Social networking will be the norm for businesses for a very long time to come. The invention of the Internet was the first revolution that changed the way everyone interacts with each other, but now the increasing popularity of the smart phone is another factor to consider when making your marketing plan. Social networking tools like Facebook can be downloaded to people's smart phones and now this isn't something people just check when they get home as entertainment. They check their feeds several times a day, even several times an hour, and not just for information about friends, but also for events and business opportunities.  

More and more people are using Facebook to follow the activity of their favorite businesses. Facebook provides an opportunity for the auto body business owner to create a narrative about the business and share it with the customers. For example, if you are preparing for a big sale on parts, you can put that in your status update. Then your customers will know there is a sale coming up, and they will also be able to relate to you as a person doing a job. "There's Brad again, working so hard," they will think, and they will want to come into the store to say hi and support you and your business by buying your product.

Now, Facebook is one thing, but Twitter is also gaining lots of ground in the Internet world. Twitter allows users to send small streams of information to people that follow them. These feeds can end up on the user's phone if the user allows it. So you can send what are called "tweets" to all your customers of the auto body shop to let them know about sales, deals, freebies, events, or other incentives to get them into the store and buying your product and becoming part of your customer base.

What is really cool is that you can combine Twitter and Facebook in that your tweets can show up in your Facebook feed. This makes the entire process streamlined and very easy. So you don't have to type in two different sets of information. You can reach all your customers who are your Facebook friends and those who follow you on Twitter with just one tweet. So more and more companies are doing this as well. Auto body shops can make this part of their marketing plan to help people know what's going on in the store. Seasonal promotions often work well too. Everyone needs to get their car ready for winter. Remind them with a series of tweets that will get them into your store.

Click here to learn more ways shops can use Facebook to market their business.