Alternate thinking to GM's pull out of Facebook Ads
I was speaking with a marketing CEO about social media marketing's positives and negatives. There were three topics that really stood out:
• GM pulling their Facebook ads and repurposing them to other areas
• Social Media marketing not seeming to do much for small business-to-business lead generation
• the continued need for face-to-face or human interaction in the inbound marketing environment.
Today I want to examine GM pulling Facebook Ads and some alternate thinking.
Even though it does do some corporate sales, GM is still dominated by B2C. The items they sell are not small nor taken lightly but thought out and pricey. Unlike companies like Starbucks or other small price items, they can't put up a coupon for the first 100 likes for a new car.
Large brands like GM work to build brand loyalty by showing quality, safety, and trying to get the page "liker" to imagine themselves using the product. It's a long-term investment.
So why would a company like GM pull their Facebook Ads? Well simply put, they are a well recognized brand and no one buys directly from them except corporations but even then a local dealer will be involved. This is the key; local. Would it be better for GM Corporation to take out Facebook Ads or for "Smith's Automotive GM dealership" to take out a hyper local ad? Cars are sold through dealers which have the ability to make deals with corporate based on local segmentation. Some aspects of local dealer's marketing come from GM but most people see the "deal" as local.
So instead of GM spending $10 million on Facebook ads trying to get people to purchase their product, distribute that money to local dealerships that propose creative local marketing for use with Facebook.
Scenario
Smith Automotive which has been selling GM cars for several generations. Joe Smith started selling in 1952. Whenever someone bought a car, he took their photo and put it on a wall in the dealership. His son Tom took over in 1978 followed by Mary and her husband Bill in 2005. The business not only is known for great service but sponsoring charities, local events and even a scholarship. They are a just a great business. Throughout this time they have maintained the "photo wall".
Mary and Bill are net savvy and decided to take things to the next level. They have a Facebook page where they now posts some of the "buyer photos". They also have a blog about car maintenance.
When Grandpa Joe started, the area had a population of 20,000 but now it has one of 100,000. They've started to build long-term relationships with a larger community by providing more information to local car owners than others have done in the past.
GM likes what they're doing and offers them a $1000 budget for Social Media marketing. Mary and Bill create blog posts and facebook posts that really attract different segments of people. Some are for the gear head, some are for road warrior while others are for the soccer mom. All their ads lead to these posts and maybe their Facebook page. The segmentation is based on people within a 100 mile radius and on the people in those posts.
As a result, they could build massive local brand loyalty while still helping the corporate office. The local business is doing targeted marketing with a personal touch that the big wigs at corporate might not be able to convey.
In this way GM has a better chance for success by investing their online advertising with their dealers (crowdsourcing) and having them target buyers instead of relying on corporate bringing the people in.
• GM pulling their Facebook ads and repurposing them to other areas
• Social Media marketing not seeming to do much for small business-to-business lead generation
• the continued need for face-to-face or human interaction in the inbound marketing environment.
Even though it does do some corporate sales, GM is still dominated by B2C. The items they sell are not small nor taken lightly but thought out and pricey. Unlike companies like Starbucks or other small price items, they can't put up a coupon for the first 100 likes for a new car.
Large brands like GM work to build brand loyalty by showing quality, safety, and trying to get the page "liker" to imagine themselves using the product. It's a long-term investment.
So why would a company like GM pull their Facebook Ads? Well simply put, they are a well recognized brand and no one buys directly from them except corporations but even then a local dealer will be involved. This is the key; local. Would it be better for GM Corporation to take out Facebook Ads or for "Smith's Automotive GM dealership" to take out a hyper local ad? Cars are sold through dealers which have the ability to make deals with corporate based on local segmentation. Some aspects of local dealer's marketing come from GM but most people see the "deal" as local.
So instead of GM spending $10 million on Facebook ads trying to get people to purchase their product, distribute that money to local dealerships that propose creative local marketing for use with Facebook.
Scenario
Smith Automotive which has been selling GM cars for several generations. Joe Smith started selling in 1952. Whenever someone bought a car, he took their photo and put it on a wall in the dealership. His son Tom took over in 1978 followed by Mary and her husband Bill in 2005. The business not only is known for great service but sponsoring charities, local events and even a scholarship. They are a just a great business. Throughout this time they have maintained the "photo wall".
Mary and Bill are net savvy and decided to take things to the next level. They have a Facebook page where they now posts some of the "buyer photos". They also have a blog about car maintenance.
When Grandpa Joe started, the area had a population of 20,000 but now it has one of 100,000. They've started to build long-term relationships with a larger community by providing more information to local car owners than others have done in the past.
GM likes what they're doing and offers them a $1000 budget for Social Media marketing. Mary and Bill create blog posts and facebook posts that really attract different segments of people. Some are for the gear head, some are for road warrior while others are for the soccer mom. All their ads lead to these posts and maybe their Facebook page. The segmentation is based on people within a 100 mile radius and on the people in those posts.
As a result, they could build massive local brand loyalty while still helping the corporate office. The local business is doing targeted marketing with a personal touch that the big wigs at corporate might not be able to convey.
In this way GM has a better chance for success by investing their online advertising with their dealers (crowdsourcing) and having them target buyers instead of relying on corporate bringing the people in.
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