Honda of Ocala : Facebook Marketing Case Study in Ocala, FL

I am smack dab in the middle of my first trial using Facebook Offers to drive repair order counts at one of our stores. My guinea pig is our Honda of Ocala dealership. I am using Honda of Ocala cause we are smack dab in the middle of a car giveaway as well and that Facebook page has quite a bit of new fans (many not our core customers) and lots of activity.

http://www.facebook.com/HondaOfOcala/ 

1) Choosing the Offer:

The offer we chose was one that had done well in previous mail outs. I wanted to make sure that the offer would never be in question only Facebook's ability to get customers attention and to get to try our service center.

One thing I have realized is that with our mail outs we had more of a captive audience: our past customer. Also most of that audience was familiar with our location and more than likely still owned a Honda vehicle. On Facebook especially within the contest of our Civic giveaway we have less than a focused target. Our Facebook fans (knowing 70% of our fans had come in the last 30 days) more than likely drove other makes and models.

What I am getting to is that perhaps our offer could have been more focused on those that drove other makes outside of the Honda brand. Also a more inexpensive offer with less bundled "features" may have been a better approach. So moving forward our next offer may be simplified at a lower price point with a focus on non-Honda customers.

2) Implementation:

The offer was built as our "Facebook Special" and was "re-shared" across our platform each day and promoted as well for $5.00. We decided to promote the ad so that "friends of our fans" would have exposure to the ad as well.

We created a separate operation code for our DMS system and began the offer on Friday August 10th at around 3pm. While it is only Tuesday of the following week and we only have around 5 coupon redemptions it's probably not too early to look at the success of the campaign from an impressions and "claimed" standpoint.

Our most successful post was our first "Offer launch" on the 10th.

3) Results of First Post

As of today we have had 828 organic impressions through our timeline. We have a little more than 1100 Facebook fans but this seems to be a good number.

The key here is seeing over 2,600 "Viral" shares meaning that our fans shared the offer to their friends. This increasingly supports the notion that people can and will use Facebook to seek and find offers much like a Groupon or discount website.

The remaining impressions were 1150 some "paid" and supported listings working out to about 4,655 total post impressions.

4) Conclusion of our " Honda of Ocala " case study:

As of current date (5 days after launch) we have 33 offers claimed with a combined reach of 8,558 and 87 Engaged Users and 65 Clicks resulting from low cost promotions. Total dollar amount spent $30.55 in promoted ad spend. Conclusion will have to wait to see who has actually come into our facility off the offer but so far Facebook looks like a viable campaign medium for our Service department.

http://www.hondaofocala.com

http://www.morganautogroup.com

http://www.facebook.com/MorganAutoGroup

Honda of Ocala's "Facebook Special" - August Service Special

Honda of Ocala is experimenting with Facebook offers by building their own very hard to resist August Service Offer. It's called, well, the Honda of Ocala "Facebook Special."

What is it?

Oil change, Tire Rotation, Breakfast or Lunch and a Complete Car Wash for $29.95? Yes! It’s called the Honda of Ocala “Facebook Special.” Simply show your Service Advisor this post on your timeline or ask for the “Facebook Special.”*

You can find our offer here: https://www.facebook.com/HondaofOcala and subscribe by "liking" our Facebook page. We like to be where our customers are and we are thinking we are fairly progressive with our Facebook service campaign. What are your thoughts? 

*Offer expires 8/31/2012 and is only valid at Honda of Ocala. Excludes synthetic oil. Hybrids and some models requiring 0-20W oil are slightly higher. Plus tax, shop supplies and disposal fees. Cannot be used on previous services and cannot be combined with other offers. See Dealer for details at 1800 Southwest College Road in Ocala or call (352) 867-1900.

Honda of Ocala is in Philadelphia to Preview the All New 2013 Honda Accord

Car launches are exciting things but they also can be well over hyped. So as I sit here in Philadelphia polishing off a fine lunch trying to remember all the new information just served to me ... all I can say is. I'm am excited about the new Honda Accord.

First off Honda (while a very conservative car company) seems to be dialed into consumers wants and needs. The All New 2013 Honda Accord will include a standard rear view camera, SMS texting, bluetooth, HondaLink, USB-Smart Phone-Connectivity along with an array of new available options like Blind Zone Camera and Alert, Lane Departure Warning and Forward Collision Warning Sensors as well. While the body style to me isn't a rapid departure from the last generation Accord you can see a noticeable effort from Honda to reduce the size of the A-pillar thus giving the driver better visibility.

Also Honda is touting increased efforts to lower road noise with increased sound dampening technology. The performance and handling of the Accord chassis also benefits from new technology --- so the "fun to drive" aspect of this Honda is not in danger of going away. And perhaps the best part --- the price of this new Accord is not believed to be far from the current model year pricing on the 2012 Accord.

Also this Accord will see the debut of Honda's new Earth Dreams Powertrain. I also believe I heard Honda say that they will have a 4-Cylinder Sport Model with Paddle Shifters (FUN!) as well as two Powertrain variations of the Hybrid model as well.

I am excited for the All New 2013 Honda Accord and I think we will do quite well inside of our three Morgan Auto Group Honda stores: Honda of Ocala, Honda of Gainesville and Brandon Honda. I am most excited that Honda has taken the time to invest in options and technology that people seem to actually want and safety features that will save lives (no doubt).

The new 2013 Honda Accord will press into production in September of 2012 and the Honda marketing blitz begins on September 19th. Expect a message from Honda that resonates with car buyers and the useful technology that is represented in the new Accord. All in All these are very exciting days for the Sedan buyer.