Facebook originally built buy and sell Facebook groups to help people connect and hock what they had to sell. Now, Facebook built a standalone marketplace for those 450 million people who visit those groups every month. Facebook calls it a “convenient destination to discover, buy and sell items with people in your community."

Facebook Marketplace is in its infancy right now, but it’s going to have huge potential. Here are some ways your dealership can take advantage of this new platform.

Buying in Facebook Marketplace

You can think of Facebook Marketplace like Craigslist’s classified ads for dealerships. Facebook Marketplace lets you search for something you would like to buy, either locally, or in a different city, and you can message the seller directly. Facebook is not currently facilitating payments or delivery, but you can almost guarantee that they will in the future. They’re a publically traded company after all.

Selling in Facebook Marketplace

To sell an item in Facebook Marketplace, you:

1. Take a photo of your item from your cell phone and add it from your camera roll

2. Enter a product name, description and price

3. Confirm your location and select a category

4. Post

How dealerships can benefit from Facebook Marketplace

You already know what is selling well at your dealership, or at least you should. Now your sales team, or internet sales manager, can use Facebook Marketplace to reach out to consumers, offering to buy what they’re selling and get them into something new at your dealership. You can also offer to just buy it from them, which may be better received and less “spammy”

Facebook offers a cars, trucks and motorcycles category and you can filter by price and location. Expect more filters in the future if the marketplace is widely adopted.

As mentioned earlier, Facebook Marketplace is not technically for businesses yet, but you can use your personal Facebook page to start taking advantage it. Get your feet wet now, while it’s still new, and your dealership will surely benefit. 

Adam Goldberg is the marketing manager at LotVantage, a provider of digital marketing solutions for automotive, marine, powersports, RV, trailer and outdoor power equipment dealerships. He can be reached at agoldberg@thatus.com. You can also access more social media tips at motors.lotvantage.com/blog.