Selling on Facebook Marketplace
Since its launch in 2016, Facebook Marketplace has become incredibly popular.
These days, many consumers are migrating to Facebook Marketplace because Facebook offers a simpler and more transparent platform than many other large selling sites.
Considering Facebook Marketplace has 1.79 million active users as of 2022, that’s a LOT of potential consumer traffic for your inventory listings.
Not surprisingly, Marketplace has become saturated with private and professional sellers. If you want to make your dealership stand out, you need to adhere to Marketplace best practices. Here’s how we recommend you get the most out of marketing and selling your units on Facebook Marketplace:
Add ALL of Your Inventory
Treat Marketplace as you would any other third-party sales platform – upload ALL your current inventory listings. Facebook Marketplace recently banned mass inventory uploads through a feed, but the good news is that you can still partner with a third-party tool so that you don’t have to list your units manually and individually.
Optimize Your Listings
The Facebook Marketplace algorithm shows buyers products that are similar to what they’ve searched for in the past. Use this to your advantage by filling out your listings with the tags and descriptions that buyers are likely to use in their online search. This will help your listings appear in more search results on Marketplace and drive more buyers to your inventory.
Advertise on Facebook
Once your listings are live, it’s time to take an extra step to tap into the local market. Facebook Marketplace ads get your listings in front of buyers who have shown interest in similar units, increasing your likelihood of making a sale. You can choose from multiple objectives and ad formats according to your sales goals and what you think will most appeal to your audience. Best of all, you can customize your target audience based on demographic, location, age, interests and more to invest 100% of your ad spend in promising leads.
Market on Messenger
Facebook Messenger has become more than just an app to converse with your friends. Buyers are turning to Messenger to connect with businesses on a more direct and personal level. Messenger is a convenient avenue to send your customers important information, such as service reminders, sales notifications and even your latest blog. According to automation brand Mobile Monkey, Facebook Messenger has an 80% open rate, as reported by Mobile Monkey, which is much higher than the 15-25% average for email.
Automate Your Customer Service
Facebook Marketplace presents an enormous customer service opportunity for dealerships, partly because of its large audience, but also because it offers a variety of tools to simplify your customer engagement. For example, launching a Messenger chatbot allows you to auto-answer frequently asked questions, such as your dealership contact information and store hours.
If you’re selling inventory on Marketplace, you need to be monitoring your messaging avenues and responding regularly. If you don’t have the time or staff to dedicate to answering messages, that’s where Facebook’s automation tools can really help. Create an instant reply that notifies shoppers you’ve seen their message and a member of your team will be reaching out soon. Some dealerships even find that their chatbot helps generate organic-feeling conversations with customers without typing out a single word.
Drive More Sales Through Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is great for getting your inventory in front of a larger market. Facebook’s enormous audience ensures you have no shortage of prospects who are interested in your units. Listing your units is free and easy to set up, and if you choose to launch an ad campaign to expose your inventory to more people, you can tailor your ad spend to your budget.
Best of all, Facebook’s community-oriented platform creates an easy and natural way to connect with customers over and over again.
If you have questions about listing and selling units on Facebook Marketplace, our team is happy to chat with you about creating a strategy. Feel free to connect with Dealer Spike today!