From staying in front of your customers to acquiring new ones, social media offers many opportunities in the automotive industry. Social platforms continually release new products and features to take advantage, so your social media presence can reach the next level. Unfortunately, with all the great things happening, we still see some very common mistakes being made. Read below to see the top six social media mistakes and some tips on how you can fix them!

1. Having numerous accounts on one platform and/or not having access to them.

I’ve heard it so many times: My [former technician, daughter’s husband, old intern, etc] created a Facebook page for our shop a long time ago, but I don’t know how to access it. Can you just create a new one? The quick answer is yes, I can do it, but I absolutely do not recommend it – from SEO reasons to just avoiding confusion that might arise from duplicate accounts. Having access to accounts representing your business online is very important. Even if someone else is managing those accounts, having access is vital. Here are some tips to clean up that business page!

2. Focusing on Spread Rather than Depth

There are so many social media platforms on which your business can have an account, and new platforms are popping up all the time. Choosing platforms your current and potential customers are on is important, and making sure you’re focusing your efforts on those selected platforms is going to ensure you’re seeing the most return for your time and resources.

3. Arguing/Deleting/Reporting Negative Reviews

Reviews are an increasingly important step in the customer journey, and both positive and negative reviews offer great opportunities for your business to show its values and personality. There’s a great opportunity to respond to a negative review in a constructive, positive way, but all too often, I see an accusatory, defensive or argumentative response from someone at the shop. Even if the review is completely incorrect, find a way to respond in a professional manner. Here are some tips on responding to negative reviews if you’re struggling to get started, and be on the lookout for our new Reputation Management program!

4. Only Using Social Media to Advertise

Social media is different than other online marketing platforms, and it is important to treat it as such. It’s important to offer your followers engaging content, so you stay front of mind and top of their feeds. If you need some tips on creating engaging, share-worthy content, check out this blog post. And remember: Post consistently. Keeping up with your social media accounts is vital, and taking advantage of scheduling posts can help you drastically. If you started a Facebook business page back in 2013 and you haven’t posted since 2014, a potential customer could think your business is closed. Customers will not do a ton of research to see if you really went out of business or not because your competitor next door who keeps up with his social media is just as easy for that potential customer to go to.

5. Throwing Money at Facebook Ads without a Plan

If you make the decision to do Facebook Ads (which we encourage!), you need a plan. Simply putting a few, or hundreds of, dollars behind a post with no real goal other than to get Likes is about as good as you paying for premium gas when your car takes regular. Just like your vehicle, you need to take care of your Facebook Ads. Work should go into creating them, and they need to be maintained, making adjustments when necessary. There are many different types of Facebook ads, so defining your goal can help you choose the correct one, but the work doesn’t stop there. We have our 3 favorites, but there are many more to choose from. Facebook ads management comes with our social package, so if you want to learn more about how you can get them done the right way, contact us today!

6. Simple Technical Mistakes – Misusing Hashtags and Sharing/Liking

There are a few mistakes I see made on social media that are seemingly insignificant, but they can easily add up to make it look like you don’t really know what you’re doing on social media. Things like misusing or overusing hashtags, using incorrect grammar and sharing or liking your own posts as your business can quickly give people the impression your business doesn’t know what it’s doing when it comes to social media.

 

It’s time to accept that there are some real opportunities you can take advantage of on social media. The good news is you don’t have to do it all yourself. Knowing when to ask for help is really important, and there are plenty of options out there (like our awesome Social Media Programs) you can take advantage of to make sure you’re capturing your audience and turning them into customers. Our goal is getting more vehicles in your bays, so if you want to check out how we can do that with our social media programs, contact us today!