Leveraging Facebook Marketplace to help you sell more cars isn’t difficult if your dealership does it the right way. In part 1 of this series, I talked about the importance of choosing the right partner to maximize success. In part 2, I discussed why effective communication is vital to optimizing that success. But, unless your dealership sells rare cars, your listings will be among hundreds available to consumers. That’s why, to sell more cars on this platform, it will be crucial to understand the abilities, limitations and best practices of Facebook Marketplace to both optimize your listings and make them stand out.

One of the most important things that help any vehicle stand out — no matter which platform — is detail. Consumers aren’t going to browse through hundreds of Honda Civics to find one that appeals to them. The edge dealerships have over private sellers is that there is more trust from consumers knowing that dealerships will have performed inspections and repairs before putting a car up for sale. Some dealerships will even offer warranties on purchases. Peace of mind is important to consumers, and while private parties may be willing to sell a vehicle for less, consumers are willing to pay more for a car that’s more mechanically sound.

Consumers Trust What They Can See

When car buyers are searching for used vehicles, they can sometimes get overwhelmed by the sheer number of cars available in their area even if they’re searching for a specific make and model. Although Facebook Marketplace’s default search setting is within a 40-mile radius of the consumer, that search can result in hundreds of vehicles that include dealership, independent, and private party listings.

In order to compete with all of the other franchise and independents in their area, dealerships need to ensure their vehicle listings are as attractive to consumers as possible. Dealers should be just as vigilant in merchandising their inventory on Facebook Marketplace as they are on their website and their third-party partner sites. By doing so, they will be leaps and bounds ahead of any private party listing that merely exists because private party sellers aren’t as knowledgeable in merchandising and the dealerships offer more confidence in quality.

Best Practices for Facebook Marketplace Merchandising

When talking about best practices on any third-party site (including Marketplace), we need to include the capabilities of the site as well. The following are the merchandising abilities Facebook Marketplace currently offers:

1. A Single Listing Partner - Facebook recommends that dealers leverage a single approved partner for Marketplace to optimize listings. By choosing multiple partners, Facebook advises that dealerships could get subpar results and inaccurately attribute sales.
2. Don’t Limit Inventory - Some dealers choose to only list unusual, rare or inexpensive vehicles which limits the exposure of the dealer’s inventory. Facebook’s advice? List all used cars to gain as much exposure for the dealership as possible.
3. Vehicle Descriptions - Many dealers either don’t include vehicle descriptions or only include information from the Maroney sticker. Shoppers don’t want to read through every option the car has, but rather the history and unique features included
4. Pricing - Facebook suggests that dealers list vehicles with actual prices rather than down payment, payment of APR specials. That information can be listed in the description but is not appropriate for the price in that area of the listing.

What Can a Dealer Do to Merchandise Vehicles Effectively on Facebook Marketplace?

1. 1. Images - The automotive industry has quickly evolved from a single photo to today’s standard of 30-40 images. Facebook recommends 15-20 photos (2 photos minimum) with a resolution of 960x720 or better. My advice is to use those photos to highlight the exterior of the vehicle (from all angles) as well as all of the unique features the car has. Got navigation? Snap a picture of the navigation screen. The same goes for any feature. Consumers don’t want to have to read through a hundred features to find out if a car has whatever feature they’re looking for. And, as tempting as it may be, Facebook says that dealerships should NOT include any overlays or dealership branding in their photos. Let the vehicle speak for itself; consumers are more likely to look at it and consider it.
   2. Communication - Just as I advised in Part 2 of this series, the key to maximizing sales and motivating consumers to engage with your dealership is prompt and relevant communications via Facebook Messenger using an approved chat provider. Unless you have a full-time BDC that is trained and available at all times to interact with consumers who have questions, sales can be lost and captured by a competing dealership.

I hope this blog series has helped you understand the opportunity Facebook Marketplace offers dealers regarding increasing sales and inventory turn. While starting a new listing service can be daunting, it doesn’t have to be. The right partner can help you accomplish all of the things I’ve mentioned and assist your dealership by providing leads that are low-funnel and ready to buy.

