If you’re still running your auto detailing business without the benefit of a social utility like Facebook, you’re just discarding your marketing potential. That’s because the mindset required to sell your services successfully in a social setting has changed dramatically in the last dozen years or so.
In the past, traditional marketing, advertising and sales often relied on a barrage of leaflets, newspaper advertising and an in-your-face pitch that sometimes resulted in new customers. But in this age of online marketing, utilizing such social networking sites like Facebook means that establishing credibility and trust and building relationships take precedence over relentlessly pushing your services. On social sites, your business is rewarded through positive word-of-mouth advertising and referrals — not loud assertions about the wonderfulness of your detailing prowess.
In fact, such bombastic ballyhooing can backfire. You certainly don’t want to employ those archaic advertising ploys on a Facebook Page, where members can take offense and spread their displeasure far and wide on the vehicle of negative publicity. That’s something you definitely want to avoid.
What we’re presenting here is an argument in favor of utilizing all that Facebook has to offer your auto detailing business, despite what might be an unsubstantiated bias on your part about how to properly market and engage with your potential customers. We’re also going to introduce you to features designed specifically for these purposes, and provide tips on how to market and engage most effectively on Facebook.
Let’s begin by talking you into the business case for Facebook. Suppose we told you that 850,000,000-plus folks online were happily gathered in one central location online. Many of them are present and prospective customers, and most drive cars they either own or lease. And, that the majority of these folks fully expect to find your business there online where they can easily find it. Right there is the case for marketing your business or brand on Facebook. That’s where the vast majority of today’s consumers are looking for you or are looking for information about you.
And with hundreds of millions of automobile owners using Facebook to connect with friends and interact with others around topics that interest them — including cars — your auto detailing business has a tremendous opportunity to gain powerful access to the very people who require your expert touch on their vehicles.
You could go the route of banner, e-mail, and pay-per-click advertising (push-marketing tactics, in which you push your message to the masses and wait for a direct response). But by setting up your own Facebook Page, you engage directly with your customers. And engagement is what Facebook is all about.
With engagement comes the potential of word-of-mouth advertising, and the Internet has become the stomping grounds for such active participation. Employing user-generated content includes such tasks as writing about your products and services, answering and asking questions of your readers, and posting reviews of your business.
So here’s the case for Facebook in a nutshell: Whether your detailing business has a presence on Facebook or not, chances are that your customers do, so you should be there, too.
While we’re at it, we should mention that you shouldn’t be the least bit shy about advertising on Facebook. Look at nearly any Facebook Page and you’ll see at least one advertisement on the right hand side. That ad could be espousing the virtues of your detailing operation, or it could include a language about how someone the reader already know “Likes” your auto detailing business.
When it comes to pay advertising on Facebook, the geographic and demographic information from your potential customer bank is already on file, enabling you to reach the people most likely to want their vehicle detailed by you. That greatly reduces the cost. And Facebook also offers Facebook Offers — we’re not being redundant here — as well as Facebook Check-in Deals, which lets you connect with customers when they’re in the immediate area or when they’re looking for a great deal on auto detailing.
Once you’ve launched your own Facebook Page, you can share news, opinions, and information about your business with Facebook members. You can engage your fans — these are members who choose to Like your Page — and these fans can lead to positive word-of-mouth advertising. You can also post updates that show up in members’ News Feeds, keeping your fans up to date on your operation’s news, events, contests and coupon offers.
What are you waiting for? Sign up or a Facebook Page of your own today!
