CASE STUDY: mechanics on TikTok

The vast majority of marketing activity can be split across two platforms: Facebook and Instagram. You have to admit, though, that for brands just starting out online the competition in those channels is hard to outrun when you have no ad budget. But what if there were a platform that offered wide reach to an audience without spending a thing…

Small spoiler: there is! 2020 made the importance of the TikTok app especially plain, because TikTok is exactly what we are talking about. Its users may be underrated by most brands, but this is an enormous channel for reaching consumers. In the case study below you'll get to know the story of our Client, whose marketing effort was concentrated in that app… and it's been a big success!

THE CLIENT

@warsztatsamochodowy is a family business that has been working locally in Podkarpackie, a province in south-eastern Poland, since 1994. The brand offers automotive services: tire repair, air conditioning, electronics, vehicle repairs and inspections. When we started working together, its (non-)presence online looked like this:

• no social media channels (no base of engaged followers and happy customers);
• no website;
• no money for advertising.

The Client set one specific goal: build brand recognition.

THE COMMUNICATION

The communication was built on the simplest (and at the same time the most effective) solutions, presenting a humorous take on the work of a mechanic. The videos are meant to trigger a "that's exactly how it goes for me" reaction in the viewer – the material draws heavily on situations that almost anyone who has ever needed a garage has been through.

On top of that, the research we ran beforehand showed that this kind of service is practically absent from TikTok while having fairly big viral potential, because showing the interesting side of "offline" trades is something new for users, something that wasn't available anywhere outside specialist blogs before. A lot of people probably had no idea at all how interesting work in a garage can be 🙂

The biggest advantage and edge – nomen omen – of TikTok's mechanics over other social platforms is the chance to reach thousands of users without spending a single zloty on ads. At this point most business owners may be asking themselves whether, from a business point of view, their fans will actually be valuable. The first reflex is to blurt out: "but TikTok is for kids!". In discussions about the app the prevailing belief is that the platform is aimed at a younger audience, which won't translate into business. You have to realize, though, that the average age is rising by the day. In the case of @warsztatsamochodowy – besides teenagers, the one group on TikTok you can't filter out (and one that may soon become our Clients!) – we managed to gather:

• other mechanics, who happily comment on their own day-to-day work;
• mechanics' customers, who share stories from visits to all sorts of garages;
• people around mechanics (a wife/brother-in-law/son, say), who swap observations about how hard the job is;
• car enthusiasts.

The communication isn't short of substantive material either. Just look at one of the December posts, where followers could put a question to Adam the mechanic.

The post had no paid promotion behind it and still generated 690 likes and 276 comments within a few days, and its reach passed 25,000! The most important part, though, is that very concrete questions about car repairs kept landing under the post.

What sets this communication apart from the competition is that we don't push anyone. There are no "use our services" messages here. Enormous attention also goes into moderating comments, meaning constantly keeping in touch with followers. A large share of the replies to comments focus on educating the audience about cars.

RESULTS

How did our work translate into the stats? Let's look at the concrete numbers! Results over the first month:

• Followers: 11,900
• Likes: 106,800
• Reach: counted in the millions 😉
• Top 3 most-watched videos: 550,000 views, 210,000 views, 153,000 views
• An extra perk is that the owner keeps hearing from the local community that they're jealous of his TikTok profile
• At the fans' request an Instagram profile was set up. Link: instagram.com/mechanikozga

IN CLOSING

TikTok can be an effective form of promotion – as long as you know how to put the communication together. Social Lama has shown more than once that with no ad budget we can successfully build ever greater recognition and a bigger community around a brand. Our work often reaches beyond standard social media management too, and the garage is a great example of that. We don't just handle the content and pick the hashtags, we also coordinate the video material, creating virals!

Fun fact – for these mechanics the phrase "second take" isn't in the dictionary. You have to admit they handle the filming pretty well, don't they? 😉