How an Auto Repair Shop is Winning Female Customers With Social Media

How does a small auto repair business develop a thriving Facebook page–with over 60 percent female fans?

Owner Jeff Matt started Victory Auto Service and Glass in 1997 with one shop in the suburbs of Minneapolis.

He always made an effort to develop personal relationships with his customers who trusted him with their cars.

The business grew to three locations by 2010, and Matt found it harder to maintain the small-shop feel. “When you have multiple stores and multiple managers, you can’t be everything to everybody,” he said.

Three years ago, he approached Stephanie Gutierrez, a long-time customer, about helping the business get started in social media.

By experimenting with different approaches, they hit upon a winning formula that promotes the personal connections Matt has always valued.

Victory Auto and Glass uses Facebook to post photos from their shops.

Since then, Victory has opened two new locations.

Gutierrez spends between three and five hours a week managing their social media. She focuses mostly on Facebook and YouTube, but maintains other platforms as well.

Victory Auto’s social media strategy is to think like a customer, tag photos and promote their community.

Organization: Victory Auto Service & Glass

Social Media Handles & Stats:

• Website
• Facebook – 1,029 fans
• YouTube – 3,100 video views
• Twitter – 720 followers
• Google+ – 69 followers
• Pinterest – 21 followers

Highlights:

• Opened two new locations since 2010
• Newest location reports most customers hear about them from word of mouth or “online”
• Over 60% of fans and people “talking about” Facebook page are female
• Most popular YouTube video has over 1,300 views

#1: Think Like a Customer

When Gutierrez told her friends she was working for an auto repair shop, they laughed. “I only think about car stuff when I HAVE to,” she said. She compares taking her car in to going to the dentist. “I think I represent the average person that way,” she added.

When she began managing Victory’s Facebook page, she asked, “If I didn’t work here, would I interact with this page?” The answer was no, because she’s not really that into cars.

To change that, she looked for ways to make the page interesting to all car owners. Gutierrez now posts about things all drivers can relate to, such as traffic, commuting, safety and traveling.

Victory Auto posts about topics drivers are interested in.

“We started out with more learning articles and links, but found that those were not highly interesting to people,” said Gutierrez. They now post shorter fun tidbits, lots of photos and are very personable and interactive.

Victory Auto likes to post short, interactive, yet informative tidbits.

Victory also thinks like a customer in YouTube videos. They post how-to videos, as well as customer testimonials and shop tours.

For the how-to videos, “We are going for really simple stuff,” said Gutierrez. Her boss laughed when she suggested the topic of their most popular video: how to top off your windshield wiper fluid.

“He said, ‘This is so easy!’” Gutierrez said. She reasoned it was exactly the type of thing people would watch on YouTube so they wouldn’t have to ask someone.

She brainstormed ideas for videos by “being embarrassingly honest about the things I do not know,” she said.

Victory Auto’s most popular video shows how to top off windshield washer fluid.

#2: Be Friendly and Tag Photos

Auto repair is an industry based on trust. Trust is built on knowing the people doing the work.

“People buy from people,” said Matt. “Business is a lot easier when they know the people they are dealing with. The more transparent we can be—and social media gives us that opportunity—can only help build trust.”

Gutierrez often posts photos and fun personal information about the employees to help customers get to know them as people. “We celebrate birthdays, accomplishments and fun goings-on in the shop,” she said.

Victory Auto helps their customers get to know their employees with posts that share personal accomplishments.

Victory Auto routinely posts photos and information about employees.

She also makes an effort to tag photos as much as possible, although it can be complicated to tag a customer. She has to log into the business page as herself, be friends with the person she is tagging and they have to like the page. Gutierrez has over 1,500 Facebook friends, many of whom are customers, which helps.

Victory Auto tags customers and employees who are at the community events they sponsor.

Gutierrez logs into the Victory page as herself to tag customers she's friends with.

She admits that for some businesspeople, this is out of their comfort zone.

