Shops Can Leverage Auto Aftermarket AI to Help Refine Social Media Ads

By Steve Buors

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping all aspects of businesses across every industry, and digital marketing is no exception. By generating creative, targeting the right audience at the right time and streamlining the advertising process, AI helps auto aftermarket businesses work more efficiently and effectively.

However, with great power comes great responsibility, and using AI responsibly and ethically is crucial to building trust, staying compliant and standing out in a competitive market.

The Rise of AI in Digital Marketing

AI is quickly becoming an everyday part of digital marketing. Across many industries, businesses are using it to brainstorm ad hooks, refine copy and messaging, design graphics and videos and improve campaign performance. In retail, real estate and even health care, AI is helping companies connect with people more effectively. Now, auto aftermarket shops are joining in, too.

For auto aftermarket businesses, AI can be especially helpful. Whether you’re promoting tire sales, oil change packages or service specials, AI can help you get your message in front of the right people at the right time, without spending a lot of time and creative resources.

Common AI Tools Used in Social Media Advertising

There are plenty of tools available that make it easier for busy shop owners and marketers to run smart, effective social ads. Some are built right into the ad platforms you may already be using, and others are add-ons that support your content or website. Here are some useful tools to try adding to your marketing stack:

Mainstream Social Media Advertising AI Tools

• Meta Advantage+ Creative: Meta’s advertising suite now includes a variety of AI tools to help you test different versions of your ad (images, headlines, audiences, etc.) and automatically shows the best-performing combinations, as well as generate image variations based on your source photos. When creating ads, there is a new “branding” section that allows you to identify your business’ default logos, colors and fonts to help Meta better represent your brand in their AI-generated images and text.
• Google Performance Max: This campaign type uses AI and machine learning to place your ads across Google’s entire network, including YouTube, Search, Gmail and Maps, based on what’s most likely to get you the best results.
• Content Tools: Programs like Canva, ChatGPT and Jasper can help you write post captions, create and edit visuals, find useful hashtags, analyze which creatives are performing best and tackle many other tasks.

Auto-Specific AI Tools

• Car Studio: Designed for car dealers and service shops, this tool uses AI to make professional-looking vehicle images for social posts and ads.
• Auto Listings Plugin for WordPress: Automatically displays vehicle inventory on a website with search features.
• WP Auto Listings: A more advanced WordPress plug-in with extra listing tools and customization for dealerships and parts sellers.

Best Practices for Auto Aftermarket AI & Social Media

AI & Content Creation

AI is changing the way businesses plan and create content. For content planning, AI tools can help you better understand your audience, what they care about, when they’re most active and which topics are trending. These tools can also suggest new content ideas by analyzing keywords, competitor activity, online reviews and performance trends, helping your business’s content stay relevant and consistent.

AI also helps with personalization by recommending content based on how people interact with your brand. This means you can create posts or ads that feel more tailored to the reader, often leading to better engagement. Some tools can even predict which types of content (videos, plain text, images, etc.) are likely to perform best among your customers.

When it comes to content creation, AI can assist in creating written content, including captions, ad copy, blog drafts and more. While it’s not a full replacement for human writing, it can speed up brainstorming and give you a strong starting point. The same goes for visuals; as AI becomes more advanced, tools can help generate and edit images, suggest video ideas and hooks, and even create professional-looking videos and animations using tools like Google’s VEO 3. These tools often still need a human touch to create the final product, but they make the overall process much more efficient and are continually improving their output.

AI & Targeted Advertising

Instead of relying on general audience categories and personas, AI can analyze your customer data like user behavior, past interactions, purchase history, and content engagement to create much more detailed audience segments.

This means you can target specific groups based on what they’re actually looking for and not just their age, location and general interests. For example, if someone has recently shown interest in brake upgrades or seasonal tire changes, AI can help you serve them a tailored ad promoting those services.

AI & Performance Analytics

Measuring how your ads are performing is key to running a successful campaign, and AI-powered analytics tools can make that process easier and faster. Social advertising analytic tools like Motion and MagicBrief can track important metrics like clicks, conversions, cost per acquisition, engagement and creative performance. They give you real-time data so you can see what’s working and where there’s room to improve in your campaigns and social creative.

What makes AI even more helpful is that, alongside the numbers it’s reporting, it can give suggestions on what can be improved. If an ad isn’t doing well, AI can recommend changes like adjusting your audience targeting or updating your video’s hook or angle. Over time, AI can also spot trends and highlight which campaigns are giving you the best return on investment.

Using Auto Aftermarket AI Responsibly & Why it Matters

While AI can make social media more efficient, it also raises important ethical questions. Using AI the right way isn’t just about getting good results; it’s also about protecting your customers and your brand. Here are a few key things to keep in mind:

• Data privacy: If you’re collecting information through forms, website cookies or other means, make sure you’re following state and country privacy regulations like California’s Consumer Privacy Act, GDPR and Canada’s Privacy Act, depending on where your advertising is targeting. It’s important to use your customers’ data responsibly and let people know how their information is being used.
• Bias mitigation: AI tools learn from patterns in data, but sometimes those patterns aren’t fair. Additionally, biases can be found in the data AI is pulling from, having a potential impact on the accuracy of the content it generates.
• Avoiding misinformation: AI-generated content can sound truthful, but it’s not always accurate. Always double-check your content to make sure all claims are correct, especially when it comes to pricing, specifications, features or service claims.
• Transparency: If you’re using AI tools to respond to messages or create social media posts or ads, be honest about it. Customers appreciate honesty, and it helps build long-term trust. Also, be aware that some social platforms like Meta may automatically add a label to AI-generated ads.

The Future of Auto Aftermarket AI

AI is evolving quickly, and it’s likely to play a bigger role in auto-related marketing over the next few years. To stay competitive, auto aftermarket businesses should adopt a mindset of test, learn and adapt. You don’t need to become a tech expert overnight, but being open to using AI tools thoughtfully and ethically is the key to future-proofing your marketing.

Steve Buors is the co-founder and CEO of Reshift Media, an award-winning franchise marketing firm.