A lot of people have been talking about content marketing lately. Then they talk about using social media to promote your content. It can get pretty confusing. Too many people think they are the same thing. Why is that? Because they do their best work together! Keep reading, and we’ll explain how they work together, and why your pet business marketing plan should be utilizing both content marketing and social media marketing!
How Content Marketing Uses Social Media
Content marketing is putting free information out that is helpful to people. Usually, in the case of pet businesses, your clients, the pet owners, will be looking for advice on how to improve the lives of their four-legged friends. So, for example, say you write an article about what table food dogs can have, that’s content marketing. Potential clients can read that article and feel like you gave them some useful information. Your brand becomes associated with valuable information and warm fuzzy feelings. (And we ALL want that!) The same thing applies when you send out cute little images with animal facts to your fans and clients on Facebook. As Hollywood knows quite well, entertainment is a value all on its own!
If your content were a movie? Social Media is the movie theatres and streaming services that enable people to see it. You use social media to showcase your new creation and to interact with your audience! Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay to get your content out there. Most social media platforms these days require a dollar amount to get great exposure, so be prepared for that potential expense. Even if you don’t pay for ads, that doesn’t make it free! Check out our article on Social Media Marketing Myths for more information!
Content Marketing Has a Longer Shelf Life Than Social Media Ads
Everyone wants to get the best bang for their buck. You don’t have a lot of free time, and wasting it (and your money!) on short term investments is only a temporary solution. Content marketing is a longer-lasting benefit. Unlike a flash in the pan Facebook or Instagram post, your content will always be there. Once Content marketing is cataloged by Google, it will show up as soon as a potential client goes looking for that topic. It’s value never fades, and every time you add another piece of content, you become more relevant in the eyes of the almighty search engines. That’s the power of content marketing.
After all, when was the last time you went to the second page of a search result? Most internet users don’t. If you want people to see you, you need to be on that first page of the search results!
How to Get Started With Content Marketing
How do you use content marketing? It’s easier than you think. There are a couple of things we should clarify before digging in. The first thing to understand is that it isn’t the quickest strategy – search engines will likely not catch on for about 6-9 months that you’re making all this great content! Content marketing is a strategy for building your online presence, but it takes time to pick up steam. Be patient, and you’ll reap the rewards!
Choosing the Right Medium
Choose a medium that you will enjoy creating, and your audience will like consuming. Pick either blogging, videos, or a podcast. Consistency is the key, so make sure you choose a medium you feel comfortable creating. If being on video makes you uncomfortable, you’re going to have a hard time staying consistent with your content creation. Putting out new content once a week is ideal, but decide on a schedule that will work best for your business and stick with it.
Fully Optimize Your Content
Optimizing your content so that search engines know how to index it is key to making sure people see your creation. Every time you create content, make sure you are making the most of that time and energy you have invested! How do you fully optimize your content? Just follow good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices and do keyword research so that you choose keywords that will help people find it. For Miles Beckler’s FREE SEO training, click here.
Promote Your Content
Remember how we said that search engines take several months to catch up? They’ve got a lot of content to index! Here is where social media comes into play. Use your company’s social media pages to Promote! Promote! Promote! Share your content with all your existing clients and fans, driving traffic back to your website and turning them into paying clients.
Create a Sales Funnel
What is the point of getting traffic to your website if you don’t have something specific for them to do? Yes, you want them to be new clients, but they may not be ready right away. How do you make sure they don’t forget about you when they do need your services? You set up what we call a funnel. While they are on your website, offer them something free in exchange for their email address, giving you a way to contact them regularly, so you can nurture those relationships and eventually help those people become paying clients.
Make Your Content Marketing Plan
There you’ve got it! These four steps are necessary to get the most out of content marketing for your pet sitting business. Now, we have talked a lot about making content and promoting it on social media, but how do you know which social media platforms are the best choice for your business? PetBrainy has just the guide for that. Check out our article to find the best social media platforms for you to use with your content marketing!
To download our FREE content calendar template click here. It’s a perfect companion to your content marketing plan!
Get out there and start content marketing today!