Episode 184: Quality Over Quantity Of Your Social Media Content

Quality Over Quantity Of Your Social Media Content It's no shock that being on Social Media is a must for Pet Sitting and Dog Walking businesses. But, what platforms are best for us? How should we be using them? And what kind of content should we be creating? To share his 15 years plus years of digital marketing experience, I've brought on Dan Willis. Dan Willis brings insights into the power of relationship marketing, video content and the emerging millennial/gen. Z marketplace leading your brand to learn how to not only succeed today but how to build success for the future.  Biggest Take Away You Don't Want To Miss Don't spread yourself thin trying to be active on all social media platforms when the biggest platforms for dog walkers and pet sitters are Facebook and Instagram. Create content that best expresses your brand, use video, and don't get discouraged if you don't get a bunch of interaction on any given post. As Dan said, if you can create content that inspires one person to appreciate what you’re doing, that content was of value.  Don't just produce a large quantity of content but make sure you're placing quality over quantity for your social media content. Show Highlights What networks are the most beneficial for dog walkers and pet sitters? [3:01] The importance of video content [5:28] Social media listening [10:38] Creating quality content [19:16] Links Follow Dan Willis on Facebook  Find Dan on Twitter @MLLNNLmotivator For more social media tips check out Bella In Your Business Episode 141 Let's Connect! Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’' Are You New Here? Welcome, I am so glad you are here. If you are a dog walker, dog sitter, cat sitter, doggy daycare or kennel owner, then you found the right place. Jump Consulting is the one place on the internet to get all the resources you need for your pet care business. Can I give you some freebies to generate sales and increase revenues for your business? Grab your freebies below. Are you starting out? Been in business for less than two years? Get your startup resources here. Do you own an established pet care business and you want to take it to the next level.? Get Your builder resources here. Transcript: This is episode 184 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta and today I have a special guest for you. I first met Dan Willis on Twitter and then I met him in real life in Lima, Ohio at the Now Marketing Social Media Week Lima in June. I can honestly say he's a pretty impressive person, which is why I wanted to bring him to you. I'm not even going to ask you how many pets you have, Dan. I want to start out with how many kids you have. Tell our listeners. “Yeah, we’ve got eight now. Eight kids kicking around the joint.” And tell everyone how old you are right now. “Thirty-four.” My goodness. That is such a blessing and accomplishment in life, period, without being the millennial motivator. Dan is located up in Ontario, Canada, and he has fifteen years of digital marketing experience on three continents in multiple languages. The advice that he shares comes from practical experience consulting major brands like Fox TV, Toyota, and H&M. With insights into the power of relationship marketing, video content, and the emerging millennial Gen Z marketplace, your brand will learn how to not only succeed today but also how to build success for the future. So this whole millennial thing is a big buzz these days. What does that actually mean? Dan said, “For me, I just take it as anybody that's not a boomer. So if you’re in the industry, if you’re in the workplace and you’re not playing on TikTok and you’re not looking at retirement, congratulations, you fall into my category.” That’s an awesome way to describe it. So if our listeners right now are saying, “What the heck is TikTok?” Don’t you worry, we’re not going to tell you a new platform you need to be on. So let’s start out with how many pets you have because I know that’s also an interest. “Yeah, I mean, we’re starting to dwindle down here. We do pet rescue for the most part, and the ones that we love, we keep. So we did have three dogs, we’re down to two, and we were able to rehome one, which is fantastic. Unfortunately, our two cats got claimed by farm equipment, so we’re catless.” Okay, I’m not even going to ask anything more about that one. “Yeah, outdoor cats in the country. Sometimes it happens.” So what should we know as marketers and as digiteers online? A lot of my audience are pet sitters and dog walkers. We wear multiple hats. People are so confused by social media because every single week it really is changing. From your perspective for social media, what networks are the most beneficial to our businesses? “Especially for dog walkers and people that are taking care of dogs locally, Facebook is so important for you guys. Instagram is so important for you guys. I'd love to say something like Twitter, but to be honest, Twitter is one of those big global things. Even YouTube to some extent can be done if you're using it well and you're using that content properly. You could use YouTube, but that’s like if you’re very ambitious. Consider maybe YouTube. Facebook and Instagram are great for local business. They do a good job of showcasing you in your environment. And then, of course, make sure that your Google profile is completely filled out. Now Google Plus isn’t a thing anymore, but Google websites are still a thing. So make sure you’ve got one of those for your business. It’s not exactly social media, but it’s pretty darn close.” Yeah, it’s definitely something that people are checking out to see if they can trust you. What aspects of Facebook and Instagram make it so perfect for dog walking and pet sitting companies? “The locality of it is a big one for a lot of people that are doing searches inside Facebook. Go into your Facebook and search ‘dog sitter.’ What you’re going to see is people in your area first popping up. They prefer to do it that way because they know that’s what you’re looking for. Nobody’s looking to have a dog sitter from the other side of the country. So really, it’s to your benefit as far as that goes. Especially around holiday times, they know that people are searching for that kind of stuff. And if your business is on there and you’re actively putting content out, you’re much better positioned for that. Instagram, you can actually tag what you’re doing, where you’re doing it within a certain region. And when you do that, anybody else that’s in the area gets to see those posts on the fly. So if you’re out walking a dog and you take a photo of you walking fifteen dogs in front of you and somebody’s like, ‘That could be one of my dogs!’ If they’re closer to you, it’s going to be to your benefit to have that up there and have that go.” Got it. So what kind of style of content should we create? One of our problems is that we feel like it takes so much time or it needs to be perfect. What kind of content can we be creating as either busy solopreneurs out there doing it or boss mamas in the office while our staff are out there? “Do what you can with what you’ve got, where you are. Keep it simple. Everybody’s got a smartphone now—it’s a walking media studio. When you’re out and about, if you don’t want to go live on Instagram while you’re walking, just take some videos showing people how you treat the animals and your love for them. When dogs arrive in the morning, show them how you treat them. Give people tours of your facility using video content. It’s not difficult to do. You usually have someone else around—husband, child, maybe even a dog. Just use what you’ve got to your advantage and showcase your passion for animals.” That’s what I really love about your industry. There are lots of industries where people do the job just for the sake of doing the job. But I find a lot of people that work in the pet industry have a genuine passion for animals. The more you can share that through video content, photos, or even podcasts, the more potential clients will see that you genuinely have a passion for animals. That’s going to serve you long term in a big way. I have a lot of people in our community that either get the video thing and they’re really excited about it, or they do it frequently even though they do it scared, which is awesome. But there’s a lot of people that are afraid of video. Can you explain the power of video for a brand and why it’s so amazing right now? “If you were to call a company and get a robot on the other side, you’re frustrated because you want a real person. That’s exactly why we do video. It gives you the opportunity to show people you’re a real person. You’re not just some company posting random pet videos from the internet. It’s you—people can relate to you. Video is the biggest and easiest tool to create relationships digitally. The downside to video is that people say, ‘I didn’t do my hair,’ or ‘I don’t like how I look on camera.’ So start small—use your dogs. You’ve got stars of the show right there. The dog won’t know whether it’s on camera or not. If you’re just the voice from behind the camera and you’re showcasing your pets, that’s great.