How to Run Facebook Ads for a Car Dealership

Running Facebook ads for a car dealership is one of the most effective ways to move metal and fill your service bays. Unlike traditional marketing, social media ads let you reach highly targeted, in-market buyers right where they spend their time. This guide breaks down exactly how to build, launch, and manage profitable Facebook ad campaigns that drive real-world results for your dealership.

Start with a Strong Foundation

Before you spend a single dollar, you need to set up your account for success. Rushing this step is like building a skyscraper on a shaky foundation - it’s bound to crumble. Taking 30 minutes to get these technical details right will save you headaches and unlock powerful advertising features.

1. Set Up Your Meta Business Suite and Ad Account

Your personal Facebook profile is separate from your dealership's business page and ad account. Everything should live inside the Meta Business Suite (formerly Facebook Business Manager). This centralizes your pages, ad accounts, and team member permissions in one professional dashboard, keeping your personal life and dealership marketing clearly separated.

2. Install the Meta Pixel on Your Website

The Meta Pixel is a small piece of code that you (or your website provider) install on your dealership’s website. It’s non-negotiable. The pixel tracks user activity, allowing you to understand which ads are driving shoppers to your key pages, like Vehicle Detail Pages (VDPs) and financing applications. More importantly, it gathers the data needed to show your ads to people most likely to take action and build powerful retargeting audiences.

3. Define and Track Key Conversions

What actions do you want potential buyers to take on your website? You need to tell Facebook what a "win" looks like for your business. Set up standard and custom conversion events for critical actions such as:

• ViewContent: When someone views a VDP.
• Lead: When someone fills out a "Get ePrice" form, trade-in valuation form, or financing application.
• ScheduleAppointment: When a customer books a test drive or a service appointment online.

Tracking these actions allows Meta's algorithm to optimize your campaigns to find more people who will complete them.

4. Verify Your Domain

Domain verification is a simple process inside Business Suite that proves you own your dealership’s website. This step is required to configure your conversion events and helps build trust with Meta, which can improve ad delivery and performance.

Choose the Right Campaign Objective

When you create a new campaign, the first question Meta asks is "What's your objective?" Your answer here determines how the platform optimizes your ad delivery. Avoid "feel-good" objectives like Engagement or Awareness unless you have a specific branding goal. For selling cars, focus on objectives that drive measurable business outcomes.

Lead Generation

This is the workhorse objective for most dealerships. A leads campaign is laser-focused on one thing: getting the contact information of interested car buyers. You have two main options:

• Instant Forms: These are forms that open directly within the Facebook or Instagram app. Because they pre-populate with the user's information (name, email, phone number), they have incredibly high completion rates. The tradeoff is that lead quality can sometimes be lower because the barrier to entry is so small.
• Website Conversions: This objective sends users to a specific landing page on your website, like a trade-in form or a financing application. The user has to take more steps, which often filters out less serious inquiries, leading to higher-quality - but usually fewer - leads.

Sales (Using Automotive Ads)

This is where the magic happens. Previously known as Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA), this campaign type connects your dealership’s vehicle inventory feed directly to Facebook. Meta can then automatically create ads featuring specific cars from your lot and show them to users based on their browsing behavior on and off Facebook.

For example, if a user viewed a 2022 Ford F-150 on your website, a "Sales" campaign can retarget them on Instagram with a carousel ad featuring that exact truck and other similar F-150s in your inventory. It’s powerful, automated, and highly personal.

Traffic

A traffic campaign is optimized to send as many clicks to your website as possible for the lowest cost. Use this objective strategically for specific use cases, such as promoting a blog post about "The Top 5 Family-Friendly SUVs" or driving awareness for a specific limited-time service special. Don't use it as your primary lead-generating tool, as it’s optimized for clicks, not conversions.

Dial In Your Targeting: Reaching In-Market Shoppers

Facebook’s targeting capabilities are what set it apart. You can move beyond broad demographics and reach people actively looking for a vehicle right now.

A Quick Note on Special Ad Categories: Because you will likely mention financing or credit offers, all car dealership ads must be placed in the "Credit" Special Ad Category. This restricts a few targeting options (like age and gender) to comply with non-discrimination policies, but there are still incredibly powerful ways to reach your ideal customer.

