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With continued automotive inventory challenges in today’s market, it’s more important than ever to leverage the highest-impact platforms to showcase your vehicle inventory in front of the right customer at the right time.
Auto dealers have 65% fewer cars now vs. this time last year. But that’s only made them more resilient as they learn new ways to leverage data. Dealers must get creative in merchandising their vehicle inventory to maintain their brand presence and drive high-quality leads into their sales funnel.
Here are the four best and most powerful platforms dealers are using to merchandise vehicle inventory to in-market shoppers to receive the highest impact:
1. Google Business Profile – Live Vehicle Inventory
Most dealers have not posted their vehicle inventory on their Google Business Profile, so now’s the time to jump ahead of your competition. Highlight your new and used inventory to active shoppers on your Google Business Profile. Ninety percent of car buyers’ research takes place on Google and YouTube.
“The Google consumer experience continues to dominate with searching what you want without leaving Google, hence the term zero-click,” said Scott Pechstein, Digital Air Strike’s vice president of automotive strategic partnerships. “Zero-click means your customers get all the information they’re looking for without clicking on anything else. Seventy-eight percent of mobile searches are now zero-click searches.”
Since 8 out of 10 consumers are looking at your Google Business Profile and not clicking on your website, ensure your profile is high quality with updated offers, hours, and vehicle inventory.
Digital Air Strike can automatically post your live vehicle inventory on your Google Business Profile account. It’s labor-intensive to do these listings manually. The automatic feeds refresh up to four times a day, so you can be sure that your inventory is always up to date.
The more content you can put on your business profile on Google, the more it will push down your competitors. Active searchers can explore your new and used inventory directly on your profile, and you can get 2,000+ views on your inventory without paying PPC.
2. YouTube Vehicle Inventory Videos
Get custom-created VIN-specific videos created for every vehicle in your inventory and maximize SEO on the world’s second-largest search engine. Seventy-five percent of car buyers say online video influences their shopping habits.
“They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, well then a video is worth 1.8 million words,” Pechstein said. “YouTube is a great way to showcase and index your vehicles from an SEO perspective. You can generate high-impact videos for your YouTube page.”
Digital Air Strike creates a high-quality video automatically for every vehicle in your inventory and then posts the videos to your YouTube channel. The videos are optimized using inventory make, model, year, description, etc., for better SEO on YouTube, Google, and across the Web.
The time it would take a dealer to film a comparative video could take up to half an hour for each one. Digital Air Strike’s technology dynamically creates and publishes the videos without any help from the dealer. Consumers love to watch videos, so it’s an excellent opportunity to take advantage of this.
3. Facebook Vehicle Inventory
Capture car buyers on Facebook by showcasing your new and used vehicles on your business page. Seventy-three percent of car buyers say Facebook is the social site they use the most.
“Facebook is an absolutely powerful platform to merchandise your inventory,” said Jason Barrie, Digital Air Strike’s Chief Strategy Officer. “You can incorporate your inventory on your business page along with other organic content on your social media feed. Facebook has a great track record in driving traffic to your site.”
Facebook has changed its approach with Facebook Marketplace. As of Sept. 13, Facebook will no longer distribute automated inventory category listings on its Marketplace. This means that dealers will no longer be able to bulk-upload their used inventory feed to Facebook Marketplace.
Digital Air Strike has a solution to merchandise your new and used vehicle inventory on your Facebook business page. The vehicle inventory listing on your business page is separate from Facebook. The inventory is presented in a virtual showroom in real time and updated within that business page.
Dealers can only take advantage of this if they have at least 2,000 Facebook followers. Digital Air Strike can help a dealer gain more followers if they’re not yet at that level.
4. BestRide.com
Eighty-six percent of car buyers are actively shopping or purchased within two weeks of using BestRide.com. Therefore it’s an excellent reason for dealers to promote their vehicles and dealership to active shoppers searching for their next vehicle on BestRide.com. Dealers have their virtual showroom on the interactive business-to-consumer Marketplace.
Consumers use the site to research and search millions of cars to find their new ride. Digital Air Strike acquired the site earlier this year and is adding new functionality to the platform regularly. Dealers can showcase vehicles, reputation scores, payments, and more through their unique virtual showroom. Digital Air Strike dealers will get preferred listings and preferred callouts on the site, so sign up now.
Let Digital Air Strike help your dealership drive targeted shoppers to your vehicles. Digital Air Strike allows you to exceed your vehicle sales goals while delivering a superior customer shopping experience. Get a 10-minute demo now to learn more.