“I encourage the managers to become friends with customers not just in person but on Facebook as well,” she said. “Whenever we have those personal connections, we like to take advantage of them.”

The response from tagging customers has been positive, but the exposure “absolutely depends on how many friends that person has,” she said.

Tagging customers can be hit or miss, so Victory tags employees as often as possible. Six or seven of the 30 employees are active on Facebook, which they take advantage of for tagging.

#3: Promote the Community

Being involved with local groups is important to Victory Auto owner Matt. “You shouldhave some roots that grow into the community,” he said.

Victory has long supported MADD, Alexandra House and Toys for Tots. Matt also received a community award, Eleven Who Care, for his support of Free2B.

Among other things, Victory donates space for Free2B volunteers to work in their bays fixing up donated cars or providing free or discounted repairs to needy families.

“Some of those stories we would tell over Facebook,” said Matt. “It is really promoting Free2B, but people come to realize that those things are happening at our shop. Without social media, some of those stories aren’t told.”

Victory uses its Facebook page to promote activity with local charities.

Victory Auto has also become an AskPatty Certified Female-Friendly shop, and promotes the certification on their website and on the review site, AutoVitals, where they have a five-star review average.

Victory Auto uses social media to promote their Female-Friendly certification through AskPatty.

“We had a great reputation with women and wanted to get that out,” Gutierrez said. The shop is ASE certified, which is important to people who know a lot about cars. But for average drivers, “Certified Female-Friendly” is clear and straightforward.

Their focus on promoting their female-friendly business is reaping results online and in person. Over 60% of their Facebook fans are women, and managers report that 50% to 60% of customers are women as well.

Victory Auto consistently reaches a local female audience through Facebook.

What’s the payoff?

Other business owners often ask Matt how he justifies social media expense.

He said he considers social media the same as any other business expense, one that pays off in the long-term. “We have to connect with our customers if we’re going to be a viable long-term business. When we do that successfully, there’s a lot more loyalty that we get back from our customers.”

What do you think? Are you using social media to connect with your customers? Do you have a story you would like to share? Please leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Mobile Marketing - Using Social Media on Mobile Phones

Nowadays people use their mobile phones for many reasons, they spend a lot of time connecting with friends and accessing social media networks to share information, pictures and news. The majority of smartphone users will have a number of apps, but research has shown that the most frequently used of these apps are the social media apps, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The question this poses is in what ways and how often are people using their mobile phones to access social media networks?

Image www.gsmnation.com

Social networks were created on the premise of sharing your interests, photos, events, and recent news with groups of friends and have recently become increasingly used by mobile phone users due to the ability to update your status, to tweet and share photos instantaneously. This has changed the nature of social media sites, making them ways to share things in real time, which we would otherwise not have been able to do. This ability to update your social media profile immediately has led to increasing access of social media on smaller, portable devices over traditional desktop usage and findings have shown that smartphones and mobile devices are now the primary portal used to access services such as Twitter and Facebook. Improvements in access to 3G and 4G networks has further increased the access of social media by mobile users meaning we are even more likely to turn to using social media on a portable device.

Studies have even shown that social networking is now the most frequent activity on mobile devices and is even more common than gaming, with the average time spent on social networking apps by phone users being 24 minutes a day. In a Mobile Consumer Survey by Adobe in 2013, 71% of people were reported to use their mobile device to access social media. Research has also found that people are twice as likely to use social media on smartphones than on tablets, due to the fact that tablet users act more like they would on a desktop computer. This suggests that it is the small and portable nature of a mobile phone which is one of the main factors which leads people to use social media more as it allows them to update their profiles and statuses as events happen. For instance, mobile use of social media networks also allows people to check-in their location immediately when they are on the move so that they can inform their friends of their current plans. Access to social networks through smartphones has made this kind of communication possible, when previously real time updates on social media could not be carried out.