Core Audiences (Interest & Location)

This is your starting point for finding new customers. Your main levers here are:

• Location Targeting: This is fundamental. Target a radius around your dealership (e.g., 15-25 miles). You’re a local business, so make sure your ad dollars are being spent on people who can drive to your showroom.
• Behavioral Targeting: Use Meta’s "In-Market for a Vehicle" behavior category. These are users whose online activity suggests they are actively shopping for a car. You can even layer it with interests in specific brands you sell (e.g., in-market shoppers who are also interested in Jeep Wrangler).

Custom Audiences (Your First-Party Data)

Custom Audiences are your most powerful asset. They are warm audiences who already know who you are. These should be your top priority.

• Website Visitors: Create audiences of people who visited your website in the last 30, 60, or 90 days. Get even more specific by creating an audience of people who viewed a VDP but didn't submit a lead form. Retargeting these users with the cars they already looked at is a home-run strategy.
• Customer Lists: Upload a list of past sales or service customers (exported from your DMS/CRM). You can use this list for two things: 1) Exclude them from new-car purchase campaigns (no need to show a sales ad to someone who just bought a car from you last week) and 2) Create Lookalike Audiences.
• Facebook/Instagram Engagement: Target users who have watched your videos, liked your posts, or saved your content. They have already expressed interest in your dealership, now is the time to give them a compelling reason to take the next step.

Lookalike Audiences

Once you have a high-quality Custom Audience (like a list of your best customers), you can ask Facebook to create a Lookalike Audience. Facebook will analyze the shared characteristics of the people on your list and find new users who are incredibly similar to them. Creating a lookalike audience from your past sales list is one of the fastest ways to find new, highly qualified buyers in your area.

Creating Ads That Actually Convert

Your targeting can be perfect, but if your ad is boring, nobody will click. Your creative - the images, videos, and text - needs to stop the scroll and speak directly to your customer's needs.

Video is Non-Negotiable

If you're not using video, you're leaving sales on the table. It doesn't need to be a high-budget commercial. Authentic, smartphone-shot video often performs best.

• Vehicle Walk-Arounds: Do a quick 30-second tour highlighting 3-4 key features of a popular model on your lot.
• Test Drive POV: Show what it feels like to be behind the wheel.
• Meet the Team: A short video introducing a friendly sales consultant or a trusted service tech helps humanize your dealership and build trust.

Pro Tip: Always shoot video vertically (9:16 aspect ratio) so it fills the entire screen on mobile-first placements like Instagram Reels and Stories.

Use High-Quality Photos and Carousel Ads

If you’re using static images, make sure they are crisp, well-lit, and show off your actual inventory. Carousel ads are perfect for dealerships, as they allow you to show multiple angles of the same vehicle, different cars from the same model line, or a collection of your latest pre-owned arrivals.

Write Compelling Ad Copy

Good ad copy connects a vehicle's features to a customer's real-world problems and desires.

• Lead with the Solution: Instead of "For Sale: New Honda Odyssey," try "Room for the whole team and all their gear. The new 8-passenger Honda Odyssey is here."
• Create Urgency: Mention limited-time offers, specific stock numbers, or phrases like "This one won't last long."
• Include a Clear Call to Action (CTA): Don’t just show them a car - tell them exactly what to do next. Use strong CTAs like: "Tap to Get Pre-Approved," "Schedule Your Test Drive," or "Browse Used Trucks."

Final Thoughts

Running successful Facebook ads for your dealership hinges on getting the fundamentals right: build a strong technical foundation with the Meta Pixel, choose business-focused objectives like Leads or Sales, and use layered targeting to reach in-market shoppers. By matching sharp targeting with compelling, authentic creative, you can turn your social media presence into a predictable and powerful source of qualified leads and sales.

Of course, your paid ads are only one part of the equation. Strong advertising is supported by strong organic content, because an engaged community is more likely to trust your ads and become customers. At Postbase, we help you manage the organic side of social media with ease. Think of it this way: our visual content calendars and scheduling tools help you build brand trust day-to-day, while our unified inbox ensures you never miss a comment or question - whether it’s on an organic post or one of your ads. By keeping your organic content fresh and your community engagement sharp, you make every dollar you spend on ads work that much harder.