It amazes me how many dealerships judge their Facebook marketing efforts success by the number of fans they have. People are in awe of that dealership that managed to get 15,000 fans to their Facebook page. Some vendors sell the fact that they will exponentially increase the quantity of fans you have. Dealers give away cars and iPads just to entice people to “like” them on Facebook.
I’m here to tell you that the number of Facebook fans you have is not only irrelevant, but it could be wasting your time and making your Facebook marketing essentially useless.
What do I mean by that? A Facebook fan that is not in your market and will never do any business with you is NOT doing you any good.
If you’re a dealership in California, would you take out a print ad in a Florida newspaper? No.
Why? Because those people aren’t in your market and that would be a waste of money.
Now, some people would argue it’s a numbers game. Get more fans and the chances that your message is heard increases. I’d argue that the only way this is true is if these fans are in your market. If nobody you’re marketing to would ever spend a penny at your dealership, you’re wasting your time.
So what do I think you should do?
In my opinion, building a healthy Facebook presence takes time. It starts at the dealership level where your fans are acquired from actual customers doing business with you and/or coming into your store.
· You make tent cards and spread them out at your dealership.
· You tell service customers about your Facebook page.
· You integrate your Facebook presence into your existing marketing – traditional, in-store and online.
· You hold your contests in your store where actual customers of yours win.
· You get them to share your message with their social networks.
Focus all of your Facebook marketing on acquiring fans that actually CARE about what you have to say and will do business with you.
I’d rather have 100 fans that would do business with me than 15,000 fans that wouldn’t.