As the recent article on consumer behaviour and time spent on social media stated, people are increasingly using social media to alleviate boredom and as a way to entertain themselves. As young people these days constantly have their phones on them, and in the US 91% of adults have their mobile phone within an arm’s reach 24/7, it isn’t surprising that they will often access social media websites from their phones as a method of entertainment. This makes social media a good platform to connect with a wide audience of people, who will be reachable instantly through their smartphones.

Image www.flowtown.com

The increasing use of social networking apps specifically created for mobile phones, such as Instagram has also added to the increase in use of social networks on smartphones. This has increased the ability to instantly share what you are doing online with a group of friends, but can also be a valuable tool for businesses hoping to market their own products. With people constantly sharing information over social networks, using social media could be an imaginative way to target a new audience. Take a look at our past article on ‘26 Tips for Using Instagram for Business’ to see how Instagram on mobile devices can be a great way to market your brand.

Image www.theguardian.com

How often do you use social media on your phone? What do you do when using social media on your phone?

Don’t Drink And Drive In Social Media (Infographic)

It might seem like a no brainer, but there are many reasons why you should not drink and drive in social media. See the examples and infographic in this story.

Alcohol might give many people the liquid courage they need to strike up bold conversations and even inspire their wit.

But if you mash-up boozing and social posting, you could seriously damage your reputation, hurt your brand or even lose your job.

You might want to read this, before you sober up the bad way.

Infographic: Don’t Drink and Drive in Social Media

This infographic from Addvocate explores the dangers of PUI: Posting Under Influence. It points out the fine line between the harmless fun of social drinking and public humiliation.

In their scale, the threat level of the first three drinks is moderate – listing typos, selfies, and drinking statuses as the most likely outcome.

From the forth cocktail up, it’s code red alert – sending selfies to your ex, posting drunk updates on your company’s page or using your corporate profile to bash your ex.

Definitely not the way how to use social media. Similar risk is when you are playing online poker, when being tipsy as hell. It might cost you, big-time.

My Opinion

It’s not always clear which social media blunders are due to drinking and which are just good, old-fashioned moments of weakness.

But what is clear is that drinking and social media don’t always mix well, and that when it comes to social media restraint, some people just never learn.

Some examples? How about the 5 PR lessons from Lindsay Lohan? How about Charlie Sheen putting his cellphone number on Twitter.

How about sharing your drunken photos on Instagram or being caught drunk on YouTube? Remember the David Hassellhoff drunk video?

When we look at some blunders from CEOs and CMOs on i.e. Twitter, you’d doubt if it is about brains or booze, right? Some examples?

How about 40 major marketing mistakes you should avoid on Twitter? Or the social mistakes of 5 big marketers?

Have you seen the 13 epic fails by big brands? Or the recent AT&T 9/11 failure on Twitter?

A great example of a campaign against drinking one too many? Heineken KnowTheSigns.

You’d better sober up! Don’t drink and drive. Not even in social media.

What About You?
Have you ever had an embarrassing social media experience when alcohol was involved? Please, please, please let us know in the comments below.

- See more at: http://www.viralblog.com/social-media/dont-drink-and-drive-in-social-media-infographic/#sthash.KSfpHTO1.dpuf

20 Examples of Epic Content Marketing

Real content marketing is an endeavor. It involves a brand truly becoming a publisher and not just a marketer.

It involves Youtility. It involves consistency. And it gets results.

Here’s a great presentation from Joe Pulizzi, author of Epic Content Marketing and founder of the CMI (Content Marketing Institute).

These 20 epic examples of content marketing (listed below) that cut through the noise, commotion, and bad information that is right now cluttering up your customers’s digital space.

All offer compelling original or curated content, consistently delivered (they are not one off ‘campaigns’) and targeted at a specific audience.

More importantly, all are useful. They help people do the stuff they do (some more than others).  In other words, good content marketing is a type of branded utility.  In fact, we believe that the content marketing sweet spot lies in the overlap with branded utility marketing.

The first and most important question in content marketing is ‘How Can I Help You?’

