If your efforts to leverage Facebook to connect with potential customers and grow the awareness of your auto repair shop have fallen flat, read on for tips on how to nurse it back to health and help it thrive.
Unfortunately, many repair shops have heard the message that Facebook is critical for their business…without understanding how to successfully utilize it. If you are approaching Facebook with a “sell, sell, sell” philosophy then you’ve likely done more harm than good and you’d be better off buying Facebook ads. Followers who see that approach will either turn you off or ignore you.
You have to earn the right to get your followers’ attention. We recommend that you use the 80/20 rule, which we outlined in our post from two years ago – 4 Great Facebook Posts for Auto Repair Shops. If you haven’t read that, I encourage you to.
The way to earn your followers’ attention is to Educate, Engage and Entertain!
Educate
Help people understand as much about their vehicle as possible. Teach them how to take care of their car or truck, and how to prolong its life. Help them understand how the way they drive affects their vehicle.
A lot of these things may seem very basic to you as an expert, but the average car owner doesn’t live in your world. Also, don’t be afraid that you are giving away too much information that would allow a DIYer to make repairs or conduct maintenance on their own. The right audience will greatly appreciate your efforts to help them understand their vehicle, will see you as the expert and will reach out to you any time they need service.
Here are a handful of categories of potential educational Facebook posts:
- How do the different parts of a vehicle work and/or what’s their purpose?
- What do certain sounds mean from their vehicle?
- How to prepare for and deal with emergencies
- What is truly an emergency
- How to clean specific parts of their vehicle
- Safe driving tips
Engage
To truly connect with your followers and help them remember your shop, you want to get them involved. You want to try to get them to respond to your post, whether that be likes, or better yet, actual typed responses. Ask them about things they will care about. They don’t have to be things that are automotive-related. Try to make it personal.
Our post from two years ago – 11 Ways to Boost Your Auto Repair Shop’s Facebook Engagement – includes some great ideas for specific posts, and here are some additional ideas:
- First car
- Favorite car
- Favorite road trip
- Tie-ins to local events
- Tie-ins to current events
Entertain
If all you do is focus on Educating and Engaging, that is absolutely fine. You will still be using Facebook better than 90% of all the auto repair shops out there. BUT, if you are willing to take the plunge and make the effort to entertain your followers, you can drive the connection to a whole new level.
Right now, entertaining videos are all the rage and the quickest way to go viral. Think of the popularity of TikTok. You don’t have to try to be the next TikTok superstar, but if you can easily shoot some videos with some comedy on your phone, you could make your shop more memorable in your potential customers’ minds. And you can also boost your chances of them sharing those videos with their friends, further expanding your memorability.
Again, this is optional, but great if you are willing to do it.
Earn the opportunity to promote
These three e’s lead us to a bonus e, which is Earning the opportunity to promote. If you use the vast majority of your Facebook posts to Educate, Engage and Entertain your followers, you will Earn the opportunity to promote your business. That enables you to post your promotions and your calls-to-action if somebody needs maintenance or repair, without them getting the impression that all you do is sell, sell, sell.
Facebook is a place people go to connect with friends, family and community. By seeking to connect with them first in that way, you will be able to multiply the value of your efforts on the platform.
If you’d like to learn more about how we help our customers Educate and Engage their audience, call us at 855-294-6397 or schedule a meeting with us at a time that’s convenient for you!