An Introduction to Social Media

Transcription

1 An Introduction to Social Media This document was composed by Elite Worldwide, with considerable contribution from Dice Media, for the use of the Elite Pro Service Colleagues. This document will eventually be available industry wide, but is being shared with you first to give you an edge on the competition, and to help you properly prepare for the Fall Pro Service Master Meetings. What is Social Media? Social Media is the use of web based technology for social interaction and communication. It is talking, sharing and networking through a mixture of text, photos, videos, audio, links etc. Social media sites present a unique opportunity to find and communicate with a customer base in your community. Typically, the social media approach works best for auto repair shops and dealerships in terms of brand building, increasing website traffic, and strengthening relationships with customers. Additionally, social media can be an effective way of notifying your customers of special offers and promotions your shop is running. Social media sites provide the opportunity to offer valuable content to your customers/fans/readers, so they have a reason to keep coming back and checking your page. *Note: Google and other search engines now index many social media sites, which means that social media is now becoming a more powerful SEO tool as well. What is Facebook? Facebook is a social networking site that allows you to connect and communicate with friends, coworkers and customers. It allows you to post online profiles including photos, videos, and information about your auto repair shop or dealership. Facebook can be a very effective and powerful networking service that helps create brand awareness and connects your shop to the local community, by strengthening existing relationships and building new ones. Facebook is extremely user friendly, and allows you to set up a profile page for your shop in minutes for free. Facebook has over 400 million active users, and its year old demographic continues to be the fastest growing segment. What a Facebook page can do for your shop or dealership A Facebook page allows you to strengthen the connection with your current customers, and provides the opportunity to start relationships with potential customers. Your page acts as a public profile that enables you to share your business, products and services with other Facebook users. When a customer interacts with your shop s Facebook page, that interaction can be seen by every subsequent visitor that arrives on your page. So when one of your customers writes thanks for getting my brakes fixed so 1

2 quickly, and at such an affordable price, every visitor that arrives on your Facebook page from that point forward will see the customer s kind words. You are able to edit the content your customers post on your page, in the event that a customer posts a concern that you d prefer to handle privately. The opportunities to generate new customers through Facebook are plentiful; as you are able to search the Facebook database and suggest your shop s page to all of your contacts, and your fans can recommend your page to all of their friends with the click of a button. How to setup a Facebook page step by step: Ways you can use Facebook to build stronger relationships with your existing customers, and generate new customers: Provide auto repair and money saving service tips to keep your customers engaged. Examples include tips on getting better fuel economy, preventative maintenance that can save customers money, interesting facts related to vehicles/auto repair, or anything you feel your customers will find interesting, Discuss your shop s services and introduce special offers to your customers. Make sure these special offers are mixed in sparingly with other content, as it is important your Facebook fans feel their relationship with you is one that is beneficial to them, and not merely a resource for you to solicit your services. As long as there is a healthy mix of selfless content provided, announcing a special offer can be a great way deliver value to your customers and keep your shop s name fresh in their minds. Incentivize customers to reach out and interact with your shop s page. For example, you could give special discounts for customers who interact with your shop s page the most, you could incorporate an automotive related question of the week and provide each customer who answers correctly with a service at no charge, etc. Ideas for building an online community using Facebook Reach out to all of your friends, family, co workers, suppliers, songbirds and long time customers and request that they become your Facebook friend. When they confirm, you can then use Facebook s suggest feature to request that they like your page. Every individual that chooses to confirm that they like your page, now has a relationship with your page, and will be notified when you post new content on your page. If you feel comfortable doing so, go through the same process for every customer in your database. To increase the number of current and potential customers that like your page, add a link and Facebook image to your website, blog, other social media sites, company s and any other marketing materials. You can increase the number of individuals in your Facebook network by participating in automotive groups and pages. In the search box at the top right of your Facebook homepage, 2

3 you can type in automotive and (insert your city here), and Facebook will pull up any profiles, groups or pages that contain these keywords. Join these relevant local networks to find new customers, contribute content and interact with your local community. What is Twitter? Twitter is a service that enables its users to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of succinct, frequent answers to one question: What are you doing? Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media platforms, and now attracts nearly 200 million visitors per month. Twitter allows you to write brief text updates (of up to 140 characters) and broadcast them to your followers. People can choose to follow your messages (or tweets ), just as you are able to follow the tweets of others. You can receive information, news and more from colleagues, friends, celebrities and politicians; as well as companies and service providers. Through your tweets you can share your own news, provide links to content you feel your followers will enjoy, or pose a question to your followers. As a Twitter user you will have a Twitter profile page, where others can see information about your shop, along with all your recent tweets and updates. Twitter provides the opportunity for shop owners to communicate with their customers, and can be an effective marketing tool when used properly. What a Twitter page can do for your shop Twitter allows you to connect with your customers and communicate with all of them at once. Imagine being able to send a text message to all of your customers at the same time, in a noninvasive way. It is a great tool for building relationships with your customers, as you are able to just say hi; or respond to their comments, questions, praise and concerns. Provides your shop with real time updates and valuable information from your customers. You can ask questions, bounce ideas off of customers and solicit feedback. Twitter enables you to increase the accessibility and quality of your customer service, as you are able to respond to customer service issues instantaneously. You are able to share links to articles, tips, and interesting stories with your followers. This can be an effective tool in bringing more traffic to your blog or website. For example, if you have an article titled 5 Tips to Save Money Maintaining Your Vehicle on your website, you can introduce the article (140 characters or less) on your Twitter page, with a link to the article on your website included in the tweet. If you are consistently giving out helpful links and information, you will develop mutually beneficial relationships with your followers. 3