Does your content marketing help people? If it doesn’t, it’s just noise…

1. The Furrow Magazine by John Deere agricultural machinery (began 1895!)
2. Benchmark Magazine by Burns & McDonnell engineering
3. ZMOT Research Project by Google
4. CMO.com by Adobe software
5. Lego Club Magazine by Lego
6. Coca-Cola Journey Magazine by Coca-Cola
7. Red Bulletin Magazine by Red Bull
8. Jyske Bank TV by Jyske Bank
9. Openview Labs Magazine by Openview Venture Partners
10. River Pools and Spas Blog by River Pools and Spas
11. Copyblogger Magazine by Brian Clark (Speaker, Consultant, Publisher)
12. Food & Family Magazine by Kraft Food
13. Smosh YoutTube channel by comedians Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla
14. Home Made Simple Magazine by P&G
15. Open Forum by American Express
16. Think Money Magazine by TD Ameritrade
17. From One Engineer to Another blog by Indium Corp electronics
18. Lauren Luke makeup videos by Lauren Luke (eBay seller)
19. Experience Life Magazine by Lifetime Fitness health clubs
20. Health Hub Magazine by Cleveland Clinic

Content marketing is here to stay.

Now, you just need to figure out if your content is serving a purpose or just filling space.

6 Ways to Maximize Your Google+ Engagement

Is Google+ working for your business?

Are you wondering how to increase engagement with your Google+ community?

Google+ is designed to focus on one thing and one thing only: engagement.

So, how can you pump up your Google+ engagement?

In this post, you’ll discover six ways to use Google+ posts to stimulate activity.
#1: Make Your Text Stand Out

You’ll first want to help your content stand out by differentiating the formatting. Instead of publishing a boring block of text, add a little formatting variety to your next Google+ post.

Unlike Facebook, it’s generally acceptable to have longer posts on Google+. If you publish a long post, remember that dense text can be a turnoff for readers. Use appropriate line spacing and paragraph breaks to make it easy for readers to scan your content.

Use bold, italic and strike-through text to highlight important headings or passages and your post will stand out in the stream.

Here are some handy tips for text formatting in Google+.


Google+ lets you format text in your posts.
#2: Choose Pictures That Pop

Don’t underestimate the importance of images. Stimulating graphics directly impact the click through rates on your posts.

When you post an image, choose one that has vibrant pictures with bright, eye-catching color contrasts as seen in this Etsy image.


Example of a visually engaging image on an Etsy Google+ post.

Instead of using the thumbnail images that auto-generate when you drop a link into your status update, upload a standard-size image to grab your readers’ attention.

National Geographic used this tactic to command more attention in the news feed.


Example of a full-size image on a National Geographic Google+ post.

And if you have great photography, use HUGE high-resolution images, which are much larger than standard-size images. Upload the original image resolution of your photo (e.g., 4288 x 2848), but remember that uploads count against your Google Drive storage quota.

Take advantage of this feature and your post will dominate the news feed likeMercedes-Benz does.


Example of a large full-resolution image on a Mercedes-Benz Google+ post.
#3: Get Personal

Make it easy for followers to engage by tapping into their interests and passions. Don’t just ask fans to +1 if they agree, manage an album of destinations or productsand encourage them to indicate a preference or desire.

TripAdvisor posted ten photos of restaurants with amazing views and asked their followers to +1 the restaurant where they’d most like to dine.


Example of an engagement strategy on a Google+ post by TripAdvisor.

Whole Foods Market did more than ask for an opinion on their products. They tapped into a compelling experience (in this case, travel) that appealed to their audience’s interests and offered them an easy way to engage.


Example of an engagement strategy on a Google+ post by Whole Foods Market.

An added bonus of this strategy is that you get instant feedback on what resonates with your audience. For example, if one image has ten times more engagement than the others, it might be worth creating a blog post or featuring it again in the future.

Learn what resonates with your community to inform your long-term strategy.
#4: Empower Your Followers to Act

People love to have their ideas recognized—it makes them feel important and encourages participation. Turn your community into active participants by letting them shape your content.

