Can you imagine using Facebook to buy your next car? It might sound like an absurd prospect to some, but recent figures indicate that a quarter of potential car buyers are researching on Facebook before they make a purchase. And even though this may seem like an unlikely place to visit when you’re making such as huge decision, it’s clear that technology, and social media channels, in particular, are creating a different car shopping experience.
Despite the fact social networks were established to help people stay in touch with one another, they’ve quickly changed to accommodate e-commerce solutions. It doesn’t matter whether you look at Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or any other social channel, all of them are providing a place for marketers to meet with prospective buyers.
Therefore, even though buying a car is a huge investment, car dealers are able to leverage the time people are spending on social media to influence their buying decisions. They can create retargeted ads and digital campaigns that drive customers to their dealership to make their purchase.
Still not sure this is the way forward? Here are just some of the ways social is changing how we buy cars:
Social Provides a Persistent Message
When someone is looking to buy a car, they’ll often do a lot of research, even after they’ve been browsing online. Buying a car is a huge undertaking, which is why this purchasing decision is very rarely spontaneous. And that’s why car dealers are starting to use social to make sure their products are at the forefront of a customer’s mind throughout the researching phase.
For example, on Facebook, adverts can be tailored to a customer’s specific interests. Therefore, when they’ve visited a particular dealer’s website and a specific vehicle, this has been tracked. So, when the customer next logs onto Facebook, the exact model they’ve been looking at will be presented to them in their news feed. And the scary thing is, the advert can be tailored to the customer’s exact preferences, including the colour they were looking at.
This might not make a customer go straight to the dealer’s website and make a purchase, but it re-engages them with the dealer and the car model they’ve been looking at. It also extends the relationship between the customer and the dealer.
Social is Available On the Go
The mobile side of social media channels is one of the reasons why it’s become so huge. With mobile apps available for almost every social network, it doesn’t matter where a user is, they can access their preferred network sites at the touch of a button. Furthermore, as mobile use continues to grow, so too does the confidence of customers who are using these devices to research and make purchasing decisions.
In fact, according to Facebook statistics, during the car purchasing process, 71% of consumers are turning to their mobiles at some point. And, if that wasn’t enough, 58% said that the only device they’ll be using for car research in the future is their smartphone.
From the initial research phase to the test drive before you buy a car, it’s all a very social experience, and this sociability can be further enhanced by mobiles. Whether it’s asking family and friends for advice or it’s conducting research, mobile allows us to get ahead in our buying journey, even when we’re out and about.
The majority of consumers will make a car purchase in person, but mobile and social marketing goes hand in hand with this. For example, if you’re out and about and you see your friend has liked a car on Facebook, you might decide to stop at your local car dealership to see the car for yourself.
Social Offers a Personal Experience
Finally, there’s the personal quality involved in shopping on social channels. Using personalised ads, marketers can appeal to your own specific tastes, which mean you don’t have to sift through lots of irrelevant information to find what you’re looking for. Targeted ads that are based on your previous shopping habits enable you to see what you’re looking for, getting rid of generic advertisements that mean nothing to you.
And, as dealers learn more about shoppers and gain more of an understanding of what models they’re looking at, these advertisements will become even more personalised, creating the ultimate shopping experience.
Social is transforming the way we do our shopping, but it’s not just low-value purchases that are being impacted. Because, even though we might still make large purchases (e.g. buying a car) in person, social is playing a huge role in our research and decision-making process.