Selling cars on facebook

[Alex Snyder]

Our CEO wanted to reach out to an organization we do a lot with - the United Way, and decided facebook was the best way to get it done. Being in his 80's and not fully understanding what facebook was (realizing the importance mainly because the news stations he watches push it so hard) he asked if I could explain it to him a little better. This is what I came up with:

The idea behind the fans is that each fan has about 200 friends who can share what you do. So at 1,911 fans multiplied by their 200 friends we have the potential to get to an audience of 382,200 people directly with a friend's recommendation on top. Therein lies the power of facebook marketing.

Of course, our potential completely relies on the significance of the message we post.

And if you aren't a fan, you can see the results of our United Way campaign: Checkered Flag Auto Group | Facebook

 

[atldude]

itradelive,

you hit it on the head. It is a connection tool between you and your customers. This is where they get to know you and decide if they want to work with you. If you are not being personable (aka being a person!) they will find someone who is.

Once you DO build a relationship, and know what someone is looking for, then you can approach them with specials - if relevant.

Joe said it in a lot fewer words than me:

Exactly how I see it. Person to person.
Intimate Connections = FaceBook.
Broadcast Messages ≠ FaceBook

-a

 

[joe.pistell]

.... Imagine two years from now and your dealership has over 100,000 fans and you're posting specials or incentives for all those potential customers to view. .

Jerry,

Your FB projections have waaayyyy too many zeros in them!

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Jerry,

Your FB projections have waaayyyy too many zeros in them!

Not if you live in a city with a million plus people. Even in a city like Syracuse, one could still atract a nice following. If a dealership makes this a priority, like getting the e-mail, I truly believe it can happen.

Even if it's half that number, or a quarter, that's still a sucess.

 

[joe.pistell]

Jerry,

We've talked, you know where I stand on this topic.

EXAMPLE: Scott Honda, PA's #1 honda dealer, doing a 5star job on generating content for it's blog and FB.

RESULTS? 167 fans.
Scott Honda | Facebook

 

[joe.pistell]

Another case in point.

I was a FB Fan of my realtor, a sweet gal and personal friend of my wife. After about 5 open houses posts and a dozen home selling tips I shut her down.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Jerry,

We've talked, you know where I stand on this topic.

EXAMPLE: Scott Honda, PA's #1 honda dealer, doing a 5star job on generating content for it's blog and FB.

RESULTS? 167 fans.
Scott Honda | Facebook

I know where you stand and I'll still take you golfing this summer even though we may disagree on this one topic. I would tell you they are not doing a very good job of inviting people to become fans. There are dealerships out there with thousands of fans.

I am at a dealership today that is starting from scratch with FB. Their current fan page is controlled by a rep who no longer works at the dealership. We're in the process of getting it deleted (only has 12 fans) and starting over. If this dealership executes my plan, they will have thousands of fans in no time. I can going to make a case study out of them. I'll share the results down the road.

 

[joe.pistell]

I.... There are dealerships out there with thousands of fans.
....

Show me ONE example, just ONE. (Its ok, you can't find one)

disclaimer: Anyone but Alex http://www.facebook.com/checkeredflag.va.dealer Alex is the outlier

 

[joe.pistell]

If I've told you once Jerry, I've told you 10 million times... don't exaggerate!

 

[cmojica]

Ok...who has more than 1000 fans? That's my goal for this year.