Find an interesting image and invite your community to come up with the caption. Great visuals are critical to making this concept work, so choose an image that’s intriguing or versatile and has broad appeal to your audience. Check out this one from the Food Network.


Example of an engagement strategy on Google+ by Food Network.

This strategy will also help you identify the most active and vocal members in your community. These are the people you want to pay attention to and cultivate into brand evangelists.
#5: Pick a Theme

When you leverage a themed hashtag that appeals to a larger demographic, you align your Google+ activity with the broader community. There are tons of theme conversations that people regularly participate in on Google+. A couple of examples are #MotivationMonday, #TriviaTuesday or #ThankfulThursday.

You can find popular hashtags in the trending box on the Google+ profile.

When you create content around themes, you’ll accomplish two things. You strategically broaden your focus and you feed your content to a larger audience, which will increase exposure and grow your community.


Example of how Star Wars uses hashtag themes in their Google+ posts.

Star Wars takes stellar advantage of the #TriviaTuesday theme. Note that they keep their message on brand by developing content that’s related to Star Wars, but still relevant to the trivia theme.

If you want to see traction come out of a theme strategy, it’s important to participate consistently. Don’t be discouraged if engagement doesn’t skyrocket right away, because it takes time to build traction.

Through regular participation, your community will learn to anticipate these types of activities and become more engaged over time.
#6: Ask Questions

A timeless strategy you should incorporate into every post is to ask questions. Most people need to be encouraged to participate and when you ask them questions, youencourage your audience to interact with you.


Example of how Zagat incorporates questions into their Google+ posts to improve engagement.

Zagat does an excellent job of incorporating questions into almost every post. The result is an active and engaged community that responds/contributes to almost every post.

Every Post Counts

As the number of people who add their content to Google+ grows, it’s more important than ever to optimize your social media posts for the engagement that helps keep it from getting lost in the stream. Follow the lead of larger brands and use these tips and tricks to increase the engagement activity on your own posts.

What do you think? How do you encourage engagement on Google+? What other strategies have you found to be successful? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

10 Things Your Business Could Be Doing Wrong On Social Media

Here are ten ways to get social media wrong:

1) Lack of Strategy

A recent report conducted on a diverse mix of British businesses revealed that over two thirds implement social media into their organisations, but alarmingly one third still don’t have a plan in place. Social media will not be automatically integrated with your company’s overall marketing campaign. To avoid wasting valuable time and energy you need to set your objectives, know your target audience and how to reach them, as well as how to measure the success of a social media campaign.

2) Great expectations

 

Do not expect immediate results and a flood of cash just because you ‘do social media’. This process requires consistency and hard work. Even better stop treating social media as a process but rather start seeing it as an organism. If you set realistic goals which are aligned to your business strategy you can keep it alive and see it growing.

3) This is not our priority

 

This is usually a mix of ignorance and arrogance. It is surprising how many business owners misinterpret social media as distractions, silly networks and apps that only teenagers use. It is all just a passing fad right? This was the main argument presented by business owners at the dawn of the World Wide Web as well.

4) Anyone can do it

 

You wouldn’t hand the keys of your car to someone not ready to drive. Then why hand the keys of your company’s marketing success to someone who doesn’t know what to do with them? There are thousands of cases of companies’ posts and tweets gone wrong, all courtesy of staff members who simply didn't know what they were doing. Always ensure that your authorized social media users are properly trained. Perhaps it is safer to start from the “alphabet” of social media as well; Hashtags, @ replies, tagging etc. are not necessarily easy or intuitive.

5) Social media is our broadcasting tool

 

Yes it is. But it is also a conversation starter. Every social network has an element of feedback and dialogue built into it; this why it is called social at the first place. Do not tire your audience by constantly beaming out messages, instead, focus on interaction.

