Facebook Marketplace Becoming Limited for Dealerships

Facebook Marketplace is discontinuing vehicle listings as we know it. The listings that are powered by catalog feeds will be removed from the marketplace by September 13th, 2021. When these changes take effect dealerships will be required to manually list inventory one by one, but who has the time for this especially if you have a large amount of inventory. It also leaves room for error when it comes to the information provided on the listing and inventory that’s listed that may have already been sold off the lot. Maintaining this data manually could very well become a full time job in and of itself.

When it comes to Facebook listings we want to make sure customers see the most accurate and up to date information as this helps build trust between the client and customer. We also want to offer dealerships the option to work smarter and not harder. Savvy agencies will learn to adapt to these new rules and changes and use the tools available to get your inventory in front of customers. The biggest focus now is to work with your marketing agency to better define your audiences and push high value marketplace listings.

We have found a couple of  solutions and tools that you can use to your advantage when it comes to listing your inventory:

1. Make Use of the Inventory Tab. This is a place for your vehicle inventory to live so that customers can access it directly from your page. It supports partner catalog feeds which would reduce the work-load required with maintaing a catalog. you can also individually add these listings to the marketplace from your inventory tab or create an ad out of a single vehicle. 

2. Utilize Marketplace ads. If you still want to be able to list all of your inventory seamlessly on Marketplace, we have the option to run inventory ads that have marketplace placement priority. During our tests of this method, over 90% of traffic came directly from Marketplace placement, and less than 10% came from newsfeed placement. This approach creates an opportunity for customers to engage directly with the listing and inquire about more information. It also acts as a catalyst to grow your audience based on who engages with the ad and other people that may have similar interests.

Even though this may change your marketing strategy, there are still many opportunities available. Contact us today to find a marketing solution that fits your needs so you can focus on the day to day at your dealership.