Tangible ROI in Social Media
- Thread starter ryan.gerardi
- Start date
Keep us updated, I look forward to seeing the results.
I actually started a Facebook ad campaign yesterday for the first time. So far things look positive!
22 cents per click to our website.
I actually started a Facebook ad campaign yesterday for the first time. So far things look positive!
22 cents per click to our website.
I wanted to take a few minutes and bring everyone up to speed on this experiment.
Gregg and I have spent a great deal of time on the phone together. After some screen sharing and a dive into Google Analytics, I realized that it was time for me to confess my sins to Gregg. I am a little "ashamed" to admit this, but I had never had my own personal Facebook account. Sure my business has had one since the day we opened the doors 5 years ago. I have just never had my own. I am somewhat of a private person, and just never had a desire to involve myself with Facebook.
Sooooooooo, I got my own Facebook account, linked my business, and a Vendor friend set me up in a couple of groups that are exclusive to Automobile professionals.
Gregg told me to spend a couple weeks on Facebook, and he and I would be connecting again. He felt that it would be a whole lot harder to teach me anything about Facebook and social in general if I had absolutely no "end user" experience. Now that I have had a couple weeks to mess around with it, I can clearly see that he is right. I now have a completely different understanding of the things that Gregg is teaching me. The only down side is having to explain to my friends that my Facebook page is exclusively for business...and that I really don't care to see a picture of what they ate last night.
More to come!
Gregg and I have spent a great deal of time on the phone together. After some screen sharing and a dive into Google Analytics, I realized that it was time for me to confess my sins to Gregg. I am a little "ashamed" to admit this, but I had never had my own personal Facebook account. Sure my business has had one since the day we opened the doors 5 years ago. I have just never had my own. I am somewhat of a private person, and just never had a desire to involve myself with Facebook.
Sooooooooo, I got my own Facebook account, linked my business, and a Vendor friend set me up in a couple of groups that are exclusive to Automobile professionals.
Gregg told me to spend a couple weeks on Facebook, and he and I would be connecting again. He felt that it would be a whole lot harder to teach me anything about Facebook and social in general if I had absolutely no "end user" experience. Now that I have had a couple weeks to mess around with it, I can clearly see that he is right. I now have a completely different understanding of the things that Gregg is teaching me. The only down side is having to explain to my friends that my Facebook page is exclusively for business...and that I really don't care to see a picture of what they ate last night.
More to come!
- Feb 19, 2016
- 6
- 1
- First Name
- kevin
Have been visiting this forum for a while but just decided to register today. I had this exact discussion on Linkedin about 4 years ago in the eMmarketing Group.
I would take that challenge. I've been in eCommerce since 1997 and have done extensive split testing with social media ads vs Google adwords and other lead generation strategies. And even recently tested Facebook's new Lead Generation ads just offered about four months ago with PROVEN headlines and landing pages.. .
And I can tell you Facebook advertising is a total waste of money 98% of the time. The people that HYPE FB as a business tool are usually social media consultants, for obvious reasons. I will admit I have not targeted the Car Buying niche on FB but have tested for several of my own eCommerce businesses. and compared to adwords and SEO it is a time and money SINK..
Last year I did a split test with exact same ad in Adwords and FB ads. Results
Impressions Click Throughs
Google 2500 175
FB 95000 16
And NO those are NOT typos ! ...
I would take that challenge. I've been in eCommerce since 1997 and have done extensive split testing with social media ads vs Google adwords and other lead generation strategies. And even recently tested Facebook's new Lead Generation ads just offered about four months ago with PROVEN headlines and landing pages.. .
And I can tell you Facebook advertising is a total waste of money 98% of the time. The people that HYPE FB as a business tool are usually social media consultants, for obvious reasons. I will admit I have not targeted the Car Buying niche on FB but have tested for several of my own eCommerce businesses. and compared to adwords and SEO it is a time and money SINK..
Last year I did a split test with exact same ad in Adwords and FB ads. Results
Impressions Click Throughs
Google 2500 175
FB 95000 16
And NO those are NOT typos ! ...
@CustomtersLoveVideo , sit tight. Gregg and I are in the process of getting this rolling. And for the sake of conversation, Gregg could not be farther from a Social Media consultant. I would put Gregg squarely and solidly in the car business.
- Feb 19, 2016
- 6
- 1
- First Name
- kevin
- Feb 11, 2015
- 2,492
- 765
- First Name
- Alex
IMO, it's because most people looking to buy a car aren't interested in being converted via Social Media (especially organically). It's not how most people are programmed. They go to Social Media outlets to goof off and release from their daily grind, not look for a car.
Now, you might be able to conquest and influence (RLSA -- Remarketing Lists for Social Ads, type thinking), if they have intent, but that's a greater discussion.
Now, you might be able to conquest and influence (RLSA -- Remarketing Lists for Social Ads, type thinking), if they have intent, but that's a greater discussion.
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Well, as promised...I am sharing the results.
I will start by bringing everyone that cares about this up to speed. Gregg was ready to go on this the day after he offered up this Facebook Challenge. The problem was that I was not ready to go...which Gregg quickly figured out. My store has had a Facebook page for 5 years. I personally had never had a Facebook page. I know, you guys found me. The only person left in the entire country that didn't have their own Facebook account. Long story short, I got set up with Facebook, and played with it for a few weeks so that when we did the Targeted ads I would understand exactly what we were doing.
So, last night at about 6:30 we kicked it off.
Between 6:30 pm and 10:00 pm, we ran two ads. One was an ad that was directed at financing, and the other was directed at selling my oldest vehicle in inventory (which Gregg asked to target). The ad reached 19,564 people, generated 263 clicks, and 13 leads. So far, we have received 3 Credit Applications.
