Let’s Talk Social Media
Mary Shallies of AdSource talks about how to attract and connect with customers at your car wash in her upcoming Professional Carwashing and Detailing cover story article. Read what Mary had to say about the topic of social media.
Great logo. Awesome billboard. You’re getting there! Have you heard about this thing called Facebook? How ‘bout Google+? Instagram? Social media is here to stay and it’s only getting more important. Here is a space where you can dominate your competition with photos and customer reviews, all while boosting your search engine rankings! If you don’t have a social media presence, the time is now. Facebook, Google+ and Instagram are hot for car washes. If you don’t know the difference, or why to select one over the other, time to talk to a pro. An entire article could and should be devoted to it, but we’ll suffice to say, carpe diem!
Before you get started in social media, develop a strategy. Who will be posting? Your manager is likely too busy making sure your customer experience is everything it should be. He or she shouldn’t be distracted with trying to figure out what the next widely creative post is going to be about. Nice thought, but it isn’t happening. If you as the owner can’t take on the task, you could contact your closest university or college and hire a recent graduate with a degree in digital media and/or marketing/public relations. There are also great marketing firms out there who manage multiple social media accounts to whom you can outsource your social media strategy. Regular, interesting posts, a minimum of three times per week, that aren’t always about your car wash, should be your goal. And remember, pictures, pictures, pictures!
Lastly, consider a Facebook advertising campaign to build your likes. Facebook will “walk you through” building your campaign. You set the budget and monitor which ads are working and which aren’t. You can spend as little as $5 per day but $10 – $15 will garner you more likes more quickly. There are other ways to attract likes, like boosting posts, offers and contests through third party apps. You can quickly see it starts to get a bit overwhelming, so if you can afford to outsource this key marketing component, do it.