SOCIALDEALER
Is This Your Business?0.0
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Author: Jenna Vasquez
SOCIALDEALER is a social media and reputation management team that focuses on the automotive industry, specifically working with dealers. Based in the Washington, DC area its entire client management team is Facebook Blueprint Certified, a professional certification offered by Facebook to demonstrate a person’s advanced level proficiency with the Facebook platform.
Its social team has helped automotive dealerships to sell and service more vehicles through its social media strategies. This can potentially save dealers time and money by outsourcing social media management to the experts.
SOCIALDEALER is led by veterans of the automotive industry, lending them expertise on the needs of dealers. For example, its Chief Sales Office, Jeff Clark, previously served as the Chief Sales Officer for DealerOn, Inc., a leading automotive website and digital marketing provider. Prior to this role, Clark held senior sales, marketing and management roles Cars.com, Dealer.com, and Auto-Bid Systems. This kind of industry expertise could prove valuable to potential automotive clients.
The company offers the following services:
- Social ad management
- Organic social management
- Reputation management
- Cause marketing via its SOCIALCAUSE platform
In addition to its core services that can assist dealers with social media advertising, reputation management, Facebook Marketplace, SEO, content management, and cause marketing, SOCIALDEALER also offers two specialty programs that set it apart: BMW Specialty Program and Fill the Bays.
SOCIALDEALER stands out as a Facebook Preferred Marketing Partner. It reports that its ads are high quality and operate at an average 99 percent efficiency rating.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Free Social Assessment
- List Inventory on Facebook Marketplace
- Platforms Supported
- BMW Specialty Program
- Partnership with Ally
Free Social Assessment
SOCIALDEALER offers customers a free social media and reputation assessment to interested dealers. This is meant to help you identify how it could help your dealerships engage with new shoppers, increase foot traffic and sell more cars. The assessment will provide you with an analysis of your customers’ organic social postings on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, and YouTube. It also will provide you with an analysis of your online reputation on sites like DealerRater, CarGurus, Cars.com, Yelp, Facebook, and Google.
Based on its findings, SOCIALDEALER can then recommend fee-based programs with customizable offerings that include the following: organic social posting, reputation management, and paid social advertising as well as SEO and other online services like assistance with listing your pre-owned inventory on Facebook Marketplace.
List Inventory on Facebook Marketplace
If you’re looking to purchase a car, you’ve likely looked at inventory and options online before showing up on the lot. Millions of shoppers look to Facebook Marketplace every day to find their new vehicle. SOCIALDEALER can assist dealerships with listing their inventories on Facebook Marketplace and communicate with them in real-time via Facebook Messenger.
Platforms Supported
SOCIALDEALER works with the most common social media platforms and it has the certifications to go with many of them. It works with its clients on the following platforms:
- YouTube
BMW Specialty Program
For BMW dealers or resellers, SOCIALDEALER is a great option. It has a BMW-certified specialty sales program that provides BMW dealers with tailored social and reputation services. This niche expertise with the BMW brand could prove invaluable and really sets SOCIALDEALER apart from competitors with more generalized services.
Once BMW dealers enroll in the BMW program, they can access core products and services such as social media advertising, organic social and reputation management, as well as add-on services like creative packages, SEO packages, and event campaigns.
Partnership with Ally
Ally is one of the largest auto financing financial institutions in the country. It has partnered with SOCIALDEALER to offer its dealer customers complimentary social media assessments. This partnership lends SOCIALDEALER a strong dose of credibility.
The Bad
- Negative Reviews
- Small Facebook and Social Media Presence
- No Price Information
Negative Reviews
While SOCIALDEALER has a small number of online reviews in total, it does have some negative ones. Customers thought that the social media campaigns that it worked on were generic and ineffective.
Small Social Media Presence
Considering that SOCIALDEALER is a social media and reputation management firm, you would expect it to have a much larger online presence than it does. At the time this review was written, the company had only six votes on its Facebook page and also only six reviews on Google. This lack of social media presence is confusing and potentially cause for concern.
No Price Information
SOCIALDEALER does not provide any pricing information on its website. Customers can of course contact its customer service team for pricing information, but it can be nice to have a ballpark of what services will cost early on in the process. One of its competitors conveniently provides monthly pricing plans directly on its website. We would like to see more transparency in the company's pricing.
The Bottom Line
For automotive dealers looking to boost their online reputation and sell more inventory, SOCIALDEALER’s expertise in the automotive reputation management space can’t be beat. It has years of experience working with dealers and its leadership team has extensive experience in the automotive industry in general. This specialty knowledge when coupled with its team of Facebook Blueprint Certified client management team members has the potential to greatly benefit car dealerships.
If you are a BMW dealer, we are especially impressed with SOCIALDEALER’s BMW specific program. It has multiple examples of its work with BMW dealers specifically. This kind of expertise could prove incredibly valuable and lucrative.
You will have to contact SOCIALDEALER for any information on its pricing and how the company bills for services. This can be inconvenient, but it does offer customers a free social media assessment. You may wish to ask for references or examples of past work with a dealership similar to yours, due to some negative online reviews. It is also concerning that the company has a small online footprint.
