Social media offers collision repair businesses a great way to keep their name in front of their existing customers – and in front of all the people those customers interact with on social media. Even just a modest number of “Likes” of your company Facebook page, for example, can help you shop show up in the newsfeed of the hundreds or even thousands of the “Friends” of those who “Like” your company.
ABRN asked some of the collision repair businesses using social media effectively – and some of the industry consultants who offer social media assistance – to share some of their tips for making the most of your investment in social media marketing.
1. Try them out. Start by using each of the social media options for a while. Facebook and Google+ both require you to create an individual account before creating one for your business. While you’re not certainly required to do more with that personal account other than enter the basic required information about yourself, using the social media personally for a while will help you get a feel for how it functions and what works (or doesn’t work) in terms of business postings.
2. Highlight your company logo. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ all allow you to choose an image that accompanies all of your posts. Mark Claypool believes that using your company logo as this icon is a key to building brand awareness. Claypool is the president of Optima Automotive, which provides website design and social media management for shops. He said Google+ will automatically render your logo to fit in its circular icon space. This isn’t true with Facebook and Twitter, which may cut off the ends of a horizontal logo that don’t fit within their square icon space. In this case, you can search for “how to make a rectangular logo fit on Facebook” for instructions on how to adjust it. Someone with basic Photoshop skills also should be able to add some additional “white space” to the top and bottom of your logo art file to have it show up fully in the icon space.
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3. Remember that social media is about being social. It’s about making connections with people. So don’t make it all about cars. Your “cover photo” at the top of your Facebook page, for example, could be an attractive shot of the front of your building if it looks well-maintained and professional. Even better, Claypool believes, is a nice photo of all your employees.
“But if it looks like a police line-up, you may want to rethink that,” Claypool said, noting that one shop shot its employee group photo at the end of a hot day when the technicians were covered in dust and sweat. “You want to put your best face forward.”
4. Interact with everyone who posts a comment. You double the odds that “Friends” of those who post on your company Facebook will see your name and logo when you respond to whatever they post – even if just to say thanks. Keep it professional but also friendly and informal.
5. Use graphics, video and photos whenever possible. Visuals tend to jump out at people using social media, more so than words. That said, don’t rely solely on before and after photos of vehicles you’ve worked on, which might not be of much interest to anyone but the owners of those vehicles. Goff’s Collision Repair Centers (https://www.facebook.com/GoffsAutoBody) in Wisconsin, for example, posts links to articles and videos (each with a photo) on such things like a truck made out of ice, on iconic cars used in movies, and on the shop’s involvement in donating repaired vehicles to those in need.
6. LinkedIn is more about business-related connections, so it’s less useful in terms of marketing to potential customers. But it can be a good way to connect and exchange endorsements or recommendations with insurance agents, owners of mechanical shops and towing companies, and other sources of potential referrals.
7. Hashtags can help extend your reach. Posting something about assistance your shop provided to a local non-profit? Include a hashtag for that group (“#NameOfCharity”) with your post. Anyone (whether they’ve connected with your business previously or not) searching for that hashtag will see your post.
Scott’s Collision Centers in Easton, Pa., for example, posted photos of some of the giant crayon sculptures the company painted for the nearby “Crayola Experience” attraction. By including a hashtag (#CrayolaExperience), Scott’s post would show up with anyone searching for posts related to that attraction, another potential way to reach new customers.
8. Looking for ideas for posts or Tweets? Consider some brief driving or car care tips. Share funny (but not apt-to-offend) bumper sticker messages. Remind people not to drink and drive, or text while driving. Promote local events in your area. Visit http://nationaldaycalendar.com to find out what a particular day or month has been designated (i.e., January 14 was “National Dress Up Your Pet Day”). Root for your local sports teams. Offer a discount or free carwash or other service to veterans, first responders, active members of the military, school teachers, etc.
9. Get them looking for your other marketing. Offer a reward to those who post a photo of your shop’s ad on a billboard or bus (or wherever else you advertise).
10. Contests and puzzles are a great way to solicit interaction on social media. Watch for good (perhaps car-related) trivia or quiz questions you can post, offering some reward for the first one to post the correct answer.
11. Keep it relevant and entertaining. Social media shouldn’t just be promotion of your business. It should offer what people are looking for on social media: humor, entertainment, items of interest and value that they will want to share with others. Don’t just tell people it’s important to have their airbag system properly repaired after an accident; post a link to Honda’s video showing what an improperly timed airbag does to a watermelon (visit ABRN.com/HondaWatermelon).
