How to Build Trust in Your Pet Business on Social Media

Nowadays with all the automation that we can incorporate in business, it’s becoming more and more necessary to prove that we are human. Especially when it comes to the internet and consistent technological advances.

How do we remain human in a fast-paced technological world?

The answer isn’t as simple as we would think. Remaining human has a lot to do with identifying who we are, what we represent, and what we want our clients to see. Then it’s about transferring that human quality not only in face to face contact but through our social media as well.

Thankfully, Bryan Kramer, the founder of the H2H movement as well as Keynote Speaker, TED Talk Speaker, Coach, and CEO of H2H Companies, a Business Performance Coaching Company, was able to teach us more about human to human interactions and how you can build trust in your pet business on social media.

Your Why and Your Purpose

In order to present yourself as trustworthy on social media, you first need to know yourself.

What is your why?

What is your purpose?

Your purpose is made up of three equal parts.

Inspiration
Vision
Innovation

The key to a sound purpose is the equality of these three parts. Too much of one thing will cause your purpose to be unclear and unattainable. All three of these are reliant on your ability to balance them and pursue them.

Understanding your why and your purpose will not only give you a foundation for the values of your business but it will also help you to identify how you want your business to be portrayed to the public. When portraying your business it’s important to stay real to who you are. Especially, when it comes to technology.

It is all too easy to lose our human traits when representing ourselves through a screen rather than in person.

So, how do we remain human in a fast-paced technological world?

Identify and live out your why and your purpose.

How We Share in Person Vs. Social Media

Social media is the face of your business.

What kind of stories are you telling?

What kind of stories are you hiding?

Is your social media consistent with the same emotion or does it vary and expand beyond what others are doing?

Do you want to blend in or stand out?

Trust me when I say, you do not want to blend in.

In order to stand out, you have to come across as human on social media, very similar to how you would portray yourself in person.

In-person we are multi-dimensional. We share all of our different emotions whether that’s happy, sad, angry, anything in between. You’ll be able to read those emotions in our tone of voice, facial expression, body language, and obviously with our words.

On social media, we tend to lean on one emotion and only portray that emotion, all. the. time. The issue with that is that it’s not actually who we are. We aren’t always happy and excitable.

Say, if you’re on social media and all of your posts have dozens of exclamation points because you want to make your viewers excited. That’s great, but if your page is full of excitement, it looks very fake. That is not who you are.

Show your emotions and let your personality shine.

Divide your social media into thirds. Share one third about you, one third about other people and one third of educational content and news.

Identifying Your Unique Traits

To marry your passion and your brand, you’ll need to identify what makes you unique.

Everyone shares in their own way and it’s extremely important to identify what category of sharer each person in your company is. By doing so, you’ll ensure that you’re making the ask of the right person.

The six categories of sharers, outlined by Bryan are:

The Altruist– Altruists are individuals who are highly recognized for their commitment to helping others. These are people who not only dedicate themselves in terms of actions, but also with regard to being mindful with their personal relationships.
Early Adopter- The early adopter branding refers to a recognized subculture of progressive individuals who embrace individuality above all else. Although the term has existed since the Jazz age, modern early adopters are often associated with being the first to try new things and share them with others.
Connector– Connectors are people who pride themselves on their ability to bring people together. These are usually the individuals who are well connected and openly use their network to unite. Typically creative, they obtain validation and satisfaction through others.
Careerist- Careerists are people who are have shown a preference for professional advancement above all other personal achievements. More often associated with business-related networks.
Boomerang- The boomerang brand type refers to people whose brand is closely identified with controversy. In many cases, they do not necessarily agree with the content-choosing to pass on the information for the potential of being seen as provocative.
Selective- The selective is a person that shares information with specific people. They usually carefully curate information based on the general needs and interests of the target audience. They value exclusivity and are largely viewed as being informative and resourceful.

Find out what category of sharer you are by clicking on the picture below and taking Bryan’s quick quiz!

Keep in mind, you may change from day to day as the type that you takes into account how you are feeling when you take it.

Once you and your employees take the quiz, compare and see how you all work together!

Body Language and First Impression

First impressions are critical in our business. Doing our first meet and greet with the client is really the only chance we will have to interact with them and show them who we are.

Oftentimes on these first meetings, we are missing intimacy. We are so busy going through the facts of our business and their pets that we miss making a connection with them.

Bryan describes intimacy as into-me-you-see. It’s the passage of looking past the exterior and the facts and learning more about someone. It’s extremely important for us to build that connection with our clients. We are not just providing a job, we are serving their precious pet, their family member.

In order to be more intimate with our clients, we need to make more agreements with them.

To do so, we start by asking questions about their pets and what they’re looking for from us. Get to know the different lives of each animal to be able to better serve them specifically. Not every client and every pet are going to be cookie-cutter and that’s why it’s so important to treat them as unique as they are.

An agreement can be made around anything and will look different for everyone. To get started making an agreement, you simply have to bring something up transparently and ask them to agree. The thing is, the other person doesn’t have to agree to your terms and may come back with a counteroffer.

Over time, agreements make a relationship strong. You’re learning how to communicate with each other and ensure your interactions are a two-way street.

We are human, talking to a human.

Trust and Delegation

It’s not easy being everywhere at once. As the business owner, it’s almost impossible for you to be at every single meet and greet. You need to trust yourself, your staff and your ability to lead them.

You need to delegate.

Bryan recommends practicing making agreements with your staff.

Sit them down for a team meeting and explain to them why making agreements with clients is so important to your business. Give them the opportunity to practice making agreements with another team member and finalize the meeting with a group debrief/discussion.

As a bigger group, discuss what happened, what they got from it, what they discovered and grow from there.

Conclusion

Keeping yourself relevant and building trust in your pet business on social media is as simple as keeping yourself you. Identify what makes you unique, what is your purpose, and your why. Then identify different ways you can use your team in order to reflect you and your business in everything they do.

If you want to learn more about human to human interaction and how to use it to make your business thrive. Join Bryan Kramer on his H2H Marketing & Leadership Hub Facebook group.

Just click the image below!