Everyone needs a car repair shop every once in a while. But this does not mean that all you have to do is open your business and the customers will come pouring in. There are other car repair shops in your area. What makes some more successful than others is the way they promote their business to prospects. In this article, we will show you how to create a successful social media marketing strategy for your car repair shop.
Social Media Is the New Yellow Pages
You may wonder why you need social media marketing. Shouldn’t you invest in flyers, a couple of ads in the local paper and maybe a coupon offer? The issue is that very few people bother to read flyers they get in their mailbox – they throw them to the paper recycling bin. Same goes for the newspaper. As for coupons, they may work if people know and trust your business.
And now we get to the social media. This is where you should start engaging with potential clients and encourage them to trust your car repair shop. If done right, social media marketing is a constant source of new customers and a way to engage with existing ones and keep them loyal.
How Social Media Marketing Works for Car Repair Shops
The principle behind social media marketing is simple: first you give something and then you can ask. The art of knowing what to give, when to give it and then whom to ask. And this is exactly what we will teach you in this article.
Also, you should know that an effective social media marketing strategy consists both of organic and paid reach. You cannot rely only on your posts and shares; you also need to invest in ads.
These being said, here is a simple and effective checklist for creating a strong social media marketing strategy for a car repair shop:
1. Select Your Channels and Have a Consistent Posting Schedule
Social media means many things to many people these days. Some people are very active on Twitter and Facebook. Others prefer visual social media platforms, like Instagram and Pinterest. So, where should your car repair shops have accounts? The answer is simple: where your typical customers are active.
This means that you must have a clear profile of your ideal customer. Also, once you have selected a few social media platforms, you must have a clear and constant posting schedule. Without frequent engagement, your followers will leave your page.
2. Be Social and Helpful Before You Make an Offer
How can a car repair shop be helpful on the social media? There are many ways in which you can incorporate helpful advice in your social media marketing strategy. For example, you can promote safe driving through posts and motivational quotes. You can create short videos, showing your followers how to troubleshoot a car problem, such as getting the engine to start on a cold winter day.
This type of social media content has a high engagement rate. People are looking for solutions to their problems on the social media to the detriment of Google searches. And once they received a helpful advice from your page, they will start trusting your car repair shop.
3. Use Messenger to Send Coupons and Annual Check-up Reminders
Messenger, the direct messaging platform developed by Facebook is a great addition to your social media marketing strategy. You can use it to send individual discount coupons to a selected audience, such as your most loyal customers or users who recently liked your page.
At the same time, you can use Messenger to remind your clients that their mandatory annual check-up should be performed soon. It takes just a little time to send the message and it will work wonders for the client’s loyalty to your car repair shop.
4. Create Social Proofs with Reviews and Testimonials
There is nothing more convincing than a person saying how your car repair shop sent a tow truck in the shortest possible time and fixed their car in a few hours. Word of mouth is the strongest form of promotion and you should do your best to generate as many testimonials as possible.
All you have to do is ask, once the repair is done. With the email thanking the customer for using your car repair shop, invite them to leave a review on Google My Business, your website or your Facebook page.
5. Use Ads to Promote Special Deals
Do you want to attract new customers with a special offer, such as free filters for an oil change? The best way to promote it is with Facebook ads. With Facebook you can:
- Select car owners in the geographical area you operate in
- Refine your selection criteria with other demographic and behavioural details, such as newly purchased car, recently moved into your area etc.;
- Select the type of outcome you want from the ad: awareness, consideration or direct action;
- Optimise your spending according to the suggestions made by Facebook.
In the end, Facebook ads will prove more cost effective than printing coupons and then paying someone to distribute them in mailboxes.
This is the backbone of your social media marketing strategy. However, you should continually work on it, improving it and adapting it as you go. Take your clues from the way your followers respond to your posts.