Facebook Business Features Your Equipment Dealership Could Be Benefiting From

Technically, everything you do on your equipment dealership’s Facebook business page has some value. But the more strategic you are, the more you can engage and learn about your current and future fans.

 

There are lots of things you can do for free.

Make sure your page is complete. Incorporate videos as well as photos, product features, awards you’ve received, a history of your dealership and a sign-up button for your blog or e-newsletter. Include your hours and location information. Did you know you can add items to your Timeline retroactively?

Post regularly, respond quickly to comments from your fans. Offer a “tip of the week” – or a fun fact or interesting statistic. It can be serious or fun, but pick a regular schedule so people will expect your post. Post a photo of the day, to encourage sharing and comments. Highlight one of your best fans, with a photo and story about their business – how they’re using the equipment you sell for fun and profit.

Contests and surveys.

Nothing engages people like asking their opinion or giving something away (as long as your giveaway is worth receiving). Solicit feedback about a proposed change at your dealership or a new product on the market. Or pose a question to start a conversation.

Use contests to attract new fans (and capture their email address), engage and entertain both existing and new fans, learn more about your audience. Run a photo contest and let your audience vote. (Use an app that protects against fraudulent over-voting, if you’re worried about that.) Let people vote on their favorite feature of a new piece of equipment. Create a quiz – you can make it “open book” by incorporating the answers in your blog, social media posts or your website.

Graph Search.

 

This new feature isn’t fully available yet, and it will probably have limited value for your equipment dealership. It’s essentially a cross between local search and a composite of user comments — most valuable for someplace like a restaurant. Nonetheless, you want to be seen because you never know who’s looking.

Graph Search ratings are generated by a combination of keywords, activity level on your business page and the number of likes and check-ins you’ve received. Check-ins have little direct relevance for your dealership, but since they add up behind the scenes, encourage people who visit your sales floor or service shop to check in with Facebook anyway.

 

Facebook Insights.

This is your analytical tool. Learn about your fans, see where they’re from and what they’re sharing, even when they go online. Use all that to better target your content topics, determine when to publish Facebook posts and more personally nurture leads.

Things that cost money.

Promoted posts.

You can run paid ads to promote your Facebook business posts, to expand your reach and increase awareness about your dealership. These ads show up in the News Feeds of people who have liked you as well as their friends. Costs are based on volume – you can target by location and various demographics – and you can set a daily budget.

Offers.

These are really just specialized promoted posts. When you create a Facebook offer, you can make it available to everyone or limit the number of redemptions, which has an added benefit of creating a sense of urgency. Encourage people to share your offer, to broaden your reach.

Many Facebook business page features offer obvious direct benefits for your equipment dealership. So get creative, review your Facebook Insights results, and keep what works best.