Social Media Marketing for Pet Stores

Table of Contents

Facebook Marketing1

2 Twitter Marketing

Blog Marketing3

Other Social Sites4

Facebook Marketing1

Facebook Marketing for Pet Stores

Facebook provides a great platform for you to connect with many target markets.

Most people these days are on Facebook, and many use it as their number one social site. It provides a great platform to connect with families, young people and even seniors.

Here are seven tactics you can use to add to your Facebook content marketing.

7 Facebook Tips:

1“Caption this” images

Images are the most shared, liked and commented on posts on Facebook.

Images of cats (and dogs) are the iconic most loved images online.

Add this in your social tactics.

Use images in ‘Caption this!’ type posts.

London Drugs used this on their Facebook Page - in 28 minutes, the update had over 35 comments, and over 30 other interactions.

7 Facebook Tips:

2

Questions about People’s Pets

Get your Facebook Fans talking. Ask questions that your customers care about and can relate to.

Questions are a great social media tactic in general.

Questions begin conversations with your store, and create a community with your consumers.

Here are a few questions you could ask, for example:

● What are 3 things you love most about your cat?● Did you watch Cesar last night? What was your

favourite tip?● Have you ever had a goldfish? What did you have

in its tank? Example from Petco.com on Facebook

7 Facebook Tips:

3

Embed Short Videos

Share videos with your Facebook Fans.

Videos are becoming an increasingly popular method of sharing stuff on Facebook.

● Share how-to videos, or videos about your products● Post videos about tips for feeding a gecko● Update tips for walking your dog

If you make your own videos, create a Tab on your Page for them. This makes

them easy to find and to watch directly on Facebook.

Additionally, post your videos in a Facebook update. When you post them,

make sure you embed the video (not just the link) - this makes the image the

full size and your Fans can watch it without leaving the site.

7 Facebook Tips

4Post Images of Your Products -from your customers.

Deepen your connection with your customers - by giving them a bit of fame, and appreciation.

Share their photos (that they let you use) of their pets and your products.

Amazing way to gain real, authentic word-of-mouth type marketing.

Wag.com, for example, uses this tactic by sharing a Fan photo, mentioning her in the post, and linking the basket product to the basket’s landing page of their online store.

7 Facebook Tips

4Post Images of Your Products -from your customers.

The bit.ly link in the Wag.com post leads Fans and potential customers to this page on their website - just a few clicks into the completion of the sales funnel.

7 Facebook Tips

5Hashtags

● Facebook now has hashtags.

● Some social media savvy companies have embraced this, to great success.

● Hashtags let your posts get seen by more than just your Fans in their News Feeds.

● With hashtags, you can get your posts seen by more people searching for the word (or words) you have tagged.

For example, by including the #dogfood in a post about dog

food, your post will come up in a Facebook search.

7 Facebook Tips

6

Exclusive deals

Offer your Fans exclusive Facebook offers, or group deals.

Group discounts get your posts shared more.

For example, for your group offers to be valid, set a minimum number of participants. Your Fans will be inclined to share your offer with their friends (who are likely your target market too).

This is a great tactic to get more people to Like your Page.

It’s also a great way to show that you appreciate your customers that connect with you online - and get sales!

Bosley’s Pet Food Stores uses discounts on Facebook to promote their new store opening via in-store savings.

7 Facebook Tips

7Contests

Contests are great ways to create greater engagement with your customers on Facebook.

Use:● Photo contests● Vote contests ● Photo caption contests● Essay contests● Video contests

Contests are highly shareable content, and they can generate excitement around your brand.

Note: As per Facebook rules, you do need a third party app to run contests

on Facebook.

Third party apps, like Wishpond (ok, I’m biased as I work for Wishpond) are good to use.

7 Facebook Tips

7 For example, host a

photo contest on your

Facebook Page to get the

best photos of kids and

their pet hamsters.

Include a vote element

to choose the winner, so

that the photo with the

most votes wins your

incentive.