6) I will post something in a couple of weeks

 

Companies often get all amped up about their shiny new Facebook page, but then a couple of weeks later have already forgotten to update it. If you don’t want your social media pages to turn into Post Ghostdowns better come up with a content strategy.  Embrace social media as part of your business and set aside 10-20 minutes every day to work on it. It is a worth-while investment and the only way to create the desired engagement.

7) I will get back to you. One day.

The purpose of social media is to communicate in real time. However, on a report conducted by the Social media marketing and measurement firm Socialbakers, it was found that brands are ignoring 70% of fan comments. When they do respond it typically takes them a full 24 hours on average… Not ideal.

8) Oops I said it again

 

“It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but you can lose it in a minute” Will Rogers would say.  Or just an embarrassing tweet, we would add. There is a vast range of examples here but some are more memorable than others. For instance, Gap seemed to encourage those impacted by the Hurricane Sandy last year to do some online shopping. It was not the brightest idea nevertheless the company took down the tweet and offered a semi-apology.

9) Sorry for being boring

 

Corporations who have no voice, do their best to be politically correct and don’t have a story to say areboring. Don’t be afraid to have some fun and put behind the wheel employees with strong people skills.

10) This is professional. Strictly professional.

 

Somehow when corporations enter the digital space, forget that behind every little avatar is a real person who deserves to be acknowledged. We’ve created this digital divide and fail to connect in a meaningful way. Treat people the way you would treat them in real life. Be human. Make friends. But remember; everything you say, no matter how casually you say it, becomes part of your image and your brand.

3 Mobile Tools to Improve Your Social Media Marketing

Have you figured out how to engage on-the-go prospects and customers?

Is more of your audience interacting with your business from their mobile phones?

If you want to enhance your mobile marketing, then keep reading.

I’ll show you three awesome tools that make mobile marketing easier.
Why Mobile?

Mobile is no longer something you can afford to ignore.

As customers’ adoption of mobile grows, you need to find ways to leverage mobile marketing tools to optimize their experience, no matter what device they’re on.

Whether you’ve already been experimenting with mobile marketing or are just getting started, the right tools help increase leads, engagement and sales.

In this article, I highlight three tools that offer easy ways to mobilize your social media marketing strategy.
#1: Send SMS (Text) and Video Messaging With Mogreet Express

One of the most powerful mobile marketing channels available today is SMS or short message service, which is also known as text message marketing.

SMS is a permission-based messaging tool that lets customers receive messages from you after they text a keyword or sign up using a web form.

SMS may not sound sexy, but it’s highly effective. Studies have indicated that 97% of mobile subscribers read an SMS (text) message within 15 minutes of receiving it. 84% respond within 1 hour.

Many top retailers actively use SMS to send out sales or product updates, special coupons or other important announcements. Coca-Cola focuses 70% of their mobile marketing budget on SMS/Text messaging.


Coca-Cola embraces the power of SMS to reach consumers.

So what does this have to do with social media?

Conversations with your customers shouldn’t end on Facebook, Twitter or any other social platform you currently use.

Mogreet Express lets you quickly create SMS (text) or video messaging campaigns to incorporate into social media and build a database of customers who want to receive your information and offers.

First, you create a keyword to title your campaign, and then Mogreet Express pairs your keyword with a shared short code. Make your keyword short and easy to remember.

After you’ve decided on a keyword, you’re guided through the process to set up the response customers receive when they opt in.


Mogreet Express lets you set up keywords in your dashboard to promote campaigns to your audience.

Now you’re ready to promote your campaign on Facebook and Twitter. The easiest way to do this is by using language such as:

“Become a Mobile VIP. Just text YOURKEYWORDHERE to 12345″ (this would be the short code that Mogreet Express provides to you).

Lane Bryant incorporates their call to action on a Facebook tab to connect with them. Their keyword is LBGB and their short code is 23705.


Lane Bryant added their SMS call to action to a graphic.

Once you’ve promoted your new SMS (text) campaign and customers begin to opt in,message them with valuable offers. This helps you stay top of mind, drive increased traffic (both physical and web) and create a new way to drive sales.

