4 Ways to Rev Up Your Car Count with Social Media Marketing

Did you know that Americans are exposed to an estimated 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day? Making your auto repair shop stand out in such a loud and crowded marketplace is not easy, but it is possible. To catch your prospects’ attention, you want to go where they spend much of their digital time—on social media platforms such as Facebook.

Currently, there are more than 2.5 billion active monthly users on Facebook, and Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes a day on social media. That’s a massive opportunity for you to connect with your prospects and customers. To build and retain your customer base, consider these four ways to harness the power of social media.

1. Target Your Ads

Facebook has an incredible number of ad targeting options that help your message reach the right audience. Targeting can be as wide or as specific as you want. Facebook offers three audience selection tools:

Core Audiences

Define your audience based on criteria such as:

• Location: Advertise only in the areas where you want to do business.
• Demographics: Select your audience based on age, gender, education, job title, and other similar factors.
• Behavior: Target your ads based on customer behaviors such as purchase history and device usage.

Custom Audiences

You can connect with people who’ve already demonstrated interest in your business, from loyal customers to website visitors using:

• Contact lists: Reach out to your customers and contacts on Facebook with information from your CRM system or email lists.
• Site visitors: Automatically create a custom audience from your website.
• App users:  Create even more targeted ads that encourage people to take in-app actions like making a purchase (such as $5 off a full-service oil change).

Lookalike Audiences

This is a fast, effective technique for creating a custom audience based on an existing source, such as people who have visited your website or people who are fans of your Facebook page. Facebook then delivers your ad to an audience of people who “look like” or are similar to that custom list.

2. Use Lead Generation Ads

Facebook’s Lead Ads help you easily collect information on future customers with pre-populated and custom forms. These forms make it much easier for mobile users to get the information they want about your business and for you to get a qualified lead. You can easily download the submitted information or connect it directly to your CRM.

To improve the effectiveness of your lead ads, Facebook provides custom features for quick-follow ups or higher-quality leads:

• Custom questions, to ensure you’re reaching the right people with the right information.
• Dynamic ads, to create messages based on what prospects have already shown interest in.
• Quick-to-call option, so people can call your business immediately after they fill out a form.
• Appointment scheduling, which lets customers tell you when is the best time to come in for service or repair.

3. Optimize Your Budget

Whether you have one repair shop or 10, there’s a limited budget for advertising. Ads Manager is your go-to place for running ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Audience Network. This all-in-one tool lets you create ads, manage when and where they’ll run, and track how well your campaigns are performing.

With Ads Manager, you can set either a daily budget, the maximum you want to spend per day, or a lifetime budget, which is the total amount you want to spend per campaign. With the ability to track and measure your campaign’s success in real-time, you can reallocate your budget to your best-performing ads, guaranteeing that you’re getting the most mileage from your advertising dollars.

4. Try New Social Media Channels

If your auto repair shop doesn’t already have a presence on social media, it’s not too late! Facebook is a great option to get started, but if you have potential customers under the age of 35, you may also want to consider running Instagram ads. Once you gain some traction there, consider expanding to other platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat for more diversified content and engagement.

You know that your shop is the number-one place for honest, expert service and competitive pricing. The challenge is letting your prospects know, too. With ever-evolving social media, you have countless opportunities to spread the word about your business.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed about the best way to promote your business on social media—or anywhere else!—contact UpSwell for a free marketing assessment. Our hyper-local marketing experts know the best strategies that will drive more customers right to your door.

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