Anyone can sign up for a Twitter or Facebook account and start posting and tweeting every day, but how does something like that actually benefit your auto repair shop? Is your time on social media well spent? There are a number of tools to help measure the effects of your social media efforts.

Keep Track of Promotions on Social Media

Discounts, promotions and online coupons are a great way to engage customers through social media. Reward Twitter followers and Facebook fans by offering special discounts on your social media pages only, and no where else. But just making the offer and allowing people to benefit from their connection to you is not enough. You want to know if those offers you put out there are actually interesting to followers.

You can track promos in a few ways:

• Sharing

  : Which promos do your followers tend to share with their friends? Shares and re-tweets are a significant way to get in touch with the larger group just beyond the range of your followers.

• Track Links:One way is to use different bit.ly URLs each time you advertise a new promo. That way you can go back and figure out which ones saw more traffic. This isn’t purely scientific, but it will help.

Track Facebook Page Stats

Facebook has statistics which are quite specific for your particular automotive Page, yet easy to access and understand. If you don’t already have a page for your automotive shop, then you’re not using Facebook to full advantage. Your Page statistics will help you to see when and how often you get visitors and how they interact with you.

Use Tweriod to Measure Twitter

Tweriod is a monitoring tool that can help you figure out exactly when your followers are listening. You can find out when your followers are active and then organize your tweets to be launched at those times, maximizing visibility.

Ask Your Clients Where They Heard About You

Monitoring your automotive social marketing strategies is one thing, but getting results is another. Keep track of where new customers are coming from and incorporate social media marketing into your induction process. Recording the information is half the battle, so make sure that you are tracking how many people take advantage of promos that have been advertised using Facebook or Twitter. You can ask in person, or submit a customized follow-up survey via e-mail or MechanicNet.

Still need some help demystifying the world of social media? Don’t sweat it! Contact us for advice, tips and tools, or a free consultation.

Follow CarCareCONNECT on Facebook and Twitter!