Are you struggling to stand out in the competitive pet industry? Have you considered how maximizing social media can help you attract more clients, quality employees, and even valuable partnerships? If you’ve ever thought of social media as merely a client-attraction tool, it’s time to shift gears.
In this episode, I’m revealing why social media isn’t just about posting cute dog pics—it’s your GOLDMINE for attracting TOP-NOTCH employees and forging partnerships with local businesses! With statistics showing that 54% of small businesses don’t use social media effectively, you could be missing out on BIG opportunities for maximizing social media impact.
Many pet business owners operate under the misconception that social media is solely for marketing. This narrow view can hinder your potential growth.
Imagine a platform where you not only showcase your services, BUT also highlight your unique company culture and values. This is what creates an authentic connection with your audience, setting you apart from the competition.
Are you ready to kill THREE birds with ONE stone! I’ll walk you through the THREE essential social media goals every pet business should embrace. Plus, I’ll share real-life success stories, including how Maggie from Salty Dogs Pet Care is leveraging community connections to DRIVE GROWTH.
It’s time to break free from one-dimensional thinking! Let’s make every post count.
Tune in to discover how to elevate your social media strategy and watch your business THRIVE.
Timestamps:
[01:16] The common, short-sighted approach to using social media in pet sitting/dog walking businesses
[05:22] Using social media to attract top-notch employees
[09:19] Benefits of showcasing employees on social media
[12:31] Leveraging social media partnerships with local businesses
[1 7:29] The importance of having a strategic plan for social media content
[20:36] How the ‘Better Marketing With Bella’ program can help you
[22:37] The value of building long-lasting relationships through social media
Notable Quotes:
“Relationships will last longer than a social media post.”
“Social media isn’t just for getting clients. It’s also a powerful tool for attracting employees and forming partnerships with local businesses.”
“Businesses that actively post about their company culture are 33% more likely to attract top tier client employees.”
“If you just try to do it a one off, or you just try to be like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna just start posting stuff or whatever, see what happens,’ it’s not gonna be as successful.”
“If you decide to do this stuff, which you should, I just want you to sit down, sit down and think about it. Think about what kind of message you want to be putting out there for employees, for partners and, of course, for clients as well. And how are you going to tell those stories? Be really strategic about it.”
Resources:
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Transcript:
If you guys have been with me for a minute, you know that I am all about the easy button. I am all about working smarter, not harder. I am all about strategy so that we’re not just throwing spaghetti up against the wall and seeing what sticks. So my most pet businesses that I see, they see social media as a one dimensional tool. And if you’re doing that, you’re making, like, the biggest mistake. It’s. It’s not just a tool to get clients. And so why not, like, you know that saying, hit a bird, two birds 1 st.
This is three birds, 1 st. If you think about it correctly, and nobody’s teaching this, they’re just teaching you how to get clients. And it boggles my mind. And sure enough, just like everything else I do, I’m sure in a year from now, it’ll be more mainstream. But I really, really, really want to, like, pound this home today that it is not. Social media is not one dimensional. And in this episode, I’m going to be walking you through exactly why and how social media isn’t just for attracting clients, but it’s also for bringing top notch employees and creating partnerships with local businesses in your community. Ready? We’re gonna do this.
So let’s start with a problem. The way that most pet sitting and dog walking businesses approach social media is, frankly, short sighted. The mindset tends to be, I’m gonna post the cute dog pictures, or I’m gonna just try to, you know, post something that happened today and maybe a client testimony, and maybe that’s gonna bring in clients. And sure, it does bring in clients. Secondary. Not. Not like initially, but is that all social media is good for? So think about this. Like, according to a survey by Hootsuite, 90% of marketers say that social media helps them stay ahead of competitors.
But only 54% of small businesses actually use social media to the fullest of its potential. And that’s almost half of businesses that are missing out on what social media can really do for them. And I would say that those statistics are even higher if we were to pull pet businesses. Why? Because more than half of the pet businesses are solopreneurs. They’re trying to do everything themselves. And, of course, we don’t have time to be the best at everything, right? We’re kind of the jack and Jill of all trades. So the main point that I want you to wake work, walk away from today is social media isn’t just for getting clients. It’s also a powerful tool for attracting employees and forming partnerships with local businesses.
Let’s look at three main social media goals every pet business should have. One, getting clients. Obvious, right? You want new clients, and social media is great for that. But the other two that people just forget about or they don’t realize that they can get, is employees. Like, why aren’t you using social media to showcase your work and your work culture and attract people to your company and business partnerships? This is the hidden gem for growth. Collaborating with local businesses can expand your reach and give your brand more credibility. I can’t express this enough right now. At the current time of this recording, in October 2024, Maggie from Salty Dogs pet care is killing it with Shoregate apartments in Jersey, Long Island.
