"Facebook advertising is over."

"DOA."

That’s what a lot of digital marketing “gurus” are saying right now, after all the data and privacy news Facebook is facing.

My thoughts?

I think the way we advertise on Facebook will change, including how we access personal data to build our audiences.

But as far as Facebook advertising goes, it’s still business as usual.

Let’s play devil’s advocate and say that Facebook ads go the way of the dinosaur.

What would happen?

Well, for some dealerships, a majority of their leads would dry up overnight.

These dealerships placed a big chunk of their eggs in the Facebook basket.

But here’s what I think: Facebook is just one of many places that you can get traffic.

In fact, successful dealerships will have more than one source of traffic and leads, and not become too dependent on one.

Take a look at your Google Analytics, and under the Acquisition menu find your top channels of traffic.

That pie chart should have equal representation across organic and paid channels.

So my advice is to stop worrying about things you can’t control, like paid acquisition, and start focusing on building a real, tangible asset through Search Engine Optimization.

With SEO best practices in place, including an easy to navigate website, searchable and indexible content, and trusted sources of authority citing your website, you’ll have a lead generating machine that will continue to work as advertising platforms come and go.