Facebook Third-Party Data Removal: What It Means for Dealerships

Facebook has been in the news quite a bit lately for concerns around user privacy and data—and the major announcement to wind down Partner Categories over the next six months.

Partner Categories is a product that allows advertisers to use third-party data to target consumers directly on Facebook. The most popular third-party data providers used by dealerships and manufacturers alike include Polk, Datalogix and Oracle. These companies provide data on consumers who are in-market for a vehicle, are owners of vehicles by brand and segment, and includes their spending habits and more details.

For those who are actively running Facebook campaigns for audiences using these third-party data sources, here’s the lowdown on what’s to come.

Timeline for Partner Categories

Now – June 30, 2018

You may continue running Facebook campaigns with audiences built from Partner Categories’ third-party data.

July 1 – September 30, 2018

You may continue to run existing campaigns using Partner Categories’ third-party data, but you will be unable to edit them in any way (creative, targeting, etc.). This means that you will want to have all ad campaigns ready and scheduled to go live by June 30 for all of Q3.

October 1, 2018 – Beyond

Partner Categories will shut down and third-party audience targeting will no longer be available.

So from now to June 30, we highly recommend that you or your social media provider take advantage of this targeting while it is still available. Much of the available automotive data from these third parties is best used for Conquest consumers who may be in-market in your PMA. This data should be used in tandem with paid social retention strategies with your existing customer base.

The Future of Facebook Advertising

While much is still unknown, we do know that YOUR customer data is going to continue to be one of your biggest assets as you evolve the paid social media strategy for your dealership.

Custom Audiences will still be available. You will still be able to create audiences from your CRM and DMS data, so start to thinking about how you can reallocate some of your Conquest budgets for database-driven campaigns. Use your database to find the customers who are most likely to be in-market and promote great incentives to them. Or, target customers due for service with the strongest service and parts specials of the month.

Use your data to create Lookalike Audiences. Use your DMS data of customers who have recently purchased a vehicle to create a Lookalike Audience. This will target consumers in your PMA who have similar online behavior to certain customers, extending your reach without the use of third-party data.

Website Retargeting is a big opportunity. Tag your website with unique Sales, Service and Certified Used Facebook campaign pixels to retarget customers who are exploring your website with relevant ads, and keep pushing them down the shopping funnel.

Leveraging any combination of the above three campaign strategies will help set up your dealership for success and help you maintain great relationships with your customers and prospects in the space where they spend the most time online—social networking apps and websites.

For those of you currently running social advertising strategies with us that utilize third-party data, we will be in touch with you soon to provide detail on how we plan to shift either your custom or turnkey strategies. We’re committed to continuing to drive success for your dealership, utilizing your own data and the sharpest insights available. If you have any questions in the near term, please do not hesitate to reach out to your dedicated Social Media Marketing Manager or socialsupport@dsplus.co.