know about your experiences—did you see a significant return on investment? How does the cost compare to other platforms like Facebook or Instagram? Also, are there any specific demographics or niches that tend to perform well on TikTok? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated before I dive in. Thanks in advance for your help!

What is your business? Don't want to assume it's a dealership just because you're posting on a dealership forum..

 

[Marc Lavoie]

You would be amazed the success we have had shooting Tik Tok videos (reels, etc.) to help us sell young..... APPLICANTS. Out of nowhere, we had a much younger batch of applicants start applying with us. When asked what had them most interested in the job the number one answer wasn't, "Well, it looks like you guys have a lot of fun here." They saw the young guys doing the videos and realized that we weren't afraid to hire young people. They had figured that a car dealership wouldn't hire them with them being so young. Now we have a problem I've never had in my 7 years here: We are having trouble choosing between them! Just for fun, here is an example video:

Facebook

www.facebook.com

That's a very common result. I've seen this happen in auto and elsewhere too.

It makes sense when you think of it.

With video, you have the opportunity to attract people that are attracted to your products & people.

Every dealership I know that's active on social *being social* has no issues recruiting high quality talent.