Social Media Tips for your Pet Care Business

It can be challenging to leverage social media channels for pet care businesses successfully. The constant need to generate unique content and manage a flood of messages in your inbox can be stressful. Not all businesses can hire a full-time marketing or social media specialist to handle this daunting task. Even if they can, it doesn't guarantee success with social media. Here are a few tips that can help optimize your current social media practices:

1) Better organize the roles involved with your social media

It is often difficult for social media results to reach their full potential when time is not invested in social media tasks or there is a lack of expertise for those performing them. It is therefore recommended to assign a knowledgeable leader to oversee and streamline all social media tasks. This person could be a marketing/social media specialist or someone else in the organization who is extremely familiar with the brand and services. However, their role should include dedicated time that does not overlap with caring for animals or customers. Other team members can support the leader by sending content ideas and images. The leader can then organize and publish these ideas while also being responsible for advertising and pulling analytics. Additionally, this person may be responsible for taking some weight off of those who work directly with animals and customers by responding to comments on social media posts and direct messages. Overall, assigning a leader and clearly defining everyone's roles when it relates to social media tasks has proven to be a successful approach for many organizations.

2) Leverage advertising to amplify your content for all areas of the marketing funnel

I often hear clients struggle with leveraging social media ads effectively. It can be challenging to determine the right audiences to target, create engaging content, and measure success if you don't have expertise in this area. Ineffective campaigns can quickly drain your budget. However, not leveraging social media advertising is extremely risky as algorithms often lead many pet care business posts to not be seen without the use of ads, even by followers. If you have someone responsible for social media content, they should also be equipped to handle advertising on each platform. If not, consider hiring a contract worker to amplify the content you're already publishing. A small budget can make a difference. And remember, it can take some trial and error to find the key to success with ads. Don't give up too easily. 

3) Leverage analytics to help guide your next moves

Unfortunately, many pet care organizations do not prioritize setting social media goals and consistently analyzing performance metrics. This is a missed opportunity to understand which post content is performing well and which is not. Even monitoring performance every quarter can show progress and generate ideas for future content. By reviewing past content and identifying what worked well, organizations can highlight historic content again and advertise it to new audiences. Monitoring goals also allow you to track progress and sharing social media successes with team members can be motivation for new ideas. 

4) Find your gaps and consider hiring contract workers 

Many pet care organizations are missing opportunities to improve their social media presence due to not having the time or resources to perform social media tasks. Despite posting content regularly, their social media following may also be stagnant or they may not generate many conversions through social channels. With so many social media account types available, it can be difficult for organizations to keep up. However, areas such as design work, advertising, strategy, and analytics can be improved upon. If you are unsure about the missed opportunities for your organization on social media, feel free to contact me at tara@boneboxmarketing.com for a consultation.