Going digital

Whether we like it or not, we live in a digital age with 24/7 communication, and the advent of the smartphone means we are more connected to each other than ever before.

This can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how it is managed.

You may or may not be familiar with social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but just like the Internet, and email, which are accessible from your smartphone, these are increasingly important forms of communication, particularly with the younger demographic, and as such the automotive service and repair sector cannot afford to be ignorant of them.

Just like any form of marketing and advertising, creating a website, sending a regular email newsletter or updating a Facebook page, or sending a Tweet, for your business can be as simple and convenient or as expensive and time consuming as you want it to be.

I’ve always subscribed to the kiss theory, which is “keep it simple, stupid.”

Facebook in particular is one of those mediums where you could spend a great deal of time posting comments and pictures, so my advice is that it is best to put small items of interest up on a regular basis, but keep it short and to the point.

Anybody with a smartphone can now post onto Facebook, so be careful with the security settings on your page when allowing other people to post content onto it.

Email newsletters are much the same in my opinion, keep them short and interesting with content that is relevant to your audience, and with links to your website so that readers can directly click on items of interest to them.

Websites can be as expensive and complicated or as simple and cost effective as you want them to be. The criteria are to think clearly about what you want the site to do for your business and how you manage that.

Don’t forget that Motor Equipment News has a website and links to our email newsletter and a copy of the latest issue online through Uberflip. There is also some useful links through to other industry websites which will no doubt be of interest. Enjoy your readingreadi this month, Robert