If you get permission,

you could even use the

photos for later

promotional purposes.

Contests

Twitter Marketing2

Twitter Marketing

Twitter provides you with an amazing way to connect with your customers quickly, and personally.

Twitter is much more than a customer service outlet.

Twitter is frequently accessed through mobile, too.

Here are seven tips to add to your pet store Twitter marketing.

7 Twitter Tips

1Hashtags

Hashtags are big on Twitter. Hashtags originally started as a way to create ‘tweettalks’, and provide a way for like-minded people to join open discussions on Twitter. Nowadays, they are very common, and almost an essential part of marketing to your niche on Twitter.

@Mention Your Customers

Connect with your customers by sending them tweets directly with @mentions. If you have a good customer who did something you want to thank them for, do it publicly through Twitter.

Pro Tip: If you write your tweet starting with @username, include a . in front of it if

you want it to be seen by everyone.

You can use #hashtags in many ways, depending on objectives. 2 main uses:

● Use hashtags that your niche customers are looking for, such as #dogfood, #catclothes or #birdcages

● Use campaign specific hashtags. If you are running a contest, or other marketing campaign - use an original tag, so that all of your participants can connect through Twitter. For example: #bestpetcontest, #petsmartwin or #ilovemyfishwin

2

7 Twitter Tips

3Offer Exclusive Deals to Your Twitter Followers

Like on Facebook, give your Twitter Followers exclusive deals, or group offers.

Check out how Pet Smart uses this tactic, to give deals on their Twitter feed. The link is Twitter specific, and it directs the consumer directly to their online store. They make it a discount by providing a coupon code.

You could do a similar deal, by using group offers on Twitter.

Customers simply have to enter your deal, they get the discount.

When you have a minimum number of people who have to enter to validate the coupon, it encourages sharing of your deal to friends too.

Wishpond makes group offers, contests and sweepstakes app to make your Twitter marketing easier!

7 Twitter Tips

4

For example, you could tweet tips about:

● best fish food

● how to calm a barking dog

● how to cut your cat’s nails

● and much more

5

Tweet Tips about Care of Pets

Tweet short tips on pet care. Link these back to your blog - to further elaborate, and drive traffic to your website.

Retweet Pet Related Articles

Add a few retweets in your Twitter tactics.This Pet Smart rewteet is, well, smart. It is kind of out of the realm of just pets. However, they are appealing to the mother market, with tips about recipes and costumes and such for kids. Kids like pets, too, after all.

You can, for example, retweet:

● customers who mention you

● leaders in your community (such as

Cesar Millan)

● articles related to pets and pet care

7 Twitter Tips

6Tweet News about Pets

Twitter is a place for breaking news, and news of all types. Include a few news headlines that are related to animals.

Dog Time, for example, tweets about pet and other animal related news stories.

In this example, they include an image of the deaf dog and blind dog that are now in a unique friendship.

The story pulls at the heart strings, and this one tweet has 11 rewteets and 12 favourites.

Twitter Tips

Include Contact Info in Your Background Image7

Example from Wag.com

An often overlooked tactic on Twitter is using your background image.

Take the opportunity of this free space to tell people where you are, both online and offline.

Include your contact information on the left hand side of your Twitter background image.

Make sure it’s readable (and not too big or too small to be seen).

Your background image is not clickable, but it is a chance to cross-promote your website, phone number, and other social sites people can connect with you.

Blog Marketing3

Blog MarketingInteractive components on your website are essential these days.

Why?

● Engagement drives consumer traffic to your website.

A basic way to engage on your site is to include a blog.

● Blogs help your SEO, too.

Use blog posts as content in a regular e-newsletter to customers.

Here are seven brief tips to make your blog more social.

7 Blogging Tips:

1

2Your customers want to know how to take care of their pets. You have this knowledge. Share it with your consumers in blog posts.

Include Visuals

Like on Facebook, and other social sites, include images in your blog posts. If you’re writing about dog food, include an image of a dog eating food.

