Three Reasons Why You Should Use Social Media to Market Your Auto Repair Shop

Ten years ago most of us had never heard the term “social media” let alone thought of using it as a marketing channel. Today social media is an integral part of many people’s daily lives -- and many of those people are your customers and prospects. If you’ve been reluctant to add social media to the marketing mix for your auto repair business, here are some compelling statistics and three good reasons to embrace it. Social media is a measurable, highly effective tactic that any size auto repair shop can use to attract and retain customers and improve the customer experience.

What is it?

Social media are online sites where we can freely share and discuss information with and about each other and our lives, using words, pictures, audio and video. Well-known sites include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Yelp, Snapchat, Instagram, Reddit and Flickr. The use of these sites has exploded, mirroring the growth of smartphones and tablets.

Who uses it?

The short answer is just about everybody.

As of 2014, about 1.28 billion people use Facebook, 540 million use YouTube, 187 million use LinkedIn and 255 million use Twitter worldwide. In the U.S. there are nearly 200 million social media users -- that’s nearly two-thirds of our entire population.[1]

Seventy-two percent of U.S. Internet users are active social media users. And they look a lot like your customer base. They include:

·   89% of 18 to 29 year olds

·   72% of 30 to 49 year olds

·   60% of 50 to 60 year olds

·   43% of people 65 and older

And 71% of them access social media from a mobile device[2] 

These aren’t just individuals, either. Social media users include some of the nation’s biggest, savviest marketers. McDonald’s has Facebook and Twitter pages, so do Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and the NBA.  Samsung Mobile, currently #11 on the FanPage.com list of corporate brands with a social media presence, has 39 million Facebook Friends, and 231,662 of them are actively talking about Samsung’s company and products. Would you like 231,662 people talking about your auto repair shop? You bet you would![3]

What can you do with it?

·         Listen. It’s the #1 most important thing you can do, and you’ll learn quite a bit in the process. Negative comments can alert you to problems you may not be aware of. Positive comments can reinforce successful practices.

·         Ask. Asking questions is a great way to engage customers and prospects. Soliciting people’s advice or feedback can provide valuable insights, and position you as somebody who actually cares what your customers think. 

·         Participate. This is social media. Join the conversation, but do so in an authentic way. Respond to comments, even negative ones, in a positive manner that shows you’re listening and willing to fix problems. Avoid blatant sales pitches; social media is about building relationships.

·         Contribute. The saying goes that online content is king, but only if that content is of value to your customers and prospects. If you can make it educational and fun, so much the better. Post useful tips, short items on industry news, information and reviews about new products, even pictures. Good posts go viral, and they support your search engine optimization efforts.

What’s in it for your auto repair shop?

For a relatively small investment in time and resources, even a modest social media strategy can help your auto repair shop:

1. Retain customers and build loyalty. It can cost 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it costs to keep an existing one. And, satisfied customers are one of the best sources of new business referrals.

2. Acquire new customers. Social media opens up a rich vein of prospects beyond the usual insurance company referrals. According to HubSpot.com, 52% of all marketers have found a customer via Facebook in 2013.[4]  

3. Manage the customer experience. Social media can serve as first-rate, low-cost primary research that alerts you to problems so you can address them quickly.

Don’t have time for this? Mitchell’s new RepairCenter™ Customer Engagement Tools include packages that can help you manage your brand presence online. Learn more here.

So what do you think? Let us know about your experiences and opinions of social media marketing. 

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[1] “A Brief History of Social Media,” http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/NewMedia/SocialMedia/SocialMediaHistory.html

[2] “Marketing Digitally: From Stress to Simplicity,” http://www.slideshare.net/FrankTerlep/marketing-digitally-from-stress-to-simplicity, Slide 27

[3] http://fanpagelist.com/category/corporate_brands/view/list/sort/fans

[4] http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/18-fresh-stats-about-social-media-marketing