1. The Power of Marketplace: How to Achieve Success on Facebook Marketplace - Facebook

Facebook Marketplace, while new on the scene, has quickly turned into a valuable sales channel for dealerships. Many dealers are finding great success in engagement as well as sales with consumers. Not just another third-party listing site, Facebook Marketplace has capabilities many other platforms don’t have. Chief among them is the ability for interested car buyers to communicate with dealerships in real time through Facebook Messenger.

Manually listing cars on Marketplace can be an arduous and time-consuming process, which is why many dealerships pick and choose the vehicles that they think would be most attractive to car shoppers on Facebook. The problem with that is dealers are missing sales as we’ve seen car shoppers interested in a wide variety of vehicle makes, models and price ranges.

Dealers do have an alternate option, however, and it's not one that many are unfamiliar with… having their vehicles listed automatically just as they are already doing with their inventory. Dealers need to understand, however, that automated listing can only be accomplished via Facebook approved vendors and, even then, some vendors have limited capabilities regarding what they can actually automate. For example, some vendors can automatically send inventory but not rich content like images.

There are more than a few Marketplace inventory partners available, but dealers should be asking these partners which services and features they are able to automate and service. Also, just being able to upload inventory isn’t satisfactory. Today’s consumers want the ability to communicate with dealers about specific inventory listings – and they want to be able to do that without the need to leave Facebook. This can only be accomplished via Facebook Messenger or via live chat. Yes, consumers can use Facebook Messenger without the need for live chat, but the problem is that someone at the dealership needs to be monitoring Facebook Messenger for incoming inquiries and the only people that could do that need to be admins of the Facebook page.

Another critical thing for dealers to be aware of is that only certified pre-owned inventory can be listed, not new vehicles. The listings will only appear on Facebook Marketplace, not on the dealership’s Facebook page. Dealers should understand that Facebook Marketplace isn’t a sales channel like eBay in that actual sales can be made but rather a channel in which car buyers can engage with dealers and start conversations that lead to a sale. Of course, today’s car shoppers won’t wait very long for responses before they move on to the next vehicle they’re interested in whether that’s a similar vehicle or a different make or model so paying attention to messages and interactions is a key component to success on Facebook Marketplace.

A great feature of Facebook Marketplace is that car buyers are only shown available vehicles within a 40-mile radius of a car shopper’s location. This allows a dealership to know that inquiries are coming from local shoppers and not individuals in other states for the most part. Of course, consumers can change this filter, but the majority of consumers shopping on Facebook Marketplace will be in a dealership’s area aside from some unique inventory items or rare vehicles.

Facebook’s advice is that dealers should avoid working with multiple Marketplace partners, so dealers should not be relying on multiple vendors to put together the puzzle pieces (i.e., one vendor for the actual listing while a separate vendor for images or chat services).

Keep these things in mind when beginning to explore how to use Facebook Marketplace to your dealership’s advantage as a new sales channel. Facebook Marketplace offers unique capabilities and can be a very successful sales channel if properly implemented and monitored.

Keep an eye out for part two of this series in which we’ll discuss how to engage customers to maximize results and increase conversions.

Since Facebook has exploded, businesses have all rushed to capture their audience’s attention and leverage the platform’s marketing potential. In the beginning, gaining business exposure on Facebook’s platform was relatively inexpensive. As Facebook continued to modify its algorithm to appease its users and better monetize the platform when it went public, Facebook page organic reach plummeted to where it seems to currently offer organic reach to about 1-2 percent of any given page’s fans. Pay to play has been in effect for some time with the only ways for pages to extend reach being via Facebook ads or engaging content. That, however, hasn’t stopped some dealers from continuing to post vehicles for sale on their Facebook walls even at the risk of alienating their audience.

The question of the day is: Do people actually shop for cars on Facebook’s platform?

In the past, it’s fair to say that consumers who were using Facebook in their car shopping journey were probably researching dealerships. Some dealers had their inventories tied into their Facebook pages through a tab, but it was infinitely more convenient for a consumer to browse inventory through a dealership’s website or a third-party listing service than it was to visit prospective dealership’s Facebook pages one at a time.

That all changed with the roll-out of Facebook Marketplace.

