In the past posts I have been covering extensively the marketing tools a smart bodyshop owner or paint supplies trader should use. Email marketing, professional magazines ads, old school direct mailing, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, you name it. However, I would like to draw your attention to another social platform, which is very popular among young people, celebrities and just anyone who likes photos and visual content – Instagram.
History
Instragram has been founded in 2010, and, within 7 years, it has grown up to be the third largest social media platform after Facebook (which actually owns Instagram after 1 billion dollar acquisition in 2012) and video sharing platform – YouTube. Currently Instagram boasts over 800 mln active users, surpassing Twitter, Pinterest and Linkedin altogether. This is a huge audience with a tremendous advertising potential.
Instagram as marketing tool for the collision repair business
There is a false impression that Instagram is a platform for selfie addicts or fashion and luxury brands. Well, Instagram is their platform too. However, due to the Instagram’s unique appeal for the visual content (photos and videos sharing), Instagram provides an opportunity for automotive collision repair professionals to promote their business. If you have a product or service, which can be photographed, you should use Instagram. For examples, one of the best forms of posts on Instagram for a bodyshop would be “Before and After” concept. What you need to do is to take a picture of a damaged vehicle prior repair, and then a picture of the vehicle ready to be delivered to a customer. Simple as that. In addition, with Instagram it is much easier to create a quality content without many words, only with your smart phone. Remember the saying «A picture is worth a thousand words»? It is about Instragram.
As I mentioned above, in your Instagram feed you can show the results of customers’ vehicles repairs, equipment in your shop, details of the repair process. Create your shop’s or brand’s hash tag, and incorporate it across all the social media platforms. Remember, a good marketing strategy shouldn’t rely on one instrument only, but rather on multiple channels, and Instagram better be one of them. With its help you can generate leads, get customers emails, increase traffic to your website and create a good digital word of mouth.