Some of the leads gave us email only, and some gave us email and telephone numbers. Other than the 3 Credit Applications, we have had contact with 4 others and have not received any type of response from the remaining 6 yet. With this ad running late at night, I expect that we will likely receive responses from some of those 6 later today.
These posts were targeted to Mobile, Used buyers in market, $20,000-$40,000 income, 50 mile radius, and some Polk data for age of vehicles in household, age 20-65.
I did CPC pretty heavy (for a store my size) about a year ago. It did in fact drive traffic to my website. The problem is that my leads and sales did not change. In theory, more VDP views should have led to more leads and consequently more sales. My problem is that neither happened. I know that there are a lot of people in this forum that can give me all of the reasons why it didn't work for me ranging from targeting being all off to my website sucks. I am good with all of that because I know that some stores do well with CPC. I have this conversation frequently with my Cars.com rep. An "impression" doesn't mean shit to me. When the day comes that my vendors will allow me to pay them with "impressions", my tune will change. Until that time, what matters to me is sales. In case anybody cares, the company that did my CPC was Showroom Logic. I will and have never said anything bad about Showroom Logic. My account manager was fantastic, and they gave it all they had. It just didn't work for me.
Now, this Facebook thing is a little different. I know that the ink isn't even dry on this Campaign, and I have not sold a vehicle YET. However, I have a tangible result, verifiable leads, and legitimate opportunities. If I don't sell a car to someone that is trying to buy a car, that is on me.
My biggest problem with how I felt about Facebook revolved around a total and absolute lack of understanding. At the risk of making myself look like an idiot, I had no idea. I don't mind being wrong, and I don't mind looking foolish. To me, it is all part of the learning process. I got an education and will absolutely continue with what I have learned so far.
On another note, Gregg is a very humble guy that went way above and beyond what I would have ever expected. Gregg isn't an employee of a dealership. He is a principal in a highline dealer group that has stores all over NY, NJ, and FL. He isn't a software developer, he is a Dealer. I believe that what Gregg did with me speaks to the power of a forum like this. It is people helping other people learn and be better at what they do. In a forum like this, I have little to offer. I certainly take more than I am capable of giving. I appreciate it.
I will continue to update as we start selling these 13 people their next car.
I will start by bringing everyone that cares about this up to speed. Gregg was ready to go on this the day after he offered up this Facebook Challenge. The problem was that I was not ready to go...which Gregg quickly figured out. My store has had a Facebook page for 5 years. I personally had never had a Facebook page. I know, you guys found me. The only person left in the entire country that didn't have their own Facebook account. Long story short, I got set up with Facebook, and played with it for a few weeks so that when we did the Targeted ads I would understand exactly what we were doing.
So, last night at about 6:30 we kicked it off.
Between 6:30 pm and 10:00 pm, we ran two ads. One was an ad that was directed at financing, and the other was directed at selling my oldest vehicle in inventory (which Gregg asked to target). The ad reached 19,564 people, generated 263 clicks, and 13 leads. So far, we have received 3 Credit Applications.
Some of the leads gave us email only, and some gave us email and telephone numbers. Other than the 3 Credit Applications, we have had contact with 4 others and have not received any type of response from the remaining 6 yet. With this ad running late at night, I expect that we will likely receive responses from some of those 6 later today.
These posts were targeted to Mobile, Used buyers in market, $20,000-$40,000 income, 50 mile radius, and some Polk data for age of vehicles in household, age 20-65.
I did CPC pretty heavy (for a store my size) about a year ago. It did in fact drive traffic to my website. The problem is that my leads and sales did not change. In theory, more VDP views should have led to more leads and consequently more sales. My problem is that neither happened. I know that there are a lot of people in this forum that can give me all of the reasons why it didn't work for me ranging from targeting being all off to my website sucks. I am good with all of that because I know that some stores do well with CPC. I have this conversation frequently with my Cars.com rep. An "impression" doesn't mean shit to me. When the day comes that my vendors will allow me to pay them with "impressions", my tune will change. Until that time, what matters to me is sales. In case anybody cares, the company that did my CPC was Showroom Logic. I will and have never said anything bad about Showroom Logic. My account manager was fantastic, and they gave it all they had. It just didn't work for me.
Now, this Facebook thing is a little different. I know that the ink isn't even dry on this Campaign, and I have not sold a vehicle YET. However, I have a tangible result, verifiable leads, and legitimate opportunities. If I don't sell a car to someone that is trying to buy a car, that is on me.
My biggest problem with how I felt about Facebook revolved around a total and absolute lack of understanding. At the risk of making myself look like an idiot, I had no idea. I don't mind being wrong, and I don't mind looking foolish. To me, it is all part of the learning process. I got an education and will absolutely continue with what I have learned so far.
On another note, Gregg is a very humble guy that went way above and beyond what I would have ever expected. Gregg isn't an employee of a dealership. He is a principal in a highline dealer group that has stores all over NY, NJ, and FL. He isn't a software developer, he is a Dealer. I believe that what Gregg did with me speaks to the power of a forum like this. It is people helping other people learn and be better at what they do. In a forum like this, I have little to offer. I certainly take more than I am capable of giving. I appreciate it.
I will continue to update as we start selling these 13 people their next car.
- Feb 19, 2016
- 6
- 1
- First Name
- kevin
That is excellent news! I am wondering if the Localized demographics made the difference (i.e. with 50 miles )? . My FB ad testing involved a product having a universal appeal and hence did not use local targeting .
