“Social media” is everywhere you look nowadays, whether it be Twitter or Facebook. The financial benefits of using these types of advertising methods are expanding every day. Creating a Facebook page or using Twitter for your aftermarket automotive business ensures you have a captive audience – as your “likes” increase, so will your sales.

Facebook is an excellent example for viral marketing. You can advertise a new product that you are manufacturing, or activate an on-line promotion campaign – all at very little overhead. That is the beauty of social media – essentially the only cost is your time. Facebook makes it easy to add pictures or links to your products. You can also include specific coupons as a benefit for those who follow you on-line.

Through Facebook, you can also create polls or even add contests; a poll can help you decide which item you will create next, or provide feedback to improve your current inventory. Contests will draw attention to your business’s page – everyone loves two win!

Facebook is also beneficial because it has so much exposure. If one of your clients “likes” you, it starts a trickle down effect displaying the likes on their friend’s wall, who may also be interested. It’s just that simple.

Twitter is yet another social media marvel. By using hashtags (#), you can mark each of your posts (a “tweet”) so that each person who follows that hashtag will receive your comment. The amount of people who receive your post is directly related to the amount of people who follow that hashtag; so the more common the better.

Third party applications, such as Tweet Deck, can make using Twitter and Facebook a breeze. These apps allow you to write one post and add it to both Twitter and Facebook at the same time. Not only will this save time, it will ensure you keep followers on both your Twitter and Facebook accounts up to date.

New to Facebook a tool which allows you to transform your newsfeed into a newspaper, personalized to your interests. With topics such as fashion, sports or recipes, “automotive” and the like will not be too far behind.

Social media may be a new evolution of advertising, but the essence stays the same. The message needs to be concise, clear and to the point – especially when it comes to Twitter, which limits the amount of characters to 140. Social media is so much more effective than TV or print advertising as you are directly targeting an audience that has already shown an interest in what you offer – whether it be a “like” on Facebook or a “follow” on Twitter. Social media is the new way to advertise, and it’s here to stay.