I think she’s in. And she is getting these people like she connected with the construction company. Okay, we, like, I showed her how to do this, you guys. And this construction company that was building these complexes put her in touch with the right people. Not just once. Twice so far. And then she started doing activities and events there. And then the residents started doing pictures of their dogs at the dog park and tagging her company without her even being there.
Guys you can build relationships online. And what does this do? It helps get people talking about your company. How amazing is that? So these are business relations, partnerships. But then think about that as a goldmine for, like, when you’re trying to look for people who want to work for you. Maybe there’s someone that is. That has a dog in these complexes that are, you know, they pay a lot of money to live there. Maybe 1000, $502,000 a month. It’s a posh place.
Maybe they are freelancer at home. Maybe they’re editing videos for someone, or maybe they’re a virtual assistant for someone. Maybe they’re. They just work from home. Right? They’re a freelancer of some sort. They’re a coder, a web developer. But they would love nothing more than to go walk dogs in the middle of the day. And they just happen to know your company, and your company just happens to be, like, advertising for midday dog walkers.
And they’re like, that’s great, because I can do coding or video editing or photo editing any time of day or night as long as I get it done by the deadline. I want you to think about how big this could be. Really be. Like, get excited, you guys. Let me, like, shake you for a minute. Like, let me. I’d be. My hands are on your shoulders and I’m shaking you, and I’m smiling in your face, and I’m like, do you see the power that this could be? Now, in order to do this, you can’t have a cheesy feed, and you have to be showing up regularly.
Okay, so let’s talk a little bit more about this. Like, let’s. Let’s dive in a little bit with employees. You know, like, the biggest challenge is. This is one of the biggest challenges for pet sitting and dog walking companies. It’s getting more clients and getting more employees. Right. Like, almost every one of your main problems can be put in one of those categories.
So if you just had a steady flow of people. And when I say this, guys, I am not exaggerating. I am not exaggerating. This is the first time you are joining Bella in your business and hearing me say this. I have clients. Like, guys, our methods work. We have people with extra employees with their. Their problem isn’t how do I hire good people? Their problem is how do I keep.
Get people more, more jobs? Because they’ve. They don’t want to let go of these great people that are finding them and they want to keep them working. And that’s a whole nother episode by the way. And my clients have problems where they have too many good people to hire. Okay? And so remember that 54% of job seekers use social media to find new jobs. Like, so if someone sees that this is a job for you, that might be really cool, or maybe not even just for them, but if you’re like, do you know someone who loves to get, you know, jumped on by dogs or walk dogs or whatever it might be. So keep this in mind. And businesses that actively post about their company culture are 33% more likely to attract top tier client employees.
Do you know why? Because these employees are getting curious about this company that they want to apply for, and they are trying to see what it is like to be a part of your company. And most people don’t show off their talent, their people, that their biggest asset, their employees online. All right? And it’s not just, hi, this is Mary. Like, there are so many incredible ways to do this and to do this on a regular basis without putting it on your to do list. And so it’s. There’s so many ways that when you do this, not only does it attract people to your company, but it enforces your company culture and, and the fact that you guys are competent and that there’s a lot of amazing people on your team to your clients who see this. And then it also, it also makes the people that are working for you feel that much more special and important because now they’re being highlighted. So I want you to think about how the person who’s working for you can share these posts because they feel really excited that their company is showing them off.
You can see that the clients are like, oh, my gosh, that’s my pet sitter. Yeah, I love her. I like there’s so many degrees of exponential excitement juice that you can get from realizing that you need to start posting your employees on social and all of the benefits that come from it. Stop being so one dimensional with thinking that social media is only for clients. The better marketing with Bella program helps you do this. We give you the strategy for it. We give you the graphics for it, we give you the videos for it to make you look professional. But then you also bring your candid photos and your stories, and we teach you how to accentuate those and how to marry them with the testimonies that you might get.
And guys, this stuff, like, you have this kind of thing and it makes you go on autopilot. And I love teaching this in my program and I love seeing people go from, the problem they have is I can’t find anyone to hire or people keep ghosting me or no one stays on for a long time to, oh, my gosh, my sitters are amazing, and they want to do more and more and more, and I, they want to keep evolving and growing and, and things just, like, run automatically. So when you lever, I’m going to move. I could. I should have just done a whole show on that one, but I think I’m definitely going to. We’re definitely talking about that next week in the beta marketing with Bella group coaching call, because I feel really, really, really passionate about that, and I want to see that out there. I think the amount of trust in our industry, that, that establishes when you show off who’s working for you and all the different angles of doing it, you have to be careful about it. You can’t just be like, oh, this is who works for me.
