Facebook’s Bob Lanham discusses 2021 marketing trends and what’s next for the platform

2020 has been an unforgettable year for the automotive industry for a variety of different reasons. As we look back on the year in automotive retail, we want to hear from Bob Lanham, who shares a unique perspective on the industry from his position as head of automotive retail at Facebook. Today, Lanham discusses the end of the year and the new offerings Facebook recently rolled out for car dealers.

According to Lanham, the biggest takeaway from this unpredictable year has been the acceleration of digital retailing implementation. For automotive marketers and advertisers, this has meant re-evaluating dealers’ second or third largest expenditure, and changing the marketing strategies based on consumer demands and expectations.

In this segment, Lanham and anchor Jim Fitzpatrick take a deep dive into the following:

• The impact that this year has had on the automotive industry as a whole
• What industry trends Lanham will expect to continue in the new year
• What dealership marketing teams should be doing now as they prepare for 2020
• The new offerings that Facebook has recently rolled out and how dealers can take advantage of them
• What’s next for Facebook as they remain competitive with third-party websites like Cars.com, Autotrader, and other dealer website providers

Prior to his role as head of automotive retail at Facebook, Lanham has held positions at some of the most popular and best-performing tech companies in the U.S. including Hulu, Yahoo! Inc., Shazam, and Microsoft. He also has experience at the dealership level, previously working for Toyota of Sarasota.

Did you enjoy this interview with Facebook’s Bob Lanham? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic with host Jim Fitzpatrick at jfitzpatrick@cbtnews.com.