12. Social media can expand your “brand.” Unlike Facebook or Google+, Twitter allows users to set up a page that has much the same colors and look of their company website. This helps extend the look and feel of your company brand.
13. Encourage your customers to interact with you on social media. Include links to all your social media sites on the homepage of your website. Post a flier in your customer area offering some reward if they “check-in” on Facebook at your location. Include with the paperwork you give each customer when repairs are completed a flier that invites them to “Like” you on Facebook, follow you on Twitter, etc.
14. Use social media to boost your search engine standing. Two-thirds of all
searches are now done through Google, so setting up and using a Google+ page for your business (and building the number of “+1s” you have – the Google equivalent of a Facebook “like”) can’t hurt how close to the top your company is in Google search results. If you have videos used on your website or TV commercials you’ve produced, set up a YouTube channel and post them there; YouTube is owned by Google, so anything that drives traffic to that site could boost your placement in Google search results as well. Consider making some brief (under two minutes) videos offering car care tips for customers (how to wash/wax their vehicle, interior detailing tips, etc.).
15. Facebook enables you to “boost” a post, essentially paying to promote a post to not only those who “like” your page but to others on Facebook in a particular zip code or other demographic. Clicking on the “boost post” link at the bottom of the post will bring up information on the options and costs of doing this. This may be most effective for visual posts about your company’s positive involvement in the community.
16. Think quality over quantity. Work on developing a presence on one or two social media platforms before moving on to others. Some social media consultants say it’s ideal to send one or two Tweets a day, and post one to three times a week on Google+ and Facebook. This type of consistency is important but it’s also easy to lose social media fans if time and again they see no value or interest in your posts. So choose your posts carefully, If you’re not a personal user of social media, solicit help from someone (insider or outside your company) who is; that person can help provide you with input on the types of posts they enjoy seeing on social media.
17. Think of social media as an extension of what’s happening in your office. Using social media isn’t likely to quickly result in a flood of new business. It takes time to build an audience. But it’s a great way to keep your shop in front of potential customers. Just as importantly, it allows people to see how your business treats customers, how it is involved in the community, and how it is a trusted and professional source of useful and interesting information.
Eye-catching and engaging posts
Here are some examples of the sorts of things that could make good social media posts for collision repairers:
• Back in early January, ABRA Auto Body & Glass posted a link to an article with seven safer-driving resolutions for the new year. Visit ABRN.com/7resolutions
• You can never go wrong with an ironic photo of a car crashed into a body shop. Visit ABRN.com/CarCrash
• Dramatic weather events offer a chance to post about driving carefully – or in the case of sheets of ice falling from an apartment building, parking carefully. Visit ABRN.com/ParkCarefully
• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety can be a good source of interesting articles and video, including this dramatic crash between a 1959 and a 2009 Chevrolet. Visit ABRN.com/IIHScrash
• Enterprise last year launched a campaign to encourage drivers to get rental car coverage on their policy; it includes a funny video featuring a father stuck driving his daughter’s pink car while his is in the shop. Visit ABRN.com/PinkCar
• Carfax offers a free VIN check site consumers can use as one way to determine if a vehicle has been previously flood-damaged. Visit ABRN.com/VINsite
• Consumers love new apps for their smart phones. Links to automotive-related apps, like this one designed to help them find the lowest gas prices in their area, can make for good social media posts. Visit ABRN.com/GasBuddy
Putting the brakes on boring social media posts
Midas is among the automotive-related companies recognizing that consumers aren’t necessarily looking just for car care tips on social media. Just as Midas has used humor (delivered via a wise-cracking golden hand) in its television commercials, the company is also taking a similar approach on social media.
“Most people aren’t using Facebook to learn how to measure tire tread depth,” Brian LePorin, Midas’ director of marketing, said. “For the most part, social media users want to be entertained, inspired, and rewarded. If Midas can deliver the kind of content users truly want, our brand wins.”
Posts on the Midas Facebook page, for example, tend to be visual – photos and videos – and focused on humor: A photo of a koala bear at the wheel of a car saying, “It’s cool…I’m koalafied to drive.” A photo of a sign typo that reads, “Violators will be towed and find $50.” A photo of a puppy curled up in a car’s cup holder (“pup holder”). There are links to Midas TV ads, and to a story about a Midas technician who found a diamond ring – lost six years earlier – in a vehicle he was working on.
In just the first month of the new social media campaign last fall, LePorin said, Midas enjoyed more than a 10 times increase in its Facebook engagement rates.
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