Example from the Only Natural Pet blog site. They post about pet care (and their products). They include images in the posts too.

Write Articles about Pet Care Tips

7 Blogging Tips:

3 Write Articles about Animal Related Events

If there are events related to dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, or any other animals you cater to - write about them.

Example from Wag Pet Shop blog . They wrote about an upcoming pet training clinic.

For example, if your local aquarium is hosting a new tour for kids, you could write a short blog post about it.

Emphasize the fish you sell at your store.

7 Blogging Tips:

4Run a Contest on Your Blog

To increase visits to your site, run a contest on your blog.

This creates a reason for people to visit your website - not just your social sites.

You can run a:● sweepstakes● vote contest● photo contest● photo caption contest● essay contest● video contest

And yes, Wishpond apps make it super easy to set up, manage and follow-up.

7 Blogging Tips:

4Run a Contest on Your Blog

Here’s an example of a simple vote contest you could run on your blog.

A contest like this takes about 5 minutes to set up.

Cross-promote it through your social sites, email, and a few online ads to drive a lot of traffic to your website.

Wishpond apps make it super easy to set up, manage and follow-up through our Social Marketing Suite.

7 Blogging Tips:

5 Include Videos on Your Blog

You don’t have to limit your blog to writing only.

Embed a related video into your articles, to make them more exciting for your readers.

You could ask questions about the video, to generate engagement through comments on your site.

Run a video contest to get consumers more interested.

6Post Articles Regularly

When you have a blog on your website, and you want people to engage with it, you need to post consistently. (Posting more often also helps your SEO.)

You could post one article a week, or one article a day.

Make sure you are posting, to keep your subscribers engaged.

Use your blog content to make monthly e-newsletters.

7 Blogging Tips:

7

Make a Monthly List of Topics

When you have lots of other social media marketing to do, you need to be organized!

● Determine how many posts you’ll do in a month or week● List our your topics for the month (for example, if you’re having

a sweepstakes, or hosting an event - write about it to promote it)

● Blog posts don’t HAVE to be really long or extensive● You could even get your staff to contribute (and appreciate them

by letting them show off their knowledge!)

Other Social Sites4

Other Good Social Sites for Pet Stores:

1Instagram

There are tons of ways to use Instagram in your marketing. Tons of your customers use this photo networking site regularly.

● Run a photo contest, or make a unique hashtag to get pet owner Instagrammers to share their photos in one stream.

● Integrate with Facebook, with a tab, like Cesar Millan.

Other Good Social Sites for Pet Stores:

2YouTube

● Make your own videos, and upload them to YouTube. Depending on your resources, and your brand image, you could get professionally made videos, or make them on a budget.

● Make videos about how healthy your pet clients are.● Make videos on how-to take care of your dog, cat, or other animals

you serve.

Tumblr

● Tumblr is very popular with people under 25. Use the site to connect with this demographic.

● It is a very visual site, so post lots of images.● Use hashtags to connect to group dialogues.

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Other Good Social Sites for Pet Stores:

5Pinterest

Use Pinterest to engage your market. 79% of Pinterest users are women.

Create boards about lifestyle, and your product.

Include prices, and use hashtags.

Pet Smart on Pinterest

More Social Media Marketing Tips:

1 Facebook:● Facebook ROI for Business Explained● 21 Ways to Create Amazing Facebook Posts to Promote your Products● 10 Things to Do Before you Run a Facebook Contest [Checklist]● 8 Sure-Fire Facebook Post Formulas That Drive Engagement

2 Twitter:● 52 Methods: How to Get Your Tweets Retweeted● How to Use Twitter to Drive Traffic to your Blog● The 9 Most Common Mistakes on Twitter● How to Run a Twitter Contest

3Blogging:

● [INFOGRAPHIC] 12 Brilliant Blog Post Ideas for Businesses● 12 Great Ideas for Blog Posts● How to Boost your Blog by Using Real Personalities that Connect with

your Customers● 5 Awesome Tips: How to Make Killer Blog Headlines

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