Set up a message to send to your customers in four steps:
Pick a send date and time. Use a marketing calendar and in just minutes, you can schedule messages for the next few months .
Choose your message type. MMS (video or picture) or SMS (just text). Adding short videos to your messages makes your communications personal and engaging.
Identify yourself in the message. Use your name, your business name or your brand, but clearly show who is sending the message.
Create your message copy. If you choose SMS, you only have 160 characters.




Mogreet's dashboard makes setting up campaigns easy.

You should include opt-out language in every message and Mogreet does this for you so you comply with the best practices of the Mobile Marketing Association. The opt-out looks something like this:


No more than X msgs/mo. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. Msg&DataRatesMayApply.

Overall, Mogreet Express is a very easy-to-use SMS/MMS marketing tool for any small business owner. Incorporate your mobile call to action throughout your social media and you extend conversations with your customers beyond Facebook or Twitter. It’s a great place to start when adding mobile marketing to your social media strategy.
#2: Run Mobile-Friendly Facebook Contents With Heyo

Heyo makes it easy to build a contest on mobile that integrates seamlessly with Facebook. Not to mention it looks beautiful with the easy-to-use tools Heyo provides.

Nathan Latka, founder of Heyo, shared that Lilly Pulitzer worked with Heyo to mobilize their “Want It To Win It” tab right on Facebook because they didn’t want to miss out on all the traffic received from mobile Facebook users.


Don't miss out on all the mobile traffic to your contest pages.

To make sure mobile users receive the best user experience, Heyo’s smart URL automatically reroutes mobile users to the right location. If users are on a desktop, they’re sent to the native Facebook tab. If they’re on a mobile device, they receive the mobile contest application.


Lilly Pulitzer contest page from mobile.


Heyo's easy-to-use dashboard lets you create beautiful pages in minutes.

Heyo is the easiest way to create engaging campaigns that are social and mobile. Check out this tool if you want to drive traffic, leads and sales with a Facebook contest.
#3: Measure the ROI of Mobile Marketing With LogMyCalls

Did you know that people who search the Internet for food using their phone or tablet have nearly a 90% conversation rate? Or that 64% of searchers with smartphones convert within one hour of their mobile search activity?

One of the top converting metrics is a phone call. With such high odds of a mobile searcher clicking to call your business, tracking and measuring calls are vital.

LogMyCalls gives you a full suite of tracking features to track every call generated by your mobile advertising and measure the return on your investment.

Here’s how you get set up and start measuring which campaigns are performing the best in 4 steps.

Step 1: Select your numbers. Use your current phone number and convert it into a tracked number or choose new numbers and have calls to those phone numbers routed to your business or call center.


Select a local or toll-free number for your tracking.

Step 2: Name your route. This is where you associate the number with a specific marketing tactic. In this case, Facebook PPC.


Connect your numbers to your marketing campaigns.

Step 3: Set up your DNI. When someone clicks through from a Facebook PPC ad, a unique phone number is dynamically generated on your landing page. This allows LogMyCalls to track which online marketing efforts produced the phone call. This is done via a provided snippet of JavaScript.

Step 4: Track mobile calls generated from Facebook ads. This is your first and most basic report indicating call volume, date, time, etc.


Measure your call results with easy-to-read reports.

That’s it. When your customer is mobile and calls your tracking number from a Facebook ad, a billboard or any other mobile advertising unit, you easily identify which media outlets perform best and which convert leads to sales.

LogMyCalls makes it easy for you to understand how many leads and sales are generated from people who call via a mobile phone.

Your Turn

These tools help you reach your mobile customers no matter what device they’re on. There are more tools out there and as you use them, you need to make sure your website is mobile-friendly as these tactics ultimately drive people there.

What do you think? Have you tried any of these tools before? What other tools have you used? I would love to hear your thoughts about what works and what doesn’t. Please share your favorites in the comments box below.