Social media has increasingly become a part of our everyday life. It changed the way we all communicate, both personally and professionally. Driving word of mouth through social media platforms allows the consumers to spread the word faster and further at no extra costs. It’s every marketer’s dream for consumers to talk about their products, post detailed reviews online and tweet about its brand far and wide. According to Nielsen’s latest Global Trust in Advertising Report, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from family and friends than any other form of advertising. If your friend raves about a certain brand or product, you may want to purchase something from the same brand. Therefore, in a world dominated by social networks, creating that consumer buzz is something you have to do to make your brand stand out.

Build up your online presence
Making your business known is an essential part of attracting new customers, no matter the industry or size of your business. By improving your online presence, you can reach millions of potential customers around the world. Social media gives customers the chance to talk about your business online, essentially giving you free referrals. Use your website and the various social media channels like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or YouTube to post news, tips, photos and videos. You can also use the platform to ask and answer questions as you get to interact more with your audience. The more compelling and engaging your content is, the more likely your followers will like, comment and share your posts. This online buzzing translates into more interest about your auto shop.

The more you engage with your customers, the more likely they are to interact with you and portray your auto shop in a positive light through word of mouth. Be part of the conversation about your brand. It is important to respond to your customers’ feedback in a timely manner, regardless of whether they gave some positive or negative reviews. Those giving positive reviews are likely to be the ones that are intrigued by your brand and share it with their friends. Negative reviews though disappointing, should be responded to well to turn the negative experience into a positive one and hopefully increase the customer retention rates.

Continually creating shareable content for your consumers gives them a reason to keep talking. By doing this, you should better understand the mind of your audience, and continue to cater the content to their liking. There are some very simple tweaks you can make in your sharing that will make a big impact on how far your content goes in digital marketing. Post good news and accomplishments, holiday celebrations and specials you are running like contests on your social media. All these if done properly, will give your auto shop a significant boost in terms of creating awareness and connecting with your audience. For example, when Leneys, a woman’s apparel started business on Facebook back in 2011, not many people knew them. However, after launching a contest that was promoted using the help of Facebook ads, people started sharing the contest with their friends and flocked to subscribe to their page. That bit of social media marketing took their small business a long way. You’d be surprised at how far social media can take your auto shop!

Remember, it’s important to have service that is worth referring. Giving your customers something good to talk about. If a customer tells a friend about the great service they had at your auto shop, it could go a long way.