Social media…love it or hate it…I love it!

Social Media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and whatever flavour of the week the kids are using. Most of us use it, some of us hate it, but for the most part, it’s become almost essential in our lives.

When it comes to my auction business, the use of social media has become my primary means of promoting the auctions, and my business in general.

I know things are tough for the print media now, but the only print I use is, The Woodbridge Advertiser.

Through my website, and using social media to promote it, customers can check in daily, and watch the auction develop.

As I pick items up, I post photos to Facebook and Instagram. When I unload a truck in front of my storage, take a few photos, post them on-line, let people know what’s coming in, I get immediate response.

It’s a means of involving my customers, weeks before the actual auction.  That’s something I just couldn’t do a few years ago.

An interesting piece came in for the auction yesterday, just a few days before the sale. I took photos of it, created a 15 second video, (the piece came with an audio recording), and within a couple of hours of receiving it, it’s posted on-line for 100’s of people to see.

I don’t do on-line auctions, I am determined to stay the course with traditional, LIVE auctions. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have an on-line presence.

With Google analytics, I can see in real time, how many people are on the website, general location, approximate age, and even gender.  I can see what pages they are looking at, what media brought them to the website, and how long they are staying on the site. It’s a wonderful marketing tool!

I think back to when I started doing auctions 23 years ago.  I typed out the ads, drove to the newspaper offices, paid for the ads and hoped people saw them and showed up!  No photos, just a text ad.

However, the down side is, it takes a lot more work to promote an auction.  Photos are now essential, and I routinely post 300-350 photos per antique auction.   It takes a lot of hours to set up, photo and then format the photos for the website.

I spend a few hours every day working on the social media posts.  Some of it I can do during commercial breaks in a TV show, but much of it has to be done on the desk top in my office.

The up side is…I love doing it!

So, please keep checking the website regularly, please keep following me on social media, and please keep showing up to our LIVE, old fashioned, country auctions!