In 2013, Google launched its new Hummingbird search algorithm, the system the company's search engine uses to sift through the massive amounts of data on the Web. Among the changes to the algorithm is an increased focus on weighing social media content. That means search engine optimization (SEO) activities for businesses should include a healthy presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
"It's important to use social media as a tool to get in front of customers, but because of the search algorithm impact, this just has to be done," says Danny Sanchez, founder of Autoshop Solutions. "It's a question of how you do it, not whether or not to do it."
"To obtain a good ranking, things need to be seen on social media," adds Tom Zoebelein, director of marketing at Autobodyreview.com. "If you have a blog, make sure that goes out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc."
If you want customers to find your body shop when they search for repairers online, your shop's Web presence has to expand beyond maintaining a Web page. If you are a multi-shop operator (MSO), optimizing your search ranking is even more important, since you want the right location to be top-of-mind for the right customers in that geographic area.
Because Google is so widely used, and because Google+ has become a key part of how the search engine ranks information, establishing a presence there is critical for shops. And although it might seem a bit superfluous, Twitter is also important. "That is one of the only sties being completely indexed by Google," Sanchez says. "That has more SEO impact than the others, but you have to do at least Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. That makes a huge impact on your search rankings."
That doesn't even take into account things like Foursquare or Instagram, which can also have utility for body shops, provided customers are encouraged to share their location and photos in a way that gets the shop's name into their network.
Maintain an active presence
Remember, the primary goal of social media isn't to generate a lot of likes or friends for your shops; it's to generate leads. Keeping that in mind will help guide your approach to effectively using these sites.
"A few years ago everybody went to their 20 groups, and came back saying they had to do Facebook or Twitter," Sanchez says. "So they created accounts and turned the whole thing over to their kids, and then the kids went off to college and now there are a bunch of empty Facebook accounts all over the auto industry. You have to have regular activity on these sites. It doesn't have to be a lot, but you do need to manage the content."
Doing so effectively can generate good, local leads. Not only do you get your shop's name in front of potential customers, you can also collect e-mail addresses via social media using platforms like MailChimp and others, says David Moore, CEO of Collision Websites and Driven Digital.
"E-mail marketing is considered old-school online marketing, but it is still relevant and people engage with e-mails almost at every Internet device they own or have interaction with during their average day," Moore says.
You can also spend part of your marketing budget advertising on social media, which provides a relatively low-cost way to target very specific geographies and customer demographics.
Multiple sites for multiple shops
For MSOs, though, social media can quickly turn into a many-headed hydra that shop owners can find confusing and unmanageable. Depending on how your MSO is structured, the approach to managing your Web presence will vary. If each of your shops has a different identify (for instance, they don't share a common brand name), then they should have different social media identities as well. "If you have multiple stores branded differently, then they need unique social media positions," Sanchez says. "You can't run one Facebook page for them just because it's easier."
If the shops share a brand name and are located in a contained geographic area (one city, for example), then a centralized Web presence may make sense. "But if you have locations in different cities, my recommendation would be to create a second website for that geography to separate it from the original location, and create another Facebook presence," Zoebelein says. "On social media, you can also add more geographically specific items to the news feed. It just has to be quality content, not fluff."
"It's important those local stores have a social presence," Sanchez adds. "If you just put up one page because it's easier, there is a disconnect with the community of customers you are trying to reach. You're just spread too thin on the local level."
Content can be shared across pages for different locations, but the content has to be slightly altered in order to help boost search rankings. "Take social media as an opportunity to make things more geo-specific," Zoebelein says. "That way when someone is searching for a body shop in Cleveland, it will be viewed by Google's algorithm as a source of local content."
National MSOs actually have a larger social media challenge. "The essence of social media is to connect with a community, but with a national brand that's very difficult," Sanchez says. "Midas, for instance, is trying to reach people on the local level, but the franchises can't carry their own weight on the marketing side. They aren't going to run 280 Facebook pages to connect with people."
There are some tools that can help customers sift through multiple locations. According to Moore, a Facebook app called Bullseye helps companies set up "store locators" on their pages, and the tool is free for up to 1,000 locations.
Post useful, shareable content
Managing multiple Facebook pages, blogs, and Twitter accounts may sound daunting to owners who are already busy running their shops. Many MSOs outsource their Web and social media duties to outside consultants for that reason.
Even with outside help, MSOs still need someone in the shops to add location-specific information like photos, sponsorship events, shop anniversaries, and other localized content. "It doesn't take that long, and you can assign anybody to that task," Zoebelein says. "You just have to make sure they stick with it. You don't have to hire a marketing person. It can be an estimator or someone on the front office staff."
"For single store operators, or folks with two or three stores, they are better off outsourcing for the cost, depending on their budget," Sanchez says. "If you have ten or 20 stores, then you can probably afford to have someone internal, and hire a professional in-house to manage it."
Posting can be done during relatively slow periods. Sundays are good days to provide new content, since customers are often shopping and researching then.
Once you've got the resources in place, posting good content on a relatively frequent basis is important for maintaining search rankings. And since these are social media sites, someone has to monitor the pages and respond to comments in a timely fashion. Even if someone posts a negative comment, the fact that the shop quickly responded and (hopefully) resolved the problem can reflect positively on the business.
So what do you post? First, to avoid too many overt sales pitches. Make the posts matter. People won't see most of your content in their news feeds on Facebook, for example, if they don't engage your page relatively frequently. Videos and photos tend to drive traffic, particularly items that are likely to be shared.
"You can talk about the business part of the time, but most people aren't going to be interested in the fact that you just installed a new draft filter in the spray booth," Sanchez says. "They want to see tips on taking care of their car after an accident."
"People don’t really 'follow' body shops online, and when shops do post things it's always the same kind of stuff , like driving tips," Zoebelein says. "When someone comes to a body shop, it's usually because they weren't doing such a good job of driving. What they should be posting are things that are relevant to someone who has been in an accident. That kind of stuff is shareable.'"
Topics like dealing with parking lot rash or what to do if a car has been declared a total loss are good choices. That can prompt customers to ask questions online. "When you open up Facebook or another site to be an educational tool, people will start to engage with the brand," Zoebelein says. "Post things that will bring customers to the door and that can help them make decisions about how to take care of their car if they need those services. Answer questions that are on their minds because they just got into an accident."
Not all content even has to be business or vehicle related. "For one client, we put up a post about national sandwich day, and that got more engagement than just about anything they posted," Sanchez says. "People comment on it, and it shows up on their feed to their friends. It's a home run if it gets your name out there once they share that post. You have to look at the engagement levels."
If your shop has a blog, make sure that blog content is reposted on all the relevant social media sites. "And don't just blog, you can add calls to action," Zoebelein says. "If you do a blog on hail damage, then the shop can offer a paintless dent repair coupon, for instance. That encourages interaction and it generates leads, even if they don't use the coupon. And you share those promotions on social media as well."
And don't overpost just for the sake of posting. "If your feed is full is garbage, then people are going to drop you on social media," Zoebelein says. "If nothing is going on, then don't post anything."
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