Adriana and Sabrina Indomenico weren’t collision repair gals in the least before taking over their “nunno’s” (aka their grandfather’s) shop, Santostefano Auto Body in Middletown, Conn.
The sisters, who both had careers in marketing and communications, officially took over the shop in 2015 and made quite a few changes. They spent $10,000 to revamp the workspace, including adding a new workbench, renovating the bathroom and tackling the shop’s sign, which hadn’t been touched in 42 years.
In addition to a fresh look, the sisters used their expertise in marketing to take the shop’s social media presence from nonexistent to more than 2,500 likes on their Facebook page (To read more about the Indomenicos’ journey, head to fenderbender.com/millennialmarketing).
Their fresh approach to social media marketing has helped their business in a number of ways, and even inspired them to start their own marketing and consulting business. Since the last time FenderBender spoke with the sisters in 2016, the shop has grown 28 percent and boosted their monthly car count by an extra five cars, going from 35 to 40.
Adriana shares five immediate steps you can take to instantly improve your social media presence.
1. Update your technology. Just like a body tech, you can only do as good of a job as your set of tools. Take that approach with your social media marketing.
In the beginning, Adriana says that they had an old laptop that was slow and tiresome, which really prevented them from getting social media–related tasks done efficiently.
If you have the technology, either a phone or a laptop, and you know how to use it well, it’s much easier, she says.
2. Put quality above all else. “Honestly, hands down, photos speak louder than words,” Adriana says. Quality photos are more likely to engage your audience. Adriana says that photos get the shop a lot of attention. The sisters use photos as a way to have their page always pop up on the customer’s newsfeed.
Sometimes, the shop will post before-and-after photos of a vehicle, she says. Those photos tend to work well.
3. Use the best information. The information you choose to put on your website and all of your social media platforms needs to be consistent and of quality to your customer, Adriana says.
You want to always be honest with your customers, she says, so post information that lets them know what their rights are, what choices they have, tips for their vehicles or anything that makes their lives easier.
Facebook is currently the biggest tool for Adriana’s shop because they find that their audience is always on it. The more they cater their posts to their audience, the more people follow them back.
4. Reinvest in your business and advertising. The sisters invest in Facebook ads, which they’ve found to be a cheaper alternative to other, much more expensive advertising methods. Adriana says it’s cost effective and it seems to be what works best for them.
Being everywhere and having people search for you helps with SEO. People find the shop’s page because, according to Adriana, the more that you’re out there, the more people will find you.
5. Post Consistently. “We try to post daily,” she says.
Always try to put new content up and keep your followers engaged. With that comes being consistent with how often you are posting content, Adriana says.
