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“Everyday you delay your social media marketing is a gift to your competition.“

That’s the advice given to businesses by Sherryn McBride, founder of marketing consultancy business Marketing Talks. McBride has partnered with the Motor Trade Association (MTA) in Western Australia for the past five years, offering
bodyshops a different set of tools for tradies with a crash course in social media.

So what is the value in logging into Facebook on the job? Firstly, it’s free and if used correctly as a marketing and communications tool, it can be a great way to interact with new and existing customers.

And in good news for the autobody industry, McBride says that now is the time to strike while the iron’s hot. “It is the era of building a trustworthy business so lots of conversations to fewer commercials on Facebook business pages means people will read your posts with more interest.“

She also has some honest advice for the type of information audiences want to consume.

“We get bored if every post is all about you. Educate, entertain and inspire your likers. Don’t just stick to ’the work you do’, branch out to things happening in your suburb, other ways to care for your vehicle, what people can do on the weekend etc. Think about the make-up of your target market and include posts that relate to their lifestyle.“

Wayne Phipps Smash Repairs in Western Australia treats its Facebook site professionally. The shop’s office admin executive Corinne Verdile is just one industry member who has undertaken McBride’s course and applied strategies to the business’ social media platforms.

Verdile says that the shop set up its Facebook page around three years ago and has gained positive traction in terms of engaging the local community. “We try to post anything that will incite comments – like topical issues in WA or if it’s Perth-based asking questions about what people think.“

And of course, Verdile believes it always helps if you can make the audience laugh. “That’s our main weapon.“ Verdile also mentions that the option for customers to leave reviews on any business page has worked well for attracting new customers.

“In conjunction with Google reviews we have had some referrals from the Facebook page.“

Aside from honing in on what content works best for capturing an audience, McBride offers some tips and tricks for how you can measure performance on Facebook.

“The Insights tab on Facebook is a great test and measure of your marketing, eg Insights > Posts > Times lets you see the time of day your likers are on line.

“Insights > People shows you the make up of your likers, where they come from, their age and number of males/females.“

She also says that building a business on Facebook doesn’t come without its challenges.

 

“Being consistent is the key. It is not much point starting a Facebook page, putting up a few posts the first week and then not getting back to post regularly.

 

“If someone goes to your page and sees you haven’t put up a post for a month or more – do you think you will capture their interest?“

 

Secondly, McBride tackles the tricky task of what to do to save face when a customer leaves a negative comment or review on a business page.

 

“Many businesses are concerned that people will put bad comments up. If this worries you, go to Settings > Visitor Posts and you can block people publishing on your page.

 

“The downside is you deny all the good interaction that can happen on your page.

 

“As every comment is fed through to your email anyway, choose an email address for someone who is on the computer a lot, then if something negative appears on the page they can jump in and delete the comment or respond respectfully to it.

 

“I think this is a better choice than blocking everyone’s comments.“

 

Over on the other side of the country one business in the industry that goes beyond just showcasing day-to-day business operations is Bodytech Automotive in New South Wales with Peter Christodoulou at its helm.

 

Bodytech’s Facebook page has attracted over 1,000 likes and features a range of content from before and after shots demonstrating its smash repair skills alongside happy customers, staff profiles, snaps from its weekly Friday morning teas and photos of its resident pet pig, Max.

 

Christodoulou appointed Kelley Storum to head the business’ website and social media, a role which Storum believes is a constant learning curve.

 

“I’m still learning myself to be honest. I make sure I’m constantly aware of what the customer thinks when they’re looking at a photo before I post.“

 

In fact, Storum believes that one of the most critical mistakes many bodyshops make when it comes to social media is posting the wrong content.

 

Photos of the shop are a start, she says, but social media offers a chance to boost personalisation with your audience. “We are posting things about the staff, about what the customers say...funnily enough it’s the photos we post of the staff mucking around that attracts the most attention.“

 

Storum is also fastidious about linking all photos and content posted to Bodytech’s page back to the website. “If we post a photo from a project we’re working on, a customer can click through to the website to then view 14 other images of the guys’ work.“

 

She says that although it’s early days, this trick usually generates around a click through per day – that could equal a new client or partner walking through Bodytech’s door. Strategically, Storum works nights and spends time queueing content to post the next day in order to benefit from peak traffic periods.

 

“I schedule posts to run each day at 08:15, 10:15 and 12:15. The earlier morning posts seem to work the best.“ Storum and the team are still in the process of building Bodytech’s presence on Facebook and she believes that the results will continue to grow throughout the year.

 

“At this stage, the reaches are high, the likes are moderate, but the comments are low.“

 

She says that she’s taken to asking questions in a bid to boost comments from customers or those generally interested in the automotive industry. “Mostly the questions are about the cars – ’can you guess the model?’, that kind of thing.“

 

For those who aren’t social media savvy, getting a grip on operating multiple platforms might be hard to digest but there are ways to ease the process.

 

If you’ve got a younger staff member working at your shop, the chances are that social media is their second language, so utilise them and save time if you’re having trouble figuring out the nitty gritty.

 

Additionally, McBride suggests two free platforms out there that are aimed to streamline social media management. “Making use of the free dashboards like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck means you can post once and the dashboard will duplicate the post on any other social media platforms you nominate.

 

“A great time saving tool and it will schedule them at a time and day you choose as well.“

 

First published in Paint & Panel magazine - Author Jess Power.

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