Episode 213: How UGC Can Create a Buzz About Your Dog Walking Business and Bring You New Clients

How User Generated Content or UGC Can Create a Buzz About Your Dog Walking Business and Bring You New Clients HAve you considered User Generated Content to create buzz for your dog walking business? Let me introduce you to Tyler. Tyler J. Anderson is an investor, entrepreneur, podcaster, and speaker. Day-to-day you’ll find him leading the team at Casual Fridays. Since 2009, Tyler and his team have played significant roles in digital and social media marketing campaigns for hundreds of hotels and resorts, including Marriott International. They have worked with notable brands such as Visit San Diego, SeaWorld, KAABOO, Jersey Mike's Subs, Penske Automotive, Deloitte, The Los Angeles Chargers, Feeding San Diego, Susan G., and Koman San Diego. They also worked with The United Way Atlanta, and many more. Biggest Takeaway You Don't Want To Miss: UGC is a very viable way to have your Dog Walking Business promoted and marketed and is generally more trustworthy and authentic. With UGC, you are promoting your business and it's not coming from you. In other words, it's actually the other person who's doing it and you both get the benefit of it. When you get your customers or potential customers a shared content of your business, you will get higher reach, and higher frequency in the news feeds. In conclusion, if you can get your customers from your dog walking business to become your content-creating army for you, it's a game-changer. Freebie Free 4-Step UGC Strategy Workbook.  This workbook walks you and your team through the steps to develop a UGC strategy for your brand or business. https://hello.casualfridays.com/ugc-strategy-workbook/ You can also TEXT CODE: UCGWORKBOOK to 44222 User Generated Content Show Highlights: What is UGC, 2.04 How to leverage awesome contents, 10.10 UGC stats analysis, 19.05 Tyler's 4-Step UGC Workbook, 23.26 Links: https://www.tylerjanderson.com/ https://hello.casualfridays.com/ 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 213 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 we're going to talk about something you've probably never heard of, but actually do know a lot about. It's called UGC, and I've got Tyler Anderson, one of the biggest experts on this. I've heard him talk about it many times, and he's going to give you a lot of ideas on how to market during these interesting times. Tyler is an investor, entrepreneur, podcaster, and speaker, and day to day you'll find him leading his team at his company, Casual Fridays. He’s also the organizer of Social Media Day San Diego, and an all-around awesome guy. Tyler, welcome to the show. Tyler says he’s super excited to be there and talk to the audience about UGC. Bella says he’s worked with big names like Marriott, Visit San Diego, SeaWorld, Caboo, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Penske Automotive, the Los Angeles Chargers, Feeding San Diego, and Susan G. Komen. She says Tyler really knows what he’s talking about and always has great examples. Bella asks what the heck UGC is. Tyler explains that UGC stands for user-generated content—content created by people other than the business, usually customers. It could be social media posts, reviews, vlogs, blogs—basically anything created by the user, not the company. He says it’s especially important during times when marketing budgets are tight, like during COVID, because it’s free, trustworthy, and authentic. Bella asks if that means the business owner or the actual client of the business. Tyler explains it could be anyone outside the company—clients, employees, or advocates—and gives an example of a happy pet sitting client posting about how great the service was. That post, he says, will be far more trustworthy and believable than a business ad calling itself “the number one pet sitter.” Testimonials and authentic user posts always outperform brand-driven messages. He says this kind of content includes not only reviews but also social posts, Instagram stories, and even TikTok videos. Bella points out that many small businesses are asking for reviews to boost visibility. She asks how to leverage those reviews instead of letting them sit on Yelp or Google. Tyler says to first identify which platform is most important for your business—probably Google or Yelp—and follow each platform’s terms of service. Once you have reviews, ask reviewers for permission to use them as testimonials or short video clips. Even if you’re on a budget, you can turn those into engaging video montages using tools like Animoto. He says video testimonials perform great as organic or paid media because people trust people. He gives an example using Amazon—most buyers trust the product with thousands of four-star reviews over one with a handful of five-star reviews. People trust other people’s experiences more than brand claims. Bella agrees, and Tyler adds that even a few negative reviews aren’t bad—what matters is the balance and volume of positive ones. He tells a story about a moving company that bribed customers for five-star Yelp reviews, showing that fake reviews can damage credibility. Bella explains that in the pet sitting and dog walking world, clients often send thank-you messages or videos after receiving pet updates. She asks how to turn that into marketing content. Tyler says businesses need a UGC strategy rather than relying on luck. He recommends setting up a process to encourage clients to share their experiences. He shares an example from an artificial turf company that built a UGC strategy even though customers weren’t naturally posting about turf. Businesses of any kind can do it by being intentional with their calls to action. Instead of just saying “Like us on Facebook,” say something like, “We’ll be posting photos of your dog on Instagram—make sure to follow us.” That kind of approach gets clients invested and encourages sharing. Bella loves that idea and says businesses could build an SOP around it. Tyler agrees and adds that companies should make sharing easy: text photos to clients and include a line like, “If you post this on Instagram, be sure to tag us @YourBusinessName.” Don’t rely on hashtags—ask for tags so you can see and reshare posts easily. He gives an example of Fresh Clean Tees, a t-shirt subscription company that includes a postcard in every package encouraging customers to share photos using a specific tag for a chance to win free t-shirts. Bella says that’s brilliant, and Tyler adds that pet businesses could do the same—encourage clients to post pet photos for a chance to win a gift card or free service. He emphasizes the importance of asking directly. People won’t automatically think to post unless you ask. Bella brings up one of her favorite examples from Tyler—Soapy Joe’s car wash. Tyler explains Soapy Joe’s “Car Wash Karaoke” campaign. Customers record themselves singing in their cars while going through the wash and share it on social media for a chance to win $1,000 and a free annual membership. It’s a simple but creative way to encourage UGC, and it works because of the strong incentive. Bella says that’s amazing, but some listeners may feel hesitant to ask for content because it feels like bragging. Tyler says it’s not bragging because the praise isn’t coming from you—it’s coming from your customers. That’s the beauty of UGC. He says marketers are under pressure: 63% of them feel they must constantly create more content, but UGC reduces that pressure. He explains that only about 15–20% of people trust what brands say, while 92% trust recommendations from friends and family, and 88% trust strangers’ recommendations. UGC gives your brand access to that authenticity. He adds that 90% of consumers say authenticity influences their buying decisions, but only 51% think brand-created content is authentic. Meanwhile, 79% of consumers say UGC influences their purchase decisions—a number that’s up 19% since 2017. That’s why UGC matters. Bella says it makes sense because people are skeptical of ads but believe real experiences. She likes to post screenshots of client feedback and notes that people stop scrolling to read them because they look like private messages. Tyler agrees and says that voyeuristic effect is part of why it works so well. Bella then mentions Tyler’s free UGC Strategy Workbook. Tyler explains that it’s a hands-on guide that helps businesses develop a custom UGC plan. It walks you through brainstorming exercises and shows how to form a UGC “team” to share ideas. He says small business owners can even team up with others in different locations to mastermind together.