Facebook Marketing for your OEM

Every equipment manufacturer has their own extensive marketing program firmly in place, including broad-based use of social media. There are many ways you can use your dealership’s social media interactions to reinforce OEM branding while you build your own brand. Facebook marketing is a great place to start.  

The whole point of Facebook marketing is to engage in conversation with your friends and fans. And their friends and fans. You’re generating leads that lead to sales. Rock stars want as many fans as they can get. But as a rock-star dealer for your OEM, you want top-quality fans — fans most likely to become customers for life.

You can attract interest in your Facebook business page from your website, emails, blog articles, traditional advertising even your business card. Your Facebook posts can link back to any of your online content, creating a continuous circle of engagement. All that inter-connectivity makes it easier for people to find you online, and it helps you reach a broader audience.

Promote content that talks about your OEM.

Facebook content can be nearly anything – short status updates, announcements, photos or links to your blog, videos, webinars, your other social pages, such as Twitter or Pinterest. Comment on and link to your OEM’s online content, too.

Post about the latest news that relates to your OEM – new equipment introductions, awards or other accolades, a factory rep coming to your dealership. Post about broader industry news, too. And share stories and photos from your customers about how the OEM’s products have helped expand their business, boost their bottom line or save them from a near disaster on the job

Engagement is a two-way street, and your audience will be highly offended if you don’t uphold your end of the conversation and help keep it going. Strengthen the process with surveys or contests or by posing questions fans can respond to. Create a Facebook group within your fan base just for owners of the OEM’s products.

Make it exclusive. Prove your Facebook fans are special with downloads or discounts only for them. Give them information before you tell anyone else, give them access to a fans-only OEM product webinar or a live demo of new equipment. Post regularly, but not so often you’re pestering people with drivel. Value is your first consideration – value as defined by your audience. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Or funny.

Let your entire crew pitch in, with ideas and posts that reflect your dealership’s OEM-related activities beyond the sales team – service, parts, etc. Offer a “tip of the month” about safety, fuel efficiency, maintenance, temporary field repairs, etc.

Post, don’t push.

A sales pitch is OK now and then, but your Facebook marketing goal is to attract and nurture leads. Inbound marketing giant HubSpot recommends you use the tried-and-true 80/20 rule for engagement vs. sales content.

Third-party testimonials and referrals are invaluable for building your business. Your prospects may search for online reviews about your dealership and OEM, but consider this: every time your friends and fans post a comment or share your content, they’re giving you a reference, reinforcing your message and your dealerships’ value. That makes Facebook marketing for your OEM doubly valuable.  

Facebook marketing for your OEM isn’t necessarily difficult, but you still want to get it right so everything you do is perfectly targeted and presented. Your professional marketing team can help you get set up and even manage your ongoing activities, if your in-house people don’t have enough time to devote to that.