How to Optimise Facebook Marketplace – Webinar Recap

06 Oct 2020

EasyCars would like to thank all dealers who attended our Facebook Marketplace webinar on Friday, 14th August 2020. We would also like to offer a special thank you to Facebook's Head of Automotive for Australia and New Zealand, Ted Bergeron, for his time, insights and tips on optimising ad listings via Facebook Marketplace.

We've also put together some answers to popular questions asked during the webinar and welcome any further questions you may have forgotten to ask on the day. 

Watch webinar

Key takeaways from the webinar

Facebook Marketplace has become one of the highest lead volume advertisers today. Some of the key takeaways from the webinar included:

  • Over 17 million Australians access Facebook every month and over 16 million people use its Messenger service. This huge penetration is why Facebook Marketplace (with Messenger integration) has become one of the highest lead volume advertisers today.
  • EasyCars dealers receive an average of 105 leads per month. Some of our best performers sell 10 vehicles on average every month.
  • Managing, filtering and qualifying leads easily can be done in the EasyCars dealer management system directly or via the Facebook Pages Manager app on your phone.

Top tips to optimise listings

Vehicle imagery is essential

  • Minimum 2 photos required, maximum 50 images
  • Provide as many high quality images as possible. Listings with at least 15 – 20 photos tend to perform best
  • Capture all angles of the vehicle. Please provide the following images: (1) Front 3/4 angle, (2) Cockpit, (3) Side, back, (4) interior, (5) dents, dings & excessive wear, (6) Engine (7) Wheels.
  • Use a minimum 960 x 720px resolution.
  • Clearly show any damage or excessive wear
  • Don’t add brand/dealership tags, overlay or graphics

Write good descriptions 

The more details, the better quality your listing will be to Facebook and prospects. You can easily customise your description for Facebook Marketplace in your advertising settings in EasyCars. 

  • Descriptions should be more detailed to include information like condition, accident history, warranties, vehicle type, trim and interiors.
  • Highlight things like log book, service records, spare keys, odometer. Customers don’t want to have to ask.
  • Include a link to your reviews on your website to create confidence in your dealership.

Make sure business information is accurate

  • Ensure your contact information is current and accurate
  • Always include your phone number and address so potential buyers can contact you
  • Add your opening hours to your Facebook Page

Connect with buyers in real-time on Messenger

EasyCars was one of the first DMS providers in Australia to directly integrate Messenger in Facebook Marketplace. The biggest benefit for our dealers is they can contact and qualify their leads within seconds of an incoming enquiry – putting them well ahead of competition.

  • A friendly and informal way to have a conversation with customers
  • Provide information or schedule a test drive or appointment
  • Respond quickly (within 24 hours) and keep it short and sweet

Top questions asked 

Could Messenger potentially be used for consumers to get free information?

Just like any advertiser, Messenger is used to get free information. However, it is one of the best platforms today for buyers to connect with dealers. There are plenty of ways to qualify leads either in your EasyCars DMS or via the Pages Manager app on your phone. 

Lou Boutros from Beautcars, one of the most successful dealers to advertise on Facebook Marketplace, mentioned in the webinar that “15 to 20% of messages may be duds”. Lou’s encouragement is to “not be afraid” and to incorporate Messenger as part of the business process as it gives the largest volume of leads at zero extra cost. It is so important to “get your processes right” as “leads are seemingly worthless if you don’t manage them”. We have provided some tips to get started on creating an effective messaging on the webinar deck, click here. For more How-to set up the features please read here

Would you recommend using different photos than regular ads? To make them seem less sterile and more personal?

If the pictures are more personal, it works better in the Facebook environment. One of the recommendations is to avoid branding and overlays, so more realistic, personal images may work better. 

Instagram isn't grabbing my ads on Facebook, how can I fix this?

There might be a number of reasons for this. If you have your ads up, but your ad spend shows zero or there are no impressions, it’s likely that your ads aren’t being delivered. The most common issues are problems with audience selection and targeting. Check your ad dashboards and ensure that you’ve got the right audience selected. Also, check to make sure that Instagram is set as the preferred ad channel. To learn more about advertising on Instagram, please click here. For tips on improving ad performance. Please click here.

How can I connect with leads more effectively? 

One of the best ways to stamp out your competition is to connect with a lead as quickly as possible. The built-in Messenger functionality in EasyCars (or your phone) puts you in touch with a lead within seconds of an enquiry. Other platforms may not offer this feature. This means the lead first goes to someone else before coming to you. You don’t have the luxury of wasting time with leads during these difficult times.

Why can't we add more than 20 pics on Marketplace?

You should be able to add more than 20. If anyone is having trouble with their images or uploading, we recommend you contact the Jeal support team on (02) 9623 6403.

How can my business page share to specific groups?

You need to join those specific groups and follow the guidelines set up by the admins of those pages. This cannot be controlled by Facebook.

Is there a plugin for a WP site? How does it pull listings on EasyCars to post automatically on Facebook?

EasyCars can feed all your listings from within your DMS to multiple advertisers. We also have different options to send feeds to send to your website. If you want to send vehicles to your website, give the sales team a call and they will run you through the options. If a vehicle is sold, it is automatically removed from your advertiser pages. This is an automated feature. For any specific questions you have, we encourage you to call the Jeal team and we can help you set everything up.

What is the benefit of EasyCars?

As a Facebook Marketplace listing partner, EasyCars allows you to:

    • Upload unlimited vehicles to Facebook Marketplace
    • Instantly see a notification in EasyCars or your phone if a prospect contacts you
    • Communicate in real-time with the potential buyer via Messenger integration
    • Receive an automatic Facebook Leads Report emailed to you on the 1st of each month – a summary of enquiries received via Messenger during the previous month

Hear it from a dealer himself.

Lou Boutros, the owner of Beaut Cars and one of the first ever EasyCars dealers generates an average of 45 quality leads and 10 sales every month.

"In my 35 years as a car dealer, Facebook Marketplace is the best value-for-money advertiser I’ve ever come across. Listing my vehicles here has brought more leads to my dealership than ever before – even during the ‘supposedly’ slow Covid months where business was booming for us at Beaut Cars. I have never been happier with an advertiser as with Facebook Marketplace via EasyCars.”

If you would like us to answer any of your questions regarding Facebook Marketplace and or any advertising, please call us on (02) 9623 6403 or email info@jeal.com.au and we can help.