When you run an oil change shop, you know you have to constantly work to attract new customers and keep your existing customers coming back.
Fortunately, social media offers an exceptionally easy way to organize your marketing efforts to get the most bang for your buck.
By using just a few key strategies, you can optimize your social media marketing program to deliver incredible results for your operation. That’s why we’ve compiled this little list of the best tips for your oil change shop’s social media marketing plan.
Keep Your Profiles Optimized
Every profile you manage for your oil change shop needs to be fully optimized, all year long. This means that your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram accounts must be up to date with the latest information about your business. This includes phone numbers, business hours, your address, and anything else you update on your Google My Business listing.
Also, you should always include calls to action as links to your other online platforms. This way, if someone wants to learn more about your business or services, they will go directly to your website. If you would like to see a helpful video on vehicle maintenance, you can watch it on their YouTube channel. The right call to action can nearly double the effectiveness of your social media posts.
This strategy is the best way to consistently drive engagement and keep your online reach busy with new visitors who could turn into customers.
Schedule Smartly Ahead Of Time
Each social media platform includes useful tools to provide you with data on the performance of your posts. With that information in mind, you can create goals for your posts and schedule them at specific times on specific days.
Most platforms also allow you to schedule your posts well in advance. Seasonal posts about specials on spring oil changes or the best oil to use in the summer months are easily structured months in advance.
We recommend that you create a calendar of the content you want to share with followers in the coming months or the
entire year to ensure you have a detailed plan of action. This way you won’t repeat posts or bore your audience.
Ready to create a marketing calendar? Check out some of these helpful templates, apps, and tools:
- Hub Spot
- hoot-suite
- Evernote
- Trello
- SproutSocial
- StoryChief
Create Compelling And Engaging Content
When you create a post, make sure it grabs their attention. The content must be interesting, informal, useful, and relevant to the industry. You can talk about yourself sometimes, but try to focus on what your customers and prospects want or need to hear.
Share important industry information, new services, vehicle care and maintenance tips, funny memes, and gifs, and use hashtags wherever possible. Getting ahead of the curve on a trending hashtag is a great way to drive more engagement with your posts and your profiles.
Remember that attention spans are shorter than ever. Social media posts should communicate information as quickly as possible in the form of an image or links to longer content. Photos dramatically increase the likelihood someone will engage with your content, and links give your posts more depth.
Post Frequently Where It Matters Most
Part of being active on social media is knowing when and where to post. On social platforms like Twitter, your oil change shop account may be posted once or twice, every day. On Facebook, where nearly two-thirds of American adults are active, you may only want to post a few times a week.
When you create a schedule for your posts, you need to focus on the topics you want to alternate between during the course of the year. Some of those posts will be top idea posts that can be shared on Facebook and LinkedIn to generate the most interest. Smaller, branching posts that fill out the topic in greater depth can be shared on Twitter, and relevant infographics or videos can be posted on Instagram or YouTube.
If your followers are interested in learning more, remember to use calls to action to link them to relevant posts on your website or other social media platforms.
Highlight Special Promotions
Are you running a special promotion on oil changes next month? If you don’t advertise them on your social media profiles, your past and potential customers may never know about it.
Whether it’s a coupon they can print out and bring to your store or a simple code they can enter on your website, promotions are a great way to generate more business.
There’s a reason 73% of marketers believe their social media marketing efforts have been somehow very effective. By leveraging social media, you’ll get more business from your promotions and have more ideas and incentives to create future deals.
Ready for more tips?
At Castrol, we believe that social media marketing is one of the best ways oil change shops can stay relevant and engaged with their communities and customers. We want you to get the most out of your marketing efforts no matter what. If you liked these social media tips, head over to the Castrol Insider resource center to find more helpful guides and information to help your business thrive.
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