How Auto Dealers Can Use Facebook Ads to Hyper Target Car Buyers

Using Facebook and Polk Data, Auto Dealers Can Scale Their Revenues with Effective and Hyper-Targeted Digital Ad Campaigns

It’s no question that social advertising and audience targeting is incredibly effective. But now more than ever, Facebook Ads are THE way to go for auto dealers to target car buyers through every step of the purchase process. This post will explain why.

According to a recent study, 27% of people in the US do most of their vehicle research on a mobile device. That number is 45% for Millennials, and 41% for households with incomes over $200,000. And the percentage of people that use mobile during any point of the purchase process? 71%. Keep in mind, this data is just for mobile consumers. Almost 100% of vehicle buyers use online research at some point of their purchase decision.

Facebook Ads + Datalogix + Polk Data = Lots of money for Auto Dealers

Facebook has two key partnerships that enable it to get the data it needs to provide super powerful ad targeting: 1) Datalogix, 2) Polk. Datalogix connects offline purchasing data to enhance online advertising campaigns. Datalogix also has 200+ syndicated audiences that allow for deeper targeting. Polk (which also owns Carfax) aggregates online and offline data around auto buyer personas and DMV registration data. These two partnerships, when combined with Facebook’s ultra targeted ad product, can drive car-buying consumers to the doorsteps of auto dealers, ready to purchase a new vehicle right away.

insights into facebook ads for car buyers

How Targeted Can You Get?

If you know your way around the Facebook Ad platform, you can get incredibly targeted on vehicle-buyers. How targeted you ask? Here’s an example flow that you can create:

You start with “Automotive” behavior targeting.

From there, you have these sub-categories:

  • Motorcycle
  • New Vehicle Buyers (Near Market – which means people who will be considering a new vehicle purchase within the next 365 days)
  • New Vehicle Buyers (In Market – people considering a new vehicle purchase within the next 180 days)
  • Owners
  • Purchase Type
  • Used Vehicle Buyers (In Market)

If you click “Owners”, you’ll be able to target Facebook users based on the actual vehicle they drive.

If you click on the “Purchase Type” sub-category, you’ll be able to target based on how recently the user purchased a vehicle.

If you click on “New Vehicle Buyers (Near Market)”, you can target by style, for example:

  • Crossover
  • Economy/Compact
  • Full-Size SUV
  • Full-Size Sedan
  • Hybrid/Alt Fuel
  • Luxury SUV
  • Luxury Sedan
  • Midsize Car
  • Minivan
  • Pickup Truck
  • Small/Midsize SUV
  • Sports Car/Convertible

If you click on the “New Vehicle Buyers (In Market)” section, you then choose among the actual make, model, and style of vehicle. How amazing is that?! You can specifically target people shopping for Jeep Grand Cherokees or Suburu Foresters or Chevrolet Cameros.

You can also target people looking for specific auto parts or auto service. You can target by the age of vehicle in their current household, vehicle price, and much more.

There are many ways to target car buyers with Facebook Ads. You can do video ads, custom audiences, carousel ads, lookalike audiences, conversion lift, TRP buying (extend and augment your TV campaigns on Facebook), regular Facebook Newsfeed ads, right rail ads, and more.

If you’re interested in utilizing Facebook Ads to dramatically increase sales at your auto dealership, contact us today!

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Author

Brandon Doyle

CEO + Founder