When I speak to customers and ask them how they market their business, its typically the same answer every time: referrals and networking. Its still the dominant form of bringing in customers to any business. And quite frankly, if done right and patiently, it never fails. A strong key to success, however, would be to ask how you can utilize the power of the Internet and capitalize on your customer's confidence and excitement for your business. If you can successfully capitalize on your customer's confidence in your business through their 'word-of-mouth' recommendations, then use of the Internet to help facilitate that confidence would make your marketing strategy that much stronger.

We at Web-Est have made it no secret about our love-affair with the Internet. The Internet has revolutionized the way we do business and it can help you increase the bottom-line at your auto body shop. In terms of facilitating customer referrals and networking on the Internet, the best place to do it is online social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Visit our other posts regarding social networking sites and they're ability to help your business ( Ways to Use Facebook to Market and Auto Body Shop).

Online social networking sites provide different options for people to meet other business contacts and to build a network that will support them in their different business ventures. Building a customer base is the most important and you can do that with the help of social networking groups and support of other similar interested fan pages. Be sure your company is well-represented and be visible, as visible as possible in those groups so other people can see you. Get your auto body shop's name in as many places on the web as you possibly can, as well as on your Facebook Page name in hard-print material, like your business cards, auto estimates that you provide your customers or somewhere in your waiting room.

Making friends online isn't hard, but it may require a small investment of time. Considering the return, the investment is not that much to make. You can try to befriend the competitors' friends, or you can use search methods to find people who are interested in cars and befriend them. Finding allies is very important and enthusiasts are always good to have on your side. Enthusiasts are some of the most loyal customers you will ever have. Those enthusiastic and/or confident in your services will be the ones most likely to act as 'new business' hubs for you in terms of referrals.

Once you have a broad base of online friends and contacts, you can turn your attention to marketing to them. Facebook and Twitter make it easy to send information instantly to hundreds of people. This is done through the "status update." The status update is when you post a new message on your page, which then gets sent to all your followers in an unobtrusive way. This transmission is almost too easy, so be sure that you spell things correctly and that you have said exactly what you meant to say before you hit the "share" button. This is an excellent way to spread the word about sales that you are having, or special deals, freebies, or giveaways. An idea for a status update would be share with your friends a referral policy that those friends of yours can benefit from some how. Hundreds of people will instantly know about it and will come to your store to take advantage of the deal.

These are just some of the ways you can use Facebook and Twitter. If you have any other thoughts about how to take advantage of social networking sites, please feel free to share.