One of the most common misconceptions about social media marketing is that you can somehow be “too small” for it to become a viable part of your long-term strategy.
In reality, it’s almost the reverse that is true. You can’t be “too small” or “too niche” of an organization to stand out on sites like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. Is something that you post going to get hundreds of thousands of impressions over an evening after going viral? No, but that also isn’t the point if you’re running a business like a pet spa.
Operating a pet spa isn’t about attracting the biggest potential audience that you can. It’s about getting your message in front of the right audience at exactly the right time, which is something that social media marketing excels at.
According to one recent study, in 2023, there were an estimated 4.9 billion people using social media across the world. That’s terrific… but it’s also irrelevant to a small, locally-focused med spa like yours.
However, what that means is that there are likely more than enough potential customers on social media right now for you to tap into. You just need to grab their attention and earn their trust over time.
According to another recent study, Facebook is also the most popular social media platform among marketers worldwide as of 2023. Most report that it has a better return on investment (ROI) than every other platform. Does this mean that if your pet spa is to make a good impression online, all you need is a Facebook page and you’re done?
Hardly.
Depending on the specific audience you’re trying to reach, Facebook might not even make sense for your goals. Or, it might not make sense given the type of content you’re trying to create. Do you want to give people a visual-heavy, fly-on-the-wall perspective of what it’s like to run your business? Something like Instagram or even Snapchat might be far better for that type of content.
All these things are what you need to consider if your pet spa is going to stand out on social media (and on the rest of the Internet, for that matter). Thankfully, getting to that point isn’t necessarily difficult, but it will require you to keep a few basic things in mind.
Social Media for Pet Spas: Breaking Things Down
One of the common misconceptions about any type of social media marketing is that what you’re aiming for is “one viral post.”
If you’re on X, you write up something short and pithy – a little clever, but that also conveys important information. If you’re on Facebook, you write a few hundred words about a particular topic that gets shared around the area.
Not only is this failing to see the forest for the trees, but it’s also tapping into only a fraction of the different types of content that you can explore on your modern-day social media journey.
Case in point: especially if you’re running a business like a pet spa, you should absolutely be leveraging as much video content as you can create for the purposes of engagement. Think about how popular social media networks like TikTok have become over the last few years. This isn’t because they’re filled with walls of text – it’s because they offer bite-sized chunks of information that target just about every demographic you can think of.
TikTok, Instagram Reels, and even YouTube Shorts will allow you to get in on the video-first sharing revolution with your pet spa. You could devote an entire short-form video post to the dogs in your pet spa being pampered, for example. People love videos of dogs by their nature and if you happen to create a post that also shows off your services, that’s even better.
You could highlight transformations, showing off “before” and “after” footage to show how happy animals are when they leave your spa versus when they arrive. You could even just show clips of pets being playful and having a good time – with their owner’s permission, of course.
All this will go a long way towards boosting engagement with the social media content your pet spa is creating, which will help with shareability as well.
Really, what you’re trying to do is highlight the various parts of the pet spa experience. What makes it different than just boarding your pet when you head out of town for the weekend? Show dogs enjoying themselves. If you offer value-driven services that differentiate your pet spa from your competitors (like a massage, for example), show that off, too. All this will add that human element that will resonate with pet owners and separate you from all the other pet spas in the area at the same time.
Keeping Up with the Changing Tides of the Internet
Leaning into that type of short-form video is just one example of how a pet spa like yours can harness the full power of the social media revolution to your advantage.
User-generated content is another big trend that you’ll want to embrace – especially to help satiate the public’s need for a constant stream of high-quality content. Simply put, you probably can’t meet their content demands on your own. Creating these videos and posts can quickly become a full-time job, which is problematic since you already have one of those rightly monopolizing a lot of your time.
The most obvious example of user-generated content takes the form of customer testimonials and reviews. Encourage your existing, satisfied customers to post short snippets that highlight the positive experience they had after they used your services. Pet owners really love seeing other pet owners vouch for a particular facility. How many times have you gone to others in your life or looked online for recommendations before choosing a new veterinarian?
These types of testimonials can quickly become the modern-day equivalent of word-of-mouth. They carry a huge amount of weight in someone’s decision-making process, make no mistake about it.
You could also post educational content and pet care tips that others in your area can take advantage of. The long-term benefit of this is that it helps to position your pet spa as a voice of authority. You’re posting relevant, valuable content without necessarily asking for someone in return. It’s just that you have a lot of experience with something like pet grooming, and now you’re providing your audience with tips on how they can take better care of their pets at home.
You could share insights on grooming best practices, how to bathe pets easily, how to trim their nails, and so much more. You could even create seasonal content that plays into the needs that pets will have at certain times of the year, like when the weather starts to get cold outside and the snow begins to fall.
Note that all of these are steps that you can take before you even begin to approach the world of paid social media advertising. Yes, it’s true that targeted ads can be quite effective – particularly if your organic social reach is declining or if it isn’t where you need it to be during the early days of your efforts. But it isn’t cost-effective to rely on that for very long, which is why you’ll want to use other types of messaging to get you through. In truth, it will probably be a balance of the two that will help establish the social media presence that your pet spa needs to really stand out in a crowd.
In the end, maybe the most important thing for you to understand as you build out your pet spa’s social media presence is that there is no “one size fits all” approach to what you’re doing.
Every business is unique to itself. You probably have different long-term goals than your closest competitor, even though you both technically do the same thing. Every audience is totally different, too – try getting Gen Z and Baby Boomers to respond to the same type of content in the same way on virtually any subject.
This means that there is no pre-existing roadmap for you to follow as you build out a social media presence for your med spa. You need to consider everything through your own unique lens. Use the tools and best practices outlined above as a starting point, and then work to customize everything based on your needs. Over time, you’ll start to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Double down on the former and get rid of the latter every time you have the opportunity to do so.
As an all-in-one marketing platform designed to help small businesses like yours stand out on the Internet, know that Surefire Local will proudly stand by your side every step of the way. In addition to tools focused on social media marketing we have content marketing, data analytics, and more – all so that your pet spa can make the best impression possible under the circumstances.
If you’re interested in finding out more information about how you can leverage social media to make a positive impression on your pet spa needs, please don’t delay – contact the team at Surefire Local today. If you’d like to see exactly what a powerful all-in-one marketing platform can do for your business, you can also click here to attend a Surefire Local demo.