Using social media in car washing...

[HCCW]

So, here's the question, are any of my fellow car wash operators out there using social media to grow your business? I got an interesting call from a nice young lady that works at Main Street Hub. They manage your buinesses online presence for you, like yelp, google, foursquare, etc. The info she gave me was very interesting but I'm not sure if it would really apply to a car wash the same as it would a more traditional business like say a restaurant??? Right now we have virtually no online presence, including no web site. (that's another question for everyone - do you have a web site and has it benefited the car wash?)
For those of you that have a strong social media presence or a web site, let me know how it's worked out for you!
Thanks! Jeanine

 

[JeffM]

We have tried social media with minimal (if any) success. Probably in good part to the company we were using. If you can use it to get people engaged and avoid it being a complaint forum then there may be some merit to it. I don't think we will get back into it until we have someone who can actually put the correct amount of effort into it to attaind the results we are looking for.

Get references from this company and look at each one (even follow for a month or so) to see if this is how you want your wash represented. Chances are they will have generic content with splashes of your custom content.

 

[pgrzes]

I have a 7 bay + 1 Auto. I have 2 Facebook pages with a combined 4000 friends. I will post discount codes for the Auto, and misc. specials. I will be lucky to get 1 person that uses the code I give. I announce changes updates and anything going on, and get very little response. I had a customer that someone tried to rob and posted some videos of the perp, and got nothing but flaming responses to the video. I will continue to use it as it costs nothing and if I have the time I will post things. I feel just putting the name out is worth something!!!

 

[MEP001]

I set up a Facebook page with some of the details about the wash, including the address, just to see if people searching would find it on their own. If anyone has, so far none have "liked" it.

 

[robert roman]

I would begin with a website because it provides a portal to network with existing social network services like FB and Twit.

Website is “virtual” version of traditional brick and mortar store. Appearance of site should match or exceed that of the storefront. It should be easy, fast and fun to use.

I would get a web professional to help you design and create the site. I would also do it in phases. In other words, get online with the basic pages plus a page with coupons and then market and promote the site to create a presence.

Market and promote means getting your www.domainname.com out wherever possible. Put web address on jackets and shirts, signs, company vehicles, advertising content, etc.

A good next step is to create a customer loyalty program (VIP). This allows you to collect personal information. Next, I would get a phone app. App provides another portal to network via texting.

After creating a base of loyal customers you can communicate with, I would setup FB account to make more friends who may become new customers.

 

[PEI]

Currently, I have not had any luck with social media in directly selling car washes, but it has been invaluable for our charity wash program. It gets lots of views and generates comments during the time of the year that we run our charity washes. I use it to report how much each group makes each week, as well as to spot light new videos on our you tube page and to offer car wash discounts during our slowest times of the year.

The car wash has a facebook page, a google plus page, and a you tube page. It eats up a lot of time to keep content on all three, so be prepared if you choose to do it yourself.

The car washes also have a web page that have helped people find us in our larger markets, and we generate minimal sales through our web page. We offer car washes for sale through both our web page and Facebook page, but most people buying, do so while waiting in line with the expectation that they will get a wash code before they reach the Hamilton. I do not currently have the ability to make that happen, if I did, we have a core group of customers that would buy from online only. Not enough yet to justify the cost.

 

[HCCW]

Wow! Thank you everyone for the replies. It really helps me to decide what is worth doing and what would be a waste of time and money.