How many Facebook Ads have you clicked on lately?

Yeah, me too—not many. However, Facebook is trying to improve this by developing a new Facebook Ad API. Businesses “of all sizes” are intended to benefit from this advanced API that will detect Facebook users’ interests and send them Ads from businesses they would like based on those interests.

Does this mean a bold new era of marketing your business primarily over Facebook?

Kind of. Check it out:

This means marketing on Facebook is entering a newly aggressive phase in order to flex the muscles of direct social media marketing. Facebook’s intention with the new Ad API is to show marketers that businesses can find “warm markets” and friendly customers best through social media.

It’s the Charles Atlas program for Facebook’s prodigious potential marketing power. Facebook is tired of getting sand kicked in its face by Google! It has hundreds of millions of users—it knows, intimately, what content they’re interested in and how they like to interact with it. And now Facebook wants the marketing world to know that those users and their interests are for sale.

Does this mean a total shift in digital marketing’s focus is on the horizon?

Will people cease to say, whenever they’re looking for a business in their area, “Oh, just Google it”?

Will people soon be buying their cars directly through your Facebook Page?

No, not yet. And not by a long shot, considering that Google is on the attack in the social media marketing front with Google+. Google+ means more “interest” based data going to Google’s analytics, more interest-based Search Results and a whole “social sharing” component to help dictate search rankings.

It does, however, mean that Facebook is ramping up the fight over digital marketing share.

And for auto dealers, it means a new opportunity.

Consider this: What kind of Facebook Ad for your business would your customers respond to?

A whole car? Not likely. Few Facebook users would look over to their right-hand column on Facebook, notice a car for sale and think, “Well, shoot, I should buy that right now.”

This is especially true when you consider that most Facebook users that Like your business—meaning, have engaged with your Facebook Page—are existing customers. If they aren’t, they probably have demonstrated the kind “interest” in your Page that Facebook turns into data by having your business recommended by a Friend.

These aren’t, for the most part, car buyers. They’re car owners.

You know what that means—service appointments.

The bulk of data that Facebook is going to gather from its Facebook Ad API is from people who already own a car of your Make. They’re going to need that car serviced a lot more frequently than they’re going to need a new car.

Service coupons are just the kind of content suited for the Facebook Ad API: Your users are already committed to your Make. They’re in your area. They’re more vulnerable to a $19.95 price point than they are a $19,999 price point.

The new Facebook Ad API isn’t a game-changer. It’s an opportunity to step up your game for a critical part of your business.

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Read more Automotive articles on the TK Carsites blog.

Joel from Prestige Volvo attended the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp prior to NADA 2010 in Orlando FL. He listened to JD Rucker discuss several social media topics and had this to say about his experience.

JD and the rest of the TK Carsites team will be in room W102A conducting more social media seminars during the convention itself. For a complete schedule, please visit NADA Expo.

While doing a seminar at the NADA Convention during the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, we heard from Rick about what has been going on so far.

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Read more about TK Carsites on this blog.

Tim Jennings has joined the team at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp to bring another dimension to the world of marketing. For details or to sign up for the Boot Camp, visit the website above. Hope to see you there!

This “off the cuff” video briefly discusses what we will be doing before and during the 2010 NADA Expo in Orlando. We are participating in a pair of social media seminars scheduled at around NADA; this video details what differentiates what we will be doing versus what others have planned. Brian Pasch and Paul Rushing will be joining us for the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, while we will be joining KPA for the seminars at NADA itself.

We look forward to seeing you there!

If you’re interested in signing up, please visit Automotive Boot Camp.

Brian Pasch from Pasch Consulting, Paul Rushing from DealerBytes, and JD Rucker from TK Carsites will be putting together an Automotive Marketing Boot Camp for car dealers the day before NADA 2010 Convention in February.

The details are being put together now. The idea behind the Boot Camp is to have a full day of comprehensive training in the areas of SEO, Social Media, and other components of automotive Internet marketing that car dealers can use to improve their exposure and increase their leads.

Unlike most conventions and conferences, the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will be based on “usable” information and tools. There will be 8 sessions running at least 2 hours each. This is a hands-on training set up in a classroom format that will give car dealers practical knowledge that will help them take their marketing to the next level and beyond.

More details will be coming out over the next couple of weeks. Those interested in attending can comment here for now. An official website for the event is currently being built.

We look forward to seeing you in February!

Note: This is not affiliated with the 2010 NADA Convention.