Just about every client I work with is not leveraging the full power of social media for their business, brand, or purpose. I often hear “I am not doing that Facebook crap”, “that stuff is for kids”, etc… I hate to say it but if you do not start leveraging the social media train, it will chug right along and leave you and your business behind, far behind. Almost every area of the internet is moving towards social, everything is becoming social, and if your business does not start utilizing these different mediums, your competitors will pass you by and it will be hard to catch up.

I often get asked “How can Facebook help my business, I am a car mechanic, it has nothing to do with the internet!”, or something along those lines. Let us pretend for a moment that you are a car mechanic and you run your own business. Ask yourself, “how can social media benefit my business”, the easy answer? Engaging your customers! Every time someone brings their vehicle in for a repair, offer them $5 off of their bill if they promise to signup to your Facebook page and/or follow you on Twitter. Right about now you are probably thinking I went off the deep end, but seriously, it’s worth it. Even if you have 200 customers that do it, it’s only costing you $1,000 dollars. That may seem like a lot but it’s an investment. Okay, you gave your customers money off and they joined your Facebook or Twitter and now you’re out $1,000 and you’re thinking I am nuts. This is where it pays off, you now use your 200 SUPER targeted Facebook fans or Twitter followers to drive more business and sales to you. Once a week, put out a Facebook update saying something like “Winter is coming, get a FREE comprehensive inspection to make sure your vehicle is safe! Mention Facebook for the discount!”. What does this do? Probably 5 to 10% of your followers/fans will bring their vehicle in, you’ll find something wrong, or some way to up-charge them, you just producted 5 to 15 sales that you didn’t have before.

You could get more creative and do oil change specials, tune-ups, etc… the bottom line is that you are engaging your customers, keeping yourself on the top of their mind, and ultimately driving more sales and revenue for your business, not to mention building your brand because you know most of your competitors aren’t that far yet!

If you would like to discuss some social media strategies with a Mecty expert, please send us an email, give us a call, or make a loud noise and we’ll find you. Don’t worry, the consultation is free, we want to help your business. By helping your business, we help ours, and strengthen the community and economy, together.