5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Pet Business Facebook Page

By Jen Phillips April for PetCopywriter.com

There’s a saying that people don’t wake up in the morning and go to your website, but they do wake up in the morning and go to Facebook. In fact, if you’re a pet business marketing to pet owners, Facebook plays a key role in your marketing efforts.

Here’s why.

Facebook by the numbers:

• Over a billion users (yes, that’s a B)
• According to the Pew Research Center, 64% of adult users log into Facebook daily
• Business Insider.com says 73% of the users have a household income of $75,000 +

What does this mean to you as a pet business? It means your potential customers are using Facebook.

However, if you’re like a lot of pet businesses, you’re not sure how to best use it to grow your business. After all, it’s not as simple as getting a storefront on the busiest street corner in town to maximize your foot traffic (and sales).

How do you get noticed and increase your customer base on the popular social media network? It starts with a plan.

Here are 5 Ways to Maximize Your Pet Business Facebook Presence:

1. Establish a goal. Yes, your objective is to increase your bottom line. In order to do that, your potential customers need to know you exist. Since you’re already to going to where they are — Facebook — now you get them to notice you there.

Your initial goal is to grow your page likes so your customers have the opportunity to learn about your product or service. This is useful because the more likes you have, the more potential for future customers to discover your product or service. Every time someone “likes,” comments or shares your posts, that’s another opportunity for their friends to see it and discover you.

Once you get a respectable number of people on your Page, (more than 500) your goal can increase in complexity such as building an email list.

2. Outline Content Ideas. Whether you create a full-blown content calendar or simply a list of topics on a Word doc, planning your content will prevent social media “freeze”.

Luckily, you’re in the pet business and want to market to pet owners. Facebook was made for you!

The topics can be around something cute and funny, such as “National Puppy Day is March 23^rd,”  or educational. Occasionally, you can share a sales message. People come to Facebook because they want entertainment and to keep up with family and friends. When planning your posts, think “fun’, “edutainment” and occasionally a sales message.

3. Dedicate Your Resources. Who will manage your Facebook community? Create original content? Respond to comments? Manage ads?

It’s time consuming to grow and manage a thriving Facebook community. However, the data shows B2C brands are closing 77% of customers through Facebook. (Hubspot)

What would 77% new business look like to your bottom line?

4. Run Facebook Ads. These are a marketer’s dream. Imagine the power of targeting all the 45+ women in the Chicago area who have incomes of $75,000 + and love dogs (or cats). That’s what you can do with Facebook ads.

They’re also the quickest way to grow your Facebook Page. In addition to getting in front of potential prospects through good targeting, you can also set your daily budget. Whether you choose $10/day or $100/day, you have an opportunity to reach people with a likely interest in your product multiplies.

5. Have Contests. People love to share pictures of their pets. You could have a “smiling dog” contest or a cat modeling your new collars. When you get creative about contests, you can explode your engagement and numbers.

Having engagement — “likes”, shares, and comments — is essential to a successful Facebook Page. Each time someone interacts with one of your posts, their friends have the chance to see their interaction with your Page and come over to learn more. Plus, Facebook gives you a little “boost” for the future. None of that happens with traditional advertising.

Facebook is the new town square and every user has an average of 200 friends. By sharing great content and engaging your prospects, the word can spread about your fantastic product or service. Plus, links from Facebook and sharing can increase your website traffic.

If you’re marketing to pet owners, strategic use of Facebook can increase your web traffic, build your email list and ultimately, help you make more sales.

Jen Phillips April is a skilled marketing writer in the PetCopywriter.com network. We specialize in content-marketing solutions for the pet and veterinary industries. Contact us for assistance with your marketing communications needs.