Right? Because then it kind of sounds like bragging. So there’s, like, a non braggadocious way of doing it. And I’ve seen that strategy work every single time. Every single time someone has the courage to actually do it, it works. So heads up, if you’re in better marketing with Bella, we’re talking about this deep in our meeting coming up this week. Okay, let me move to the next one that is leveraging social media partnerships. So let’s switch gears into partnerships. And like most pet businesses, definitely overlook the value of building relationships with other local companies.
Not just pet related businesses, but anyone that aligns with your brand values. That’s what you got to think about. Like, what are our brand values, for instance? Maybe it is always about promoting our community and being in the know in our community. And maybe there’s another company that also likes to do that. Maybe there’s, like, just a local coffee shop that likes to buy locally. Like, it could be that simple. So why should you care about partnerships? Well, partnerships help build credibility and expose you to new audiences. According to Sprout social, 57% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that they’ve seen collaborating with another business they trust.
Guys, that’s massive. Imagine collaborating with a local dog groomer salon or a nearby coffee shop that is a dog friendly patio. You could offer a joint promotion, like book a dog walk with us and get a free treat at this local cafe. I used to do that all the time. People love that stuff. And you can also cross promote each other’s services on social media. And obviously, that goes without saying. Part of the strategy of that.
I’m going to give you a way right here on the podcast that I really should hold up behind, like the locked doors, is that you partner with people that have a good social media presence. And so to start building these partnerships, you’re going to do a lot of different things. You’re going to engage with them, you’re going to follow and comment on their posts, you’re going to reach out to them, you’re going to have coffee with them. There’s all these different, different things that you’re going to do and you’re going to say in order to build those relationships, and then you’re, after you do that, you’re going to start engagement tactics. And we’ve talked about that many times on this podcast. I’m not going to go over that all over again today. But we do have a whole list of a one page that we give to better marketing with Bella, people that they can just use to open up conversations both behind doors or in front of doors. Right.
Publicly or in DM’s to get people talking and then to follow up and to follow up. And there’s a whole strategy behind that. But guys, it doesn’t take that much. You want to get things on autopilot. I’ve always said a relationship will last a lot longer than a business card. I should also say, and I’m going to quote this right now, this is really good, a relationship will last long. A relationship. I’ve had too much coffee this morning.
I’m so excited. A relationship will last a lot longer than a social media post. Yeah, for real. Like, ooh, think about that. It’s true. And so, you know, through all the engagement strategies of commenting and sharing and using DM’s strategically and all the things that happen inside of that, you could really be very, very successful on social. Your social media is an extension of your website. If you don’t have a good website, don’t even play or play with social media.
Don’t. Don’t be one of those people that say, oh, I’m gonna have social media instead of a website. No, you need to be a professional business. You never. Professional website. How deep, far, wide you go on your website is your own thing. But you need to have a professional website. And if you don’t, you need to talk to my girl Erica.
Go to jumpconsulting.net forward slash barking. That is my affiliate link, and it will take you straight over to all of her beautiful templates. Um, she has some really great basic websites. She’s been doing it for longer than I can remember. I am literally her number one first affiliate because it told her she needed to do it because she was so good at it. Now she does probably half of the pet sitting websites that I see out there. She knows what she’s doing. It’s not just about a pretty website.
It also comes up number one on SEO. Remember Maggie that I told you about? Yeah. Maggie comes up number one. And she’s only had her website up for about six months. Number one above rover and wag, that pay thousands of dollars to come up number one on the search engines. Oh, yeah. All right, anyways, let’s keep going. So types of, there’s so many things, too that you can, like, create with these partners and these employees.
The types of content is like massive. The one thing that I don’t want you to do is just, just start doing random stuff. I want you to have a strategy. So if you decide to do this stuff, which you should, I just want you to sit down. Sit down and think about it. Think about what kind of message you want to be putting out there for employees, for partners, and of course, for clients as well. And how are you going to tell those stories? Be really strategic about it, because I’m telling you, if you do the front load, if you, if you think heavily about it at the beginning, these are the strategy sessions. We do better marketing with Bella.
Or you could sit down and try to do them by yourself. It’s absolutely okay. Then you know exactly what you’re doing and you’re not just, oh, gosh, if you just try to do it a one off or you just try to be like, oh, I’m going to just start posting stuff or whatever, see what happens. It’s not going to be as successful. And that goes back to, like, discipline and habits and behaviors. I want you to have a strategic plan so that you’re not running around with a chicken with your head cut off so that you’re not running out of steam and being like, oh, yeah, shoot, I have to post. I haven’t posted about my employees yet, or I only post when I get a new employee. Come on, you guys, you can be so much better than that.
