Social media can be a really great tool to promote your pet care business, stay in touch with past and present clients, and share your personality online. However, social media can start to feel like a second full-time job. Between content creation, strategy, posting, and community management, it leaves you very little time to effectively run your pet care business. Some people will choose to outsource 1 or more of these tasks but if the cost of outsourcing is too much, there are ways to make managing your social media presence easier. These are our favorite tips for creating a content schedule and sticking to it.
Create a Calendar
Failing to plan is planning to fail. One of the BEST things you can do to ensure success on social is to create a calendar. Creating a calendar helps you plan ahead, leaves you one less daily decision to make, and keeps you on track for success. Here are some ideas for content to place on your calendar:
- Use hashtag days like #tacotuesday #flashbackfriday #waybackwednesday to inspire content
- Utilize National holiday calendars. #NationalBlueberryDay or #NationalPug day are great for sharing content under a tag that is getting a lot of traffic
- Use traditional holidays like Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day etc. to show your holiday spirit and share content
When you create a calendar you may notice that 7 days kind of seems like a lot of days and 30-31 days might seem like an impossible mountain to climb. Fortunately, you don’t need to post every day. Quality over quantity is the name of the game. Posting 2-3 days a week is plenty for a busy facility like yours.
Employ Outside Help
So you may not be able to outsource the entirety of your social media tasks but maybe 1 of the tasks could be outsourced to either a staff member or a trusted resource. Outside help is great because it reduces your workload and ensures that there is a second set of eyes on your content. Employing outside help can sometimes be more work upfront as you explain your objectives, voice and tone, and your style, however, it can be an incredible source of relief.
Ask Your Audience What They Want to Read
Struggling to come up with new content? Ask the audience! Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a poll option for a reason! Polling your audience, whether you utilize the poll feature or just asking them to leave a comment, can help you hone in on exactly what your audience wants to see on social. It’s also fun to engage with your audience in a natural and organic way.
Use UGC Content
User-generated content is a great way to save yourself some time and effort when planning out your content calendar. UGC is content that is produced by your clients and is shared on their personal social pages for their audience to view. With UGC you can give your followers a look into how other pet guest clients are experiencing your facility which can help you connect on a deeper level. Sharing client content can make them feel special and a little bit like a pup-leberity!
Be Realistic
You’re a busy pet care facility which means you can’t expect yourself to be on social all day! Being realistic about the amount of time you can spend on social will help to alleviate any guilt or stress you have about managing your social pages. It’s ok if you can’t get on for a day or take a few hours to respond to comments and messages. Social media is not your job, caring for your pet guests is. Don’t sweat it.
Use Scheduling Tools
Scheduling tools help ensure that your content calendar gets utilized. Planning is all well and good but execution is the next beast in the battle. Apps like Later, Sprout, and Planoly can help you not only create a calendar but can send out the content for you as well. So, if you’re busy between 9 am-11 am and can’t get content out, your trust scheduling app can. It’s like having an assistant for social! Some of these apps even offer an option to automatically respond to comments, they’re really great!
