Social media is the be all and end all nowadays and because it’s such a huge influence in people's lives, you can reach an incredibly large section of your audience. It’s the perfect tool to promote new products or services you have to offer.

But having a social media profile isn’t enough and if you have one but don’t use it as often as you would like, then you could be damaging your shop more than you think. 

You need to be able to keep your social media pages updated and regulated or they’ll have a negative effect on the reputation of your business. If your social media pages aren’t looked after then it’s going to make your business seem neglected and out of touch with the industry. 

If you want to avoid giving off a bad impression, you need to start improving your social media accounts and give them the attention they need to thrive online. 

Try using our checklist to make sure you have everything you need to improve your presence online and attract more customers to your shop. 

1. Make sure all your information is correct and consistent across all of your social media accounts and your website.

Having incorrect information might make you come across as untrustworthy and your customers won’t want to do business with a shop they don’t trust. This could also prevent sales from going through, especially if the wrong contact information is put down. How are your customers meant to contact you with queries, concerns or complaints if they can’t get through to you? 

Make sure that the following information is correct across all your online accounts:

2. Keep up-to-date with what is happening within the automotive industry. Whether it’s with events, new products or new technology make sure you know it inside and out. You can do this by checking on social media and seeing what your competitors are posting about and what’s trending in the auto industry. 

3. Keep posting regularly to ensure that you keep your audience interested in what you and your business are doing. Keep them up to date with your latest products, services and any offers that you might have. 

You can also use your social media to advertise exclusive offers which will help bring more of your audience to your social media.

4. Try to share content that’s relevant to your industry as your audience might have only followed you so they can keep up with the industry. 

If you share content that isn’t what they’re interested in then they will probably unsubscribe and look for the content elsewhere (usually your competitors).

If you don’t know what Google My Business is then you’re already a step behind your competitors. Google My Business or GMB is a free online service that is there to help promote local businesses in the online market. 

GMB lets business owners take control of how they appear online and helps them stand out more in the already crowded online market. 

You want your shop to be recognized by Google which is why having a Google My Business set up is an essential part of running an online business. Now, your business has probably already been created and recognized by GMB you just need to claim it and optimize it to your liking. 

Simply search the name of your shop on Google to see if there is a listing on it. If there is then you only need to claim that it’s yours. They’ll send you out a letter of confirmation and it’ll be good to go. If there isn’t a listing there then you will need to make your own. Go to Google My Business and simply press ‘Start Now’.

Once you have your Google My Business all set up you can start editing your page. You can add contact information, images, opening hours and a simple bio about your shop. GMB can be used in a lot of ways to improve your shop but it is mostly used to help improve your search engine optimization (SEO) which will raise your ranking on google. This raise in ranking will attract more customers to your shop and increase your sales over time.

Google My Business can also be used to interact with your audience via reviews, feedback or comments that they leave on your GMB profile. It is also an easy way to keep your audience updated when it comes to opening and closing hours of your shop especially during the holiday season when your regular hours might change. 

If you haven’t claimed your Google My Business listing yet then you’re missing out on the chance to attract more traffic to your website and business. 

Having a good Google My Business listing as well as a strong social media presence is perfect for attracting new customers to your website. However, there are a few more things you can do to optimize your website and bring in more traffic and it’s all about content.

Content will always be king and you need to write good content to attract customers to your website. Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing content for your website to attract new customers. 

     1. Know your audience

Before you start writing your content, be sure to keep your audience in mind. The more you know your audience, the better your content will be received. 

    2. Write short simple sentences

People don’t have a very long attention span these days so writing shorter sentences in your pieces will keep their attention longer. 

    3. Use an active voice in your pieces

Using the active voice instead of the passive voice in your content will create more reader-friendly text. For example; instead of saying “Services can be booked on our website,” say “You can book a service on our website.”

   4. Write relevant content for the industry

There isn’t any point in writing pieces for your website if they aren’t relevant to the industry. Your audience won’t be interested in reading unrelated posts so keep them appropriate for your target audience. 

   5. Mix up your word choices

By mixing up your word choices in your content you’ll make your pieces a lot easier to read. The reader is less likely to get bored too.

   6. Make your text scannable

As we’ve said above, people don’t have a long attention span so by making your text scannable you’re more likely to keep their attention for longer. You can do this by adding white space into your posts as well as incorporating bullet points and lists. 

   7. Incorporate other media into your posts

By putting images and video clips into your blog posts you can enhance the reader’s experience. They’re more likely to remember what you’ve posted about if you include some graphs and pictures for them to look at throughout their read. 

That’s all for right now - we hope you’ve enjoyed our short guide on how you can attract new customers to your website. If you’re interested in learning more about anything we’ve covered here, get in contact with us and we can answer any questions or queries you might have on the subject.