Meta on Wednesday announced that it entered into a strategic partnership with the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) to digitally enable thousands of auto dealers across the country to reach consumers digitally.
The announcement came at the Auto Expo 2023, where Meta announced the launch of ‘Move with Meta’, a programme in partnership with FADA, to upskill more than 3,000 auto dealers across the country to build a social presence and digitise using Meta Platforms. FADA currently represents 15,000 auto dealers across the country.
Meta in a statement said with people increasingly relying on digital touchpoints to decide on their automobile purchases, auto dealers feel an urgent need to become discoverable to customers online.
It said Meta platforms enable auto dealers to build a social presence through key products such as Stories, Reels, Business messaging, Facebook and WhatsApp groups and augmented reality (AR) experiences.
Saugato Bhowmik, Director – Auto, CPG, and D2C for Meta in India, said, “Over the last two years, we’ve enabled more than 2,600 dealers to digitise their outreach and experiences through our unique solutions and tools. We are thrilled to now be joined by FADA on this journey to further unlock growth for auto dealers and in turn for OEMs across India.”
Manish Raj Singhania, President of FADA said, “With Meta’s wide reach across the country including in smaller towns, and adoption by people across age-groups, it’s among the strongest platforms for auto dealers to leverage and generate leads online.”
According to the statement, FADA will play a pivotal role in ensuring the seamless delivery of the ‘Move with Meta’ program across geographies to enhance the digital prowess and proficiency of automotive dealers of all sizes. It said the programme would incorporate knowledge from global teams and provide dealers with easy and low-cost access to best-in-class global digital expertise. Meta said it would also leverage FADA’s scaled forums such as state-level dealership workshops known as Vyapaar and its initiatives for under-35 dealers to enhance the reach of the programme.
Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “MSIL launched the Maruti Suzuki Hyperlocal Program in July 2018 for its dealer partners… Today, we have over 2,500 live outlets under this initiative and a majority of them are live with media. We collaborate with Meta to enable customers to discover dealers near them in their auto purchase journey, digitise dealerships, set up online storefronts and set up a direct online lead generation channel for them and help dealerships build a local brand and engage with customers on Meta”
Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Growth Officer, Hero MotoCorp, said, “The dealer digitisation initiatives by Meta in one stroke serve the consumers, dealerships, and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) equally. We have been partnering closely with Meta on the dealer digitisation programme and we are now enhancing this association by rolling out an AI (artificial intelligence) powered platform for the marketing needs of our dealers.” (ANI)
