Is your digital brand ready for Labor Day weekend?

This year’s Labor Day sales might attract more shoppers than usual if the threat of auto tariffs creates a spike in searches for new cars to buy.1 As shoppers gear up for the big weekend, they’re visiting nearly 20 digital touchpoints,From Clicks to Sales: How Auto Leads Move through the Digital Car Sales Funnel,” May 9, 2017." title="">2 such as your website, digital ads, and third-party sites. Here are three simple steps to take to increase the chance that they will find you throughout their journey:

1) Do a Gut Check with Your Content and Data

First off, get the basics right: review all the touchpoints you manage, such as your website, Google My Business page, and Facebook page. Do a thorough audit, covering some essential requirements such as:

- Do you have the right data, such as accurate hours, location, and contact information? If you were a customer, could you easily find your dealership using your own location data?

- Does your content play up your Labor Day sale? Have you optimized your content for people searching for Labor Day car sales?

- Does your visual content make your Labor Day inventory shine? Are all your photos stellar, making your location look like a place people would want to visit?

- Do you have clear calls to action encouraging people to stop by your dealership?

 2) Rock Your Facebook Presence

Facebook has become a more popular destination for auto shoppers, with millions of Americans using Facebook Marketplace each day to look for cars.3 Here are the best ways to capitalize on Facebook ahead of Labor Day:

- Ensure that your inventory is findable on Facebook Marketplace. Tools such as Cars.com’s Social Sales Drive can help you by sharing your inventory on Marketplace and making it easy for shoppers to contact you via chat.

- Advertise, both inside Marketplace and across Facebook generally. Ads inside Marketplace will reach an audience with stronger purchase intent. Advertising on Facebook beyond Marketplace will reach a larger audience, and tools such as Cars Socialwill help you target your ads by sharing them with shoppers who have visited Cars.com and searched for vehicles.

- Prepare your dealership’s Facebook page. As noted above, make sure your content plays up your Labor Day sale. Update your photo gallery to make sure your Labor Day specials shine. If you are a DealerRater Connections customer, you can leverage LotShot® to load your business page with photos of happy customers. Also, be sure your contact information and hours are up to date on your business page before the sales weekend begins.

3) Empower Your People

Don’t underestimate the power of your own employees to bring in customers. A few tips include:

- Make sure your salespersons’ information is up to date both on your “About Us” page and also on your review pages.

- Create brief welcome videos for your most visible brand ambassadors and post them where your customers are, such as your Facebook page. You can create a 30-second video with a decent mobile device and upload it quickly so long as you think through your message and get the basic production values right.

- Encourage your team to mention your Labor Day sales on their personal socials. (The key is to ask, not mandate.) Employees also appreciate being given tips for what to say in their posts.

By combining paid and organic tactics such as these, you’ll be ready to capture your share of shoppers during their journey to the lot on Labor Day Weekend.

1. CBS News, “As Auto Tariffs Loom, Is Now the Time to Buy a New Car?” July 27, 2018.

2. 9Clouds, “From Clicks to Sales: How Auto Leads Move through the Digital Car Sales Funnel,” May 9, 2017.

3. Facebook, “Marketplace Adds More Options For US Car Shoppers,” October 26, 2017.