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What? GM Suspends Advertising with Facebook?!

Breaking news from the automotive industry announced that GM has stopped investing in ad space on Facebook. Now, don’t get that confused with GM abandoning its Facebook Fanpage. According to the Wall Street Journal, GM’s auto marketing chief, Joel Ewanick, said the following:

“[GM] is definitely reassessing our advertising on Facebook, although the content is effective and important.” Mr. Ewanick has spent the last year restructuring the Detroit company’s marketing operations in an effort to cut billions of dollars in costs.”

GM spent about $10 million last year advertising on Facebook, which was a small fraction of its entire advertising budget. Don’t worry, GM still plans on spending an estimated $30 million on content creation on Facebook from various advertising agencies.

Why Did GM Suspend Facebook Advertising

It sounds as if the $30 million is a drop in the bucket in an estimated $1.8 billion advertising budget (just for the U.S. alone), right? But, automotive and powersports dealers want to know why they did this. So, let’s look at a bit deeper at the situation.

According to this article by Search Engine Journal, it seems three key instruments might have stopped GM from throwing its money away on Facebook advertisements:

• Ad Performance: Click through rates on Facebook ads are 10x lower than Google Display Ads, and 2x lower than your average Internet Banner ads
• Ad Formats: Facebook has very few advertising formats
• Ad Targeting Options: No mobile support

It sounds like GM decided to stop throwing good money after bad money and focus advertising dollars elsewhere. Where that is, the execs at GM haven’t revealed yet. But if you see a fancy new 3D commercial shot in space, we could take an educated guess…

Does Facebook Advertising Have Enough Viewers For Me to Sell Cars?

Automotive and powersport dealership advertising on Facebook is still a crucial and beneficial way to market your inventory and drum up business. There are over 845 million monthly active users, and it is pretty easy to go viral on Facebook. But other ad networks and other techniques such as organic SEO may prove to be more beneficial.

Does This Mean You Should Stop Advertising on Facebook?

No, not at all. Just because GM decided to doesn’t mean you won’t (or already do) have success. A lot of the key principles to being successful with Facebook advertising depends on your market and how you are marketing yourself to your immediate audience. But the key is getting your product in front of the correct people to drum up leads and sales. Check out this three part blog for more information on social media advertising for automotive and powersport dealerships and how to break through the myths of social media.

OK – I Still Want to Use Facebook BUT Spend as Little as Possible

You don’t need to spend like GM to have successful results online. In fact, aligning your online marketing is the most beneficial way to get prospective buyers in front of your inventory. There are so many places that your target audience is looking for you… but have you found them? Think outside the box and check out places like Craigslist and Backpage that are high traffic and the best part… FREE. And when do you take advantage of social media for advertising your inventory online, make sure it is targeted!

How Can I Benefit?

Does your automotive dealership software allow you to incorporate your social media strategy and target the marketplaces online your customers are looking for you? There are many software applications out there, but not all of them seamlessly work with your dealership management software (DMS) to help you get “free advertising”. LotVantage can help you with your car dealership’s online marketing and helping you get more leads and sales.

Speak with one of our internet experts and allow them to show you the industry’s best kept secret successful automotive dealers are using today to get more leads and more sales right now! Over 5,000 dealers cannot be wrong… and with a stellar support staff and no long term contract, how could you afford NOT to succeed with LotVantage?

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OR Contact our sales department at (866) 881-3229 right now for your free instant access!