In the beginning, Facebook Marketplace was designed to be more of a virtual garage sale / classified feature available for users to buy and sell items locally. As it has evolved, however, it has become a much more robust marketplace. This, of course, has attracted Facebook users who are increasingly using the feature in their shopping. In the automotive world, industry vendors have begun automatically sending dealer’s inventory to Facebook Marketplace, and Facebook itself has struck deals with major third-party listing sites like Cars.com to have a dealer’s inventory published making it very convenient for car dealers to have updated inventories available for exposure to Facebook’s massive user base.

But are consumers actually using Facebook Marketplace to shop for cars?

As a technology provider that facilitates conversations between consumers and dealerships in managed chat and also offers that feature within the Facebook platform, we can tell you that consumers are, in fact, engaging with dealerships about individual vehicles.

In Q2 of 2018 alone, 250 dealerships that use ActivEngage managed chat for Facebook via Messenger received 11,030 engagements from consumers originating from a VDP on Facebook Marketplace.

The table above illustrates that consumers are engaging with not only a wide spectrum of vehicle makes but also with a large span in vehicle age. These 11,030 consumer-initiated engagements encompassed a whopping 506 different model vehicles as well. This tells us that consumers of all types, budgets, needs, and interests are perusing Facebook Marketplace within their car buying journey.

Just as with any other consumer touch point, dealers need to be ready to engage with consumers, answer questions and start to build that relationship. Consumers only have so much time and patience, so failing to respond or engage the customer will only see that customer move on to the next vehicle or dealership — costing sales. On the opposite end of the engagement spectrum, dealers who are quick to respond, and are transparent and helpful have a higher chance of earning that customer’s business.

Consider that these figures only represent the data from consumers who chose to initiate contact with the dealership via chat. It’s safe to say that there are many more consumers browsing vehicles on Facebook Marketplace that did not engage but rather went into the dealership to see a vehicle of interest.

Facebook Marketplace is a valuable asset that dealers should be utilizing to gain exposure for their inventory. With inventory listings being automated through data providers that almost every dealership already uses in combination with Facebook’s third-party listing partnerships, Facebook’s Marketplace has morphed into a legitimate shopping destination for consumers in the market for a vehicle.

Let me start by saying that I love to surf. Back in my younger days, I was able to qualify and had the opportunity to compete on the pro tour. At one point, I surfed Mavericks in Northern California which has waves in the 30 to 40-foot range. To illustrate, the waves are so big and heavy that you can’t just paddle out. I take this boat out and paddle to ride my first wave. After a few waves… I got hit by a monster wave. This wave dragged me 30-40 feet down. If you’ve never been hit by a wave and dragged down that far, you’re disoriented and scrambling for air, your lungs start burning and you’re very likely (like I was) tumbling in the water for 4 minutes or so. When I surfaced, everything was black and white from oxygen deprivation, my eardrums were blown, and my eye vessels popped. Then the next wave hit, and I found myself flying 30-40 feet in the air with my spine feeling as if it was cracked. I went back to the boat and, to be honest, I was scared and shaking. After about 20 minutes, and my friend’s encouragement, I went back out… and that was a defining moment in my life.

Why am I telling you this story?

In life, it seems as if everyone is trying to be something for somebody else. Whether that be your spouse, friends, or family. What you see in the mirror… how you view yourself… is what matters most. If you don’t understand who you are, then nothing else matters. Take the time to look in the mirror and get rid of that “if/only” thinking.

When you truly understand yourself and are open, you have much more control over your life and it fundamentally changes who you are. The best story of your life will always be your own. Of course, that will include your family and friends but learning to live your own story is the most powerful thing you can do.

I love to journal so that I can see on paper how I’m feeling that day and record my activities, feelings, and experiences. I also encourage my son to do the same. Do you know what you’re doing on a daily basis… what actions you’re taking?

If you work at a dealership, chances are that you work long hours. How does that affect who you are or who you want to be? Not only to yourself but also to how you control the relationships that you have with your friends, families and the other significant people in your lives?

I, personally, like the grind. Putting in the work, however, is part of that grind… what I call “the suck.” But you have to do the grind to get where you want to go. The grind is really your journey to success no matter how you define success. If you stop putting in the work, however, you will end your journey and, chances are, miss the grind.

In our business, the highs and lows are extreme. Especially in sales. Every month, every salesperson goes from hero to zero. It doesn’t matter how many cars they sold the month before.

