Facebook recently rolled Click to Marketplace Ads out of beta, which they now renamed to On-Facebook Destination for Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA). These ads appear in a carousel ad format just like standard Automotive Inventory Ads. However, this new Facebook advertising type allows car dealers to drive traffic to Facebook’s dynamic and mobile-optimized vehicle detail pages (VDP). These VDPs look very similar to your Marketplace listings, but they are unique destinations for your ads for both new and used vehicles.

What are the benefits of using On-Facebook Destination for Automotive Inventory Ads?

Facebook lists the benefits of this new ad format as:

1. Delivering more efficient campaign performance,
2. Providing a frictionless shopping experience,
3. Built for a privacy-first future,
4. Reaching in-market auto shoppers during their shopping journey, and
5. Retargeting shoppers who viewed or engaged with your dealership.

In terms of delivering more efficient campaign performance, Facebook reports “reduced on average cost-per-lead by 82% and cost-per-content-view by 17% versus a website destination [ad type]”.

An early adopter of this ad format with Dealer Teamwork ran standard Automotive Inventory Ads side-by-side with On-Facebook Destination for Automotive Inventory Ads. The On-Facebook Destination for Automotive Inventory Ads drove a 79% lower cost-per-lead for new vehicle campaigns and a 48% lower cost-per-lead for used vehicle campaigns one month.

This type of Facebook ad campaign helps provide a frictionless shopping experience because the shopper doesn’t need to leave Facebook to engage with your dealership or learn more about the vehicle they are interested in. Shoppers can reach out to you directly in Facebook Messenger which is a “low-risk” form of contact in the eyes of a shopper. It feels less formal than submitting something like a web lead, and they feel more in control of the conversation, so they feel more comfortable reaching out to you.

Facebook lists “built for a privacy-first future” as a benefit because Facebook’s targeting options help dealers customize and tailor ads to specific audiences while maintaining a high-level of data privacy for the shopper.

On-Facebook Destination for Automotive Inventory Ads helps you reach in-market shoppers during the automotive-path-to-purchase because this ad type leverages the targeting capabilities already afforded to you by standard Automotive Inventory Ads. This includes premium ad placements in locations like the top of Marketplace vehicle pages and the bottom of customer vehicle listings.

Retargeting shoppers who have previously engaged with your dealership or viewed your inventory helps nurture shoppers further down the shopping funnel towards a purchase.

Is On-Facebook Destination for Automotive Inventory Ads right for me?

Any dealer who wishes to advertise their new or used inventory on Facebook, Marketplace and Instagram are encouraged to try out this new ad format. It’s designed specifically for car dealers and helps you reach your target audience on social media more effectively and efficiently.

You can easily test out this new ad format for a few months to see if it works for your dealership. One very important thing to note is that you will need a strategy for monitoring and replying to Facebook Messenger chats.

As previously mentioned, these ads do not direct traffic to your website, but instead direct traffic to an “on-Facebook destination”—a Facebook Marketplace style VDP. If a shopper wants to connect with your dealership after viewing the ad, customers have the option of clicking a CTA to chat with you on Facebook Messenger, or they can click to call your dealership.

If you have trouble keeping up with the Facebook Messenger chats, you can consider utilizing a third party managed chat service to help. However, the quality of such services can vary dramatically, so you’ll need to keep an eye on it and audit the process regularly.

Facebook Messenger leads can be very valuable, but it’s a new way for dealerships and shoppers to connect. The result is that it hasn’t been universally adopted by the industry yet. However, if Messenger is where the shoppers want to be and connect with you, it’s worth your time to at least test it out to see if you can drive leads, and in turn, sales with this lead format. Dealers who adopt this approach now will be ahead of competition.

What’s the best approach to On-Facebook Destination for Automotive Inventory Ads?

We recommend running a standard Automotive Inventory Ad campaign side-by-side with an On-Facebook Destination for AIA campaign for at least a few months to test which drives the most ROI and value to your dealership.

If you drive better results at a lower cost with this new ad format, you can switch to running only On-Facebook Destination for AIA campaigns after the test period. However, each dealer needs to consider the lead format and decide if they can adapt their processes to this new lead nurturing style.

To run this type of campaign, you will need to be set up with a product catalog of your inventory, and it’s highly recommended to install the Facebook pixel on your website so you can expand your retargeting audience. As a Dealer Teamwork customer, we help you get the Facebook pixel set up.

If you are a Dealer Teamwork customer, after your product catalog is set up, it’s refreshed as your inventory changes based on the active offers you have live in the MPOP®. Feeding MPOP® offers into the product catalog brings in extra vehicle details that most vendors cannot provide. The integration allows for details like finance payments and lease payments to be pulled into the Facebook VDP description.

You can learn more about our approach to social media marketing here, or sign up for a live demonstration to see our marketing automation technology in action!