4 Ideas for Twitter: To get your Twitter community started; reach out to all of your friends, family, co workers, songbirds and long time customers and ask them to follow you in Twitter. You can do this by sending an with a direct link to your Twitter page. Finding people and companies on Twitter is a straightforward process. On your Twitter homepage you will see a search box, which allows you to not only search for people, but also to seek out any term that has recently been tweeted. For example, you could look up automotive San Diego on your Twitter homepage, and Twitter will pull up all the most recent tweets that contain those keywords. This is a great way to reach out to people that are tweeting about the same topics as you are. You can also use search.twitter.com to search for related topics, tweets about your shop, keywords, etc. Encourage prospective customers in your community to follow you by providing unique, valuable content. Your customers can press the follow button on your shop s profile page to automatically receive your tweets. This, however, does not mean you will receive your customer s tweets, unless you choose to follow them in return. You will be notified through when you receive a new follower. To increase your number of followers, add a link and Twitter image to your website, blog, other social media sites, company s and any other marketing materials. Twitter best practices include listening for comments about your shop and responding accordingly, asking questions, posting links to content people would find interesting, retweeting messages (Passing along messages to your followers that someone else has previously tweeted) you feel your followers will enjoy, using a friendly and casual tone, and avoiding the perception that your tweets are self serving. What is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a business oriented social networking site with over 70 million users. It is the largest professional network, and is rapidly growing. LinkedIn connects you to other professionals, and enables you to exchange knowledge, ideas and opportunities with a broad network. LinkedIn can help you establish your professional profile, stay in touch with your industry colleagues, and help you identify other industry professionals as well. It can keep you updated on information about your competitors, and put you in touch with potential employees. Think of LinkedIn as a virtual conference or a professional mixer where you can meet people in your industry. Make sure you establish your profile with keywords that describe your company, and include a profile picture of you or your shop to help you build relationships. 4

5 What LinkedIn can do for your shop LinkedIn is more industry related networking than customer networking, although both are available. You can connect with affiliates, vendors, friends in the industry, etc., via the user friendly search bar that LinkedIn provides. LinkedIn offers a section called Summary, where you include your current and past accomplishments and goals. It also offers a section called Specialties, which allows you to showcase your special skills and talents. These categories allow you to communicate what makes your shop extraordinary, and attain more credibility in the professional world. LinkedIn offers a People you may know feature, which suggests people to add to your network based on certain connections you already have on LinkedIn. This allows you to connect with people that you might not have known were using LinkedIn. The more you connect with people, the more you will show up in the people you may know feature of other LinkedIn users, and the more connections you will be able to build. LinkedIn can be a useful resource to put you in touch with outside vendors as well. For example, if you are having a hard time finding a uniform provider for your shop, you can search LinkedIn for recommendations. Many of your potential future employees will have a LinkedIn profile, which presents the opportunity to post a job listing. There is a good probability that you will be able to find qualified, superstar employees through this professional network. LinkedIn best practices To receive more connections on your profile, you should include a LinkedIn image and link on your website, blog, company s and any other marketing materials. LinkedIn offers a great feature called recommendations. Encourage your industry contacts, employees, vendors, and songbirds to provide you with a recommendation, as they add credibility to your profile. LinkedIn users can provide you with recommendations by visiting your shop s profile and simply clicking, Recommend Elite Auto Repair. Find groups that have some connection to your business and start participating in their discussions (similarly to how you would participate in other blogs). At the top of your home page you will see a Groups button; click this button and the search box will then change from People to Groups. This allows you to search any group or keyword that has something in common with your shop. For example, if you search automotive industry, you will find groups such as: Automotive Management Professionals, Automotive Industry Professionals Worldwide, and Automotive Jobs. It is highly recommended to search for local groups first, then expand to groups that have members throughout the nation. Once you join these groups, answer questions when you can and add your expertise to build your credibility within that particular group. 5

6 Make sure you have a complete LinkedIn profile whenever possible. Your profile will tell you exactly what actions are needed for your profile to be considered complete (add a profile picture, add your education, ask for a recommendation, etc.) The LinkedIn website states that users with completed profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn. Use LinkedIn to help others: promote them, link to them, connect with them, recommend them and answer their questions. Odds are, at least some of these individuals will return the favor. Summary Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all provide valuable opportunities to cultivate relationships with customers and other industry professionals. They are rapidly growing social media platforms that more and more of your customers are using, and more and more of your competitors are taking advantage of. Each account takes only a few minutes to set up; and is free of charge; so start experimenting with how you may be able to use these platforms to generate new customers, stay in touch with current customers, and build relationships with potential employees, vendors, etc. Even if you aren t sold on the benefit of these resources today, when you consider the rapid progression of web technology and social media, it s hard to deny that they ll play an increasingly important role in the success of your business. At Elite we realize that social media platforms are constantly evolving, along with technology. Subsequently, the information in this guide is subject to change. We encourage you to use it as a guide, and explore each of the media listed in this document for new applications, features and benefits. Please also be aware that with all web postings, and web based communications, there are certain exposures to your privacy. Subsequently, you should use caution whenever posting or sharing any information that may put your privacy at risk. 6