Goals are important. They are waypoints in a longer journey. No matter what industry you’re in, what career path you took or where you are on that journey, every individual should appreciate that journey and their experiences more than any one thing.

If you want it, no matter what it is, you will have to sacrifice. Those sacrifices could be small or they could be monstrous. It only depends on you and how much you want to reach the end of that journey.

Pay the price for whatever goals you have set in your mind and you’ll see in the end that every moment… every experience… every sacrifice… is not only what made you WHO you are but got you to where you wanted to be.

And that, my friends, is how you succeed… even if it involves monstrous waves.

Somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean, there lives a whale that cannot communicate with other whales. You see, whales communicate via sub-sonic vocal sounds. Most whales communicate in the 15-25 hertz (Hz) range. Whales, for the most part, can communicate inter-species… except for one. This whale communicates in the vocal range of 52 hertz, making it impossible for other whales to hear them which isolates them in the oceans. Are there more than one of these whales? There must be for them to still exist, but they have never been seen, only heard via advanced audio equipment developed by NASA. Of course, they need to reproduce, but imagine living in an area that encompasses 80% of the Earth and not being able to talk to any other of the many whales in existence. People have been fascinated by this. They’ve written songs and books about them, made references to them on TV shows and even used their likeness to sell cell phones in Ireland. Why are people so fascinated by this creature that’s never been seen but only heard – and even then, only with advanced technology?

As a species, humans cannot exist without communication. There have been many experiments and real-life examples of people going crazy in isolation. But is it simply the lack of being able to communicate that so disrupts our brains?

I would say no. Unlike this whale species, even prisoners in isolation have brief communication with people—even if it’s only a guard delivering their food, letting them out to shower or for that hour of recreation time the prisoners are allowed. Even that tiny bit of communication isn’t enough to avoid insanity for some of them. If it’s not the lack of communication, which humans need, then what is it?

It’s the quality of the communication.

How does this story tie into automotive? Most consumers are online today researching vehicles before even attempting to reach out to a dealership. When they do reach out, despite dealers’ attempts (or lack thereof)  to respond and engage the customer, they’re often met with very little information other than “When can you come in?” In fact, the industry average – for a good dealership – on connecting with a customer hovers around 20% or less. Dealers pay, on average, upwards of $25 or more just to get the information from a conversion or third-party lead. If a dealer pays for 100 leads per month, that equates to $2,500 (on the low-end). Yet, they’re only engaging with 20% which means that for $2,500, they’re paying $2,500 to engage with $500 (20) worth of leads.

Good quality communication, which involves an actual engagement with the customer and the opportunity for the dealership to provide the customer with the information they are seeking and begin to build a relationship with them,  establishes trust and migrates the customer further down the funnel towards selecting the dealership as the one that they wish to buy from more than simply extracting information and joining the gang of dealerships responding via auto-responders and calling a customer three times per day ever will. Quality, however, costs more than quantity. Yet, while dealers will spend more money to get more extracted information (leads), they won’t pay more for quality. Quality costs more money. That’s the difference between going to Payless to buy sneakers or spending more to buy Nikes.

Remember, however, that, to your customers, every conversation revolves around them. They don’t care whether your dealership is getting 100 or 1,000 leads. They just want information and quality interaction in the manner that they choose. Having quality conversations with customers engages them more which then translates into a higher conversion rate, a better customer experience and, ultimately, increased return-on-investment for the dealership.

In this age of non-verbal communication, the difference between communication and quality communication is exactly like the difference between a chat or text reply of “K” and one that is in-depth and engaging in which there is an actual conversation occurring and not simply a vague response.

Examine how you’re communicating with customers and whether the channels and techniques you’re using to do so are designed for quality communications or you are simply trying to achieve a larger quantity of information and shooting for higher conversions by playing the numbers. E-mail templates sent via a CRM auto-responder are no longer effective. For dealerships to increase engagement and sales, they need to be having quality conversations with customers on the channels they pay attention and respond to.

Find a solution that can provide you the engagement your customers deserve while also being the one that provides the most ROI. If customers can’t hear you, you’ll soon discover that nobody is listening, and you may become exactly what you don’t want to…

The loneliest whale in the world.