Social Media Case Study for Small Businesses

July11th

Posted in: Social Media

Many small businesses want to know how they can use social media in order to drive business. At the same time, many are skeptical whether social media can actually work for their business. Well today I have a case study from my personal experience and some quick social media tips on how small businesses can use social media tools to market themselves.

Social Media Case Study: Independent Tuning

Finding a mechanic can be a daunting task as I have personally been on a long search for a great Audi mechanic offering affordable rates as Audi dealership labour pricing is a little too steep for my taste. However, the search doesn’t come without a price as I have been ripped off many times for horrible service and at times wished I just settled by going to the Audi dealership. But my persistence paid off as I have found what I was looking for; great mechanic at an affordable rate.

I was so excited about going to Independent that I sent out this tweet on Twitter right before my timing belt service:

This message was also seen on my Facebook which is synchronized with my Twitter. And in less than hour, I had this response from a friend:

Of course I gave her the number. Here is the conversation that followed via SMS:

*Price smudged just in case Independent Tuning raises prices

BAM! This is a great lead and pretty much a guaranteed sale.

The examples of how we communicated back and forth through different social tools is to show you how marketing works nowadays. The social tools like Facebook and Twitter empower us to communicate to our vast network at once.

Now how can you make this work for your business?

Most important aspect of any business is offering great value to your clients through service, experience, price, etc. If you are rude to your clients or try to rip them off in any way, no social media tools will help you be successful.

Quick Social Media Strategies:

Offer clients incentives to mention your business to their peers online through various social media tools such as Twitter/Facebook (e.g. Giving clients 5% discount off their next purchase or service)
Communicate the above to your clients when they are in you shop via poster or just by telling them.
Get an account on Twitter and Facebook for your business (Future posts on this coming)
Offer special deals only to people who follow you (My friend Verne says Freshii is great at this)

Do you know of any great social media case studies? I would love your input.

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Thanks for visiting and keep in touch ~ Alex.

Daniel Patricio

Great example Alex,

It really is a simple way for a small business to map out the ROI of tapping into the social web.

For a small business helping people find them and connect with the people that love the product can be enough of a case.

The tricky part comes with how much time can they afford to invest versus expected ROI.

How would you tell them to spend their time online?
Markus

Wow really interesting; it's actually impressive to see real world applications of all how local marketing can actually effect people. Know any good mechanics for a Lexus IS 250? =)
Mimi

Yes, this is a perfect example of how the social media tools can create brand awareness and add value/traffic... I've personally been a witness of that many times, where regular people or celebrities mention something through their Twitter and in a matter of a minute, everyone is checking out that website/ blog/ product, etc...

Great article...Looking forward to reading more of your work...
Leyla

Wow, what a perfect example! And it makes perfect sense. Nowadays, it seems more and more people (including me) are tuning into their Facebook & Twitter accounts to stay connected with the outside world. Word of mouth has been the biggest business booster for ages, and that is why these social media sites work so effectively: because you're basically hearing about it from your friends, and naturally you trust them and want to give it a try. Whatever the IT might be... from watching a certain movie, to going to eat at a great restaurant to hearing about an awesome hairdresser/mechanic/photographer etc... It's just so amazing to me how easy it is to grow ones business these days than it used to be... We are truly a lucky generation and I'm excited for what's to come! =)