With a little bit of strategic thought process and creating a plan, you could sit down and be strategic for an hour every quarter and build it all out very easily. And this is why I want to show you. I want to teach you how to fish. I want to teach you how to do this so that you can go fishing forever. This is what happens, too, with better marketing with Bella, is that I get to teach you. And then eventually people, a couple years later, they, like, they don’t need the program anymore because not only do they know what they’re doing, but they’ve empowered their staff to do it as well. Please, please, please, I will change your business. I have testimonies from, like, Angela, who gets like 40 new clients a month, and Nicole, who gets five to ten new clients a week because of what we’re doing with her in better marketing with Bella.
Meet me halfway there. Get the assets, post the assets, get the strategy session one on one, let’s talk about it. And then come to the group coaching calls. So that when I get excited about things like this and I come to you in this next group coaching call in a week or two, and I say, guys, this is exactly what I want you to say in the DM’s. This is exactly what I want you to post. You too can have the fruit of this labor. This program is very cheap. It’s under $500 a month.
We have two different plans under $500 a month, and it’s a six month commitment. And when you get on this plan and you actually do it, that means like one new client a month that you need from this program to pay for it. But guess what? Like I just told you about Nicole and Angela, you get way more than one client a month if you do the program. It doesn’t take a lot of time, guys. It really doesn’t. It just takes. I’m going to point you in the direction you need to go and you go that direction. Go get the touchdown.
Don’t go running around the field in circles because that will cost you time and money. And that doesn’t look good on me either, quite frankly. Your success is my success. I’ve said that many times. So, listen, I want you to bring you back to the big picture again here. I want to drive home this point. Social media is not just for getting clients. And I want you to think about what is on your social media right now.
What are the last six posts that you’ve done? Are those last six posts about trying to get clients? If they are, we need to talk. That means I need you to go to jumpconsulting.net forward slash 20, because that right there is going to be the key to getting you to having a smashing first half of 2025. Right now, we’re getting people on the program for your first delivery to be December 15. And on December 15, you’re going to be able to post all of your social media for January 2025. Yeah, guys, we have all your social media done all the way till June next year. And guess what? It changes constantly. There are things that I told my people last month in our group coaching call to go do to get engagement, and I just got something from Becky last week that said her engagement was up 157%. Yeah, imagine that.
What I tell you to do actually works. You are. You just want to get more eyeballs. So shift it. There’s different things that have been coming out on social media every single month that you need to be in the know. If you’re just still picturing posting pictures of Fido’s face, I’m not trying to beat you down here. I’m trying to be like, really the voice of reason. You’re wasting your time.
And then it’s so sad because most of those people I hear say, social media doesn’t work. I’m like, no, you don’t work. I’m begging you. Let me teach you. Let me get you as excited as I am over this, and let me get you how. Show you how to understand it and then strategize it and then systematize it so that you’re not. It’s not this thing that you’re like, oh, shoot, I haven’t posted on my social for two days. I really need to throw something up there so I stay, you know, current.
You shouldn’t have to live life that. This is not why you had your business. Let me help you. Jumpconsulting.net forward slash marketing to check out the programs. Jumpconsulting.net forward slash 20 to get on a free call with me. It is not a sales call. I will legitimately tell you, if I look at your website, I will be like, your website sucks. Lovingly.
You need to go to Erica. Or maybe you don’t have a website. If you are in any two of those camps, I am not going to let you purchase better marketing with Bella because like I said, your success is my success. You understand? Guys, I do this because I love it. I do this because I want to partner with you. And then the last thing, just as a reminder, if you need a website, jumpconsulting.net forward slash marketing and go check out my girl Erica. She will take really great care of you guys. This has been another episode of Bella in your business.
Thank you so much for spending time with me. I truly love this. I love getting to be creative. I love being able to get hopped up on too much coffee, I feel like, and just chat with you. This stuff is exciting to me, and I just I love it. Shout out to these clients that have been working with, like, three times a week the past couple of weeks. And up in Colorado, we are working through her handbook, her manual. We are getting her all set up for stuff that is just super exciting.
I’ve been so excited to work with her. She’s just a great spirit and a great soul. Um, I don’t usually work multiple times a week with someone, but she’s got big goals and she’s got big deadlines, and so we are crushing it. We just built out all of her phases, her, like, seven phases for interviewing, um, and rejection letters and onboarding things. And, like, every single step. I mean, it really takes a long time to get the foundation for your interviewing, onboarding, hiring, and client love process, those four things. And I’ve been having a lot of fun with her. So let me know how I can support you, and I will see you again on the next episode of Bella.
In your business, remember, when life gets you down, always keep jumping. Bye now.