Up Your Marketing Game to Pack a Big Punch 4th Quarter
11/14/2020
As we’ve heard a million times by now, We’re all in this together.” This pandemic has drastically changed or closed businesses forever. Fortunately the pet industry although not completely untouched (Chewy & Petsmart break up) is one of the industries that are doing quite well!
How many animal shelters were emptied out across the USA? Even living from employment check to employment check, new dog owners nationwide are still finding some extra cash to not only provide for but spoil their new furry family member.
If you have your doubts, all you have to do is wander over to Tiktok to see how many serotonin inducing pet accounts exist and growing by the minute. Scrolling through my #FYP page, apparently we just can’t get enough of those pet accounts. When the world is going through one of the worst economic disasters in our history…the emptied pet shelters prove that a daily dose of serotonin inducing pet stories is just what the nation needs.
So how do you and your business capture the attention of these new pet owners you ask? I highly recommend 2 lesser known social media stepsisters…Tiktok and Pinterest! Now hold your horses, I’ve got some pretty good reasons for both.
Pinterest has been around since December 2009. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have heard of Pinterest. You’ve probably searched a Pinterest worthy idea for your store, your kids party, interior design, and all things well designed and pretty! Many people use Pinterest personally but not as many small businesses give Pinterest the clout it deserves. Is Pinterest social media? Kinda, but not really and that’s a good thing!
According to strongcoffeemarketing.com “Pinterest is an excellent tool to help increase links back to your website, which, in turn, drives more traffic. It is more effective at steering traffic back to a website more than any other social media source. (Thank you, rich pins!) This uptick in traffic obviously relies on good content.”
I have had my business on Pinterest for years with up to 150,000 monthly viewers. There have been times that over 80% of my monthly website traffic came from Pinterest. Does Pinterest traffic come easy? No. Pinterest is definitely a long term strategy. Keep plugging away posting your well designed content with back links to your website, blog, or store, and you will see those numbers increase steadily. I feel like Pinterest is one of those lesser known search engine power houses that many small businesses don’t talk about as much as their more desirable sisters; Facebook and Instagram.
My new favorite social media platform goes to Tiktok? Being that I am not under the age of 30 (which is 66% of it’s monthly users)…you might ask why I would want to have my business on Tiktok?
Tiktok is still new-ish and growing extremely rapidly. If I want my business to be around for more than a few years, I must curate my business profile on this platform in order to attract my young and future pet owning clientele. Pre-marriage and babies…we spend a lot of money on silly things for our pets and your business should be where your future clients feel comfortable.
According to Esquire Middle East, “Tiktok has over half a billion users, more downloads in 2018 than YouTube, Twitter and Facebook and is worth more than US $75 billion. Why do people love this app so much and how can your business benefit?
Essentially Tiktok is just plain fun. It’s all about the videos but without the 5 minute intro we have to wade through on Youtube. Just 15-60 seconds of videos dancing, learning, singing, animals, or whatever kind of Tiktok you’re into! Additionally, there aren’t as many “Karens” as Facebook, and it’s not as pristine and polished as Instagram.
Tiktok is a great place to allow your clients to see the real “you” in your business. People buy from people, not businesses so letting your hair down and letting the authentic you (without all the polish & makeup) shine through will be well received on this platform.
Although I’ve just dipped my toes into Tiktok, I know that the most successful profiles are the ones where people working at their business gain the greatest following (and sales) simply by being themselves and showing the “behind the scenes” look at how the magic happens.
People are by nature voyeurs. Being stuck at home months on end, we still want to relate to one another and get a sneak peak into someone else’ life and experiences around the World in manageable bite size bits.
I’ve seen business profiles sky rocket from zero to millions of followers at a pace faster than any other social media platform which is why it’s great to get in on this bandwagon now.
If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we can grow, change, and pivot ourselves and our businesses in order to meet the demands of this new World in which we live. Sometimes putting yourself out there and leaving your comfort zone might be the best thing you’ve ever done for yourself and your business.
Go on and try these new strategies to drive more traffic to your business.
What’s the worst that can happen? You might drive more traffic to your business website? How about making more sales? How about being invited to be on a new TV show?
You never know unless you try. Go get em’ girl! You be you!
Until next time… XXOO Leel Michelle