Fanpage Dilemna - I need some smart people!

[ryan.leslie]

Hey Guys,

I was just helping a newly certified dealership setup his Facebook Fanpage inventory and reviews feeds and he asked for some advice that I couldn't give. I told him "I don't know the answer, but I think I know about 100 people that might." Somebody Please prove me right!

The dealer has separate BMW and Toyota/Scion points in the same PMA. The pre-owned team cross sells from the same pool. The question for you is one Fanpage for the group or two Fanpages for the individual stores? I can see pros and cons both ways as a consumer and admin. Those of you heading up multiple points, what did you do and how would you advise this marketing director?

Side note: I strongly encouraged him to become a regular here as he builds his social presence. He'll likely be taking your advice firsthand if that matters to you. I'm a big believer that you don't need a boat if you know somebody with a boat and you don't need to pretend to be the most knowledgeable about a subject if you know the people that are.

Thanks in advance for your insight,
Ryan

 

[kurbain]

Hi Ryan.
I think it depends on a few factors.
1. How much time does the person or team have to spend on managing the pages. If it is very limited - 1 page to encompass all. You'd rather do a great job with one, then a poor job on more than one page.
2. Are the brands under the same roof, or in very close proximity? If so, one page is good because community content is relevant to customers of all the brands, and therefore if you fill your page with information the fans want (not a lot of sales) it would be difficult & redundant to post community information on two separate pages.

I currently run a dealer page that has 2 locations in one city/ 4 brands.
I also run one that has one location but 6 brands.
And for both, we have just one Fan Page.

 

[Dominic Belfiori]

Hmmm... Lets say they are fairly active on facebook. (having just one total page). They post occasional updates, then mentions of events, exclusive offers, pictures of sold vehicles and the customers, etc... that could be great for branding and what-not, but you might risk flooding someones facebook wall -- in which case they might just un-like the group. (As much as i like to "like" dealer pages, I've been guilty of doing this ).

I prefer to have a group page, and a page for each dealership -- Because in each page you can add other pages to the "page favorites" So they'll be linked together in that respect. But having individual pages i think helps prevent possible "wall flooding", as well as provides a more personal connection between business and customers.

Hope this helps, and I look forward to what other peoples feedback is aswell!

 

[Marc McGurren]

Hi Ryan.
I think it depends on a few factors.
1. How much time does the person or team have to spend on managing the pages. If it is very limited - 1 page to encompass all. You'd rather do a great job with one, then a poor job on more than one page.
2. Are the brands under the same roof, or in very close proximity? If so, one page is good because community content is relevant to customers of all the brands, and therefore if you fill your page with information the fans want (not a lot of sales) it would be difficult & redundant to post community information on two separate pages.

We have 5 dealerships literally right next to each other and it just made sense for us to have one page rather than 5 different ones. One of them tries to do their own page and is virtually stagnant.

Depending on how you market your dealership plays a factor as well. If you guys brand together on certain things - it makes complete sense. If everything you do is separate - I would recommend 2 pages...if you have the people willing to do it right.

 

[Brandon Greene]

I wanted to thank you all for your insight on this and will incorporate your information with our Facebook fan page. I am new to Facebook and signed up because our dealership wants to be part of the social marketing campaign. I honestly still don't know if I am doing it correct and have ended up with numerous pages. I first started with a personal page and set up different pages within the account for each dealership. Then we signed up with a company that was going to make a page and include our inventory but the relationship was dissolved before the page was ever set up. We are getting a new website starting January 1st which also will feed our inventory so I hope that I can have it all straighten out by the 1st of January. Any advice will be much appreciated, Thanks again!