Consultant auto repair goes social media

Assignment Help Operation Management
Reference no: EM131439461

You Be the Consultant Auto Repair Goes Social

Victory Auto Service and Glass, founded in 1997 by Jeff Matt, built its base of loyal customers with strong personal relationships. Personal customer service is at the heart of Victory Auto’s business model. The company has five locations and a mobile auto glass service in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, metro area. As the business grew from its first location, Matt found that maintaining the personal relationships with his customers, which was the core of his company’s success, became more difficult to maintain. Matt decided to turn to social media to complement face-to-face connections with Victory Auto’s customers and sought the help of Stephanie Gutierrez, a communications specialist and loyal customer, to help create a social media strategy for Victory Auto. Gutierrez experimented with various social media tactics until she found a strategy that supported the personal connection with customers that Matt relied on to build his company. Facebook is the heart of Victory Auto’s social media strategy. When Gutierrez developed the company’s Facebook page, she took the time to think like the business’s average customer: car owners who were not necessarily interested in cars. The typical customer interacts with Victory Auto because they have to, not because they want to. Instead of creating a page with information on cars, she adds posts related to traffic, commuting, and travel that everyone who owns a car would be interested in reading. At first, she posted longer articles with links to articles about cars. However, these posts did not seem to register with the typical customer. Now Gutierrez posts much shorter text entries that are written in a personal style with many photos. The second major aspect of Victory Auto’s social media strategy involves YouTube videos. Gutierrez developed several short videos that are geared toward people who do not know much about cars. The videos on Victory Auto’s YouTube channel include short how-to videos and tours of its various store locations around Minneapolis. For example, the most popular video is one that shows how to top off windshield wiper fluid! Matt believes that success in the auto service business is based on trust, and that trust is built by getting to know the people who work at Victory Auto. Many of the social media posts are about employees of Victory Auto, focusing on their birthdays, other celebrations, and day-to-day casual interactions while at work. About 20 percent of Victory Auto employees are active on Facebook. When they become Facebook and sometimes even personal friends with customers, they are encouraged to share photos on Facebook. These photos can then be tagged to help build more traffic at the Victory Auto Facebook page. Victory Auto Glass uses social media to promote the various charities, including Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and Toys for Tots. A local charity that Victory Auto is heavily involved with is Free2Be, which provides auto care and donated cars for economically disadvantaged people in Anoka County, Minnesota. Volunteers with Free2Be can use the repair bays at Victory Auto free of charge to repair donated cars. Victory Auto also gives free or discounted car repairs for people helped by the Free2Be program. Gutierrez then posts some of these stories on the company’s Facebook page to help promote the charity.

Results Victory Auto has seen significant returns on its investment in social media:

The company opened two of its five locations since implementing its social media strategy.

Most of the customers of the two newest locations heard about Victory Auto from word of mouth or online.

More than 60% of fans and people “talking about” the company’s Facebook page are female.

Victory Auto became a certified female-friendly auto repair shop with AskPatty, a Web site that provides automotive advice for women.

The company estimates that 50 to 60 percent of its customers are female, which is far above the industry average.

Victory Auto has more than 1,200 “likes” on its Facebook page.

The most popular YouTube video, on how to top off windshield wiper fluid, has more than 6,500 views.

1. Identify at least three lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from the Victory Auto’s use of social media.

2. Identify at least three additional bootstrap marketing strategies discussed in this chapter that Victory Auto can use to increase its visibility, sales, and profits. Explain how the company should implement each one.

Reference no: EM131439461

Questions Cloud

Project planning tools and controlling : Taking a step back we know the success of the project depends on the amount of attention given to resource planning. Project budgets and schedules are managed off the careful planning of the resources required to complete the project. How should budg..
Create positive outcome for individual and work environment : How can coaching activities benefit the culture in your work environment? Is it beneficial to develop activities individually or as a group activity? How can you leverage on an individual's knowledge, strength, and skills to create a positive outcome..
What planning-strategy and decision making process : You have a new product that you want to introduce to a new market. What planning, strategy and/or decision making process or processes would you use to determine the best way in which to reach your goals?
What is a balanced scorecard : What is a Balanced Scorecard? Of the four perspectives that this concept introduces, do you think one of the perspectives is more crucial than another? Does it depend on the company in particular? Give an example of how this analysis can benefit a co..
Consultant auto repair goes social media : Victory Auto Service and Glass, founded in 1997 by Jeff Matt, built its base of loyal customers with strong personal relationships. Personal customer service is at the heart of Victory Auto’s business model. Identify at least three lessons that entre..
Classified as an advertiser : A regional Japanese fast food chain featuring rice bowls as a main product is interested in expandinginto a new market. What type of firm might conduct the research needed to expand into the new market? Which of the following would NOT be classified ..
Give an executive summary of intel : Give an executive summary of Intel. You must include physical organization, tables, figures, financial concepts.
How has it impacted the ethics of society and business : State your views on the use of technology on the Internet. How has it impacted the ethics of society and business? How is artificial intelligence changing the conduct of business? Is privacy in issue? Consider the issue of whether there should be eth..
Component used in the manufacture of automobile generators : Westside Auto purchases a component used in the manufacture of automobile generators directly from a supplier. Westside’s generator production operation, which is operated at a constant rate, will require 1000 components per month throughout the year..

Reviews

Write a Review

Operation Management Questions & Answers

  Book review - the goal

Operations Management is about a book review. Title of the book is "Goal". This book has been written by Dr. Eliyahu Goldartt. The book has been appreciated by many as one of those books which offers an insight into the operations and strategic capac..

  Operational plan in hospitality enterprise

Operational plan pertaining to a hospitality enterprise is given in detail in the solution. The operational plan is an important plan or preparation which gives guidelines regarding the role and responsibilities of each and every operation at all lev..

  Managing operations and information

Recognise the importance of a strategic approach to the development and deployment of organisational information systems. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of databases and their integration to the organisation's overall information mana..

  A make-or-buy analysis

An analysis of the holding costs, including the appropriate annual holding cost rate.

  Evolution and contributor of operations management

Briefly explain Evolution and contributor of Operations management.

  Functions and responsibilities of an operations manager

A number of drivers of change have transformed the roles, functions and responsibilities of an operations manager over recent years. These drivers have not only been based on technological innovations but also on the need for organisations to develop..

  Compute the optimal order quantity

Compute the Optimal Order quantity of DVD players. Determine the appropriate reorder point.

  Relationship to operations practice in the organisation

Evaluate problems in operations and identify approaches to overcoming them. Critically evaluate operating plans and identify areas for improvement. Justify, implement and evaluate changes to operations in line with modern approaches.

  A make or buy analysis

Develop a report for Figi Fabricating that will address the question of whether the company should continue to purchase the part from the supplier or begin to produce the part itself.

  Prepare a staffing plan

Prepare a staffing plan showing the change of your unit from medical/surgical staffing to oncology staffing.

  Leadership styles in different organizations

Ccompare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organizations

  Risk management tools and models

Be able to understand the concept of risk, roles and responsibilities for risk management and risk management tools and models.

Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd