Improve my social media with dog food?!

I like to try to find ideas for social media training in my everyday life, sometimes the sources can be surprising.  Like today, my inspiration is from the dog food industry!  Long gone are the days of people buying their pooch some tins with the weekly shop.  Nope, now buying your best friend their dinner is SO much fun. 

Inspiration

There is one podcast I listen to on repeat, it is an interview with Duncan Wardle.  His suggestion is to make what you sell not just about your product or service, but to make it “an experience”.

After getting Reggie (my Great Dane pup) a year ago, he’s had a varied diet. But only recently has buying his food become an “experience”. I never thought this would be possible – how can buying dog food be an experience?

Duncan Wardle delivering a seminar - he looks excited, his arms are spread wide and there is a very busy backdrop with highlights from his career at Disney
Image courtesy of Tails.com

Marketing Gurus

Firstly I bought from Tails. They have a super interactive website and it’s nicely branded. They start off by asking about your baby (these companies are for people who mother their puppers like me!) –  they ask for their name, their breed, when their birthday is, their activity levels – then they tell you they are creating a perfect recipe just for him. When the food arrives, it has “Reggie’s food” on the front and it automatically redelivers when you need a top up.

Lessons: make it about THE CUSTOMER (or their dog!), make them feel special, get repeat business without being a sales sleeze and give them something surprising (the personalised food bag). Very clever, right?

Make THEM feel special and WANT to share your product

And then you get folks like Butternut Box who take it to the NEXT level!!! The website is similar to Tails but it’s even more interactive and fun. The photos of the food are laid out like human meals (with little paws swiping the goodies!) and when you receive the box of food – it’s just AMAZING!

The box is branded in such a fun (and Instagrammable) way that when you open it you are excited – and the dog is going mad! There is a flyer inside that explains their business and why it’s so awesome (it is funny and has lots of social media prompts).  It tells you EVERYTHING you could possibly need to know about transitioning to their food and what to expect.  It makes you feel super special AND there’s a doggy bandana included with a style guide, yet again, more social media genius.

Honestly, the first thing I wanted to do was grab my phone to take photos, it is SO clever. Again, it’s a subscription service so once you’re in, why would you leave?!

Image courtesy of butternutbox.com

Lessons learnt: as above with Tails PLUS give the customer all of the FAQs so you don’t have to spend so much time on customer service.  EXPERIENCE is everything – if you make people smile and laugh, you have most likely got a buyer for life.

Social Media Training

But listen, I know you came here for social media training, so how can this help you?

1. Think outside the box – how does everyone in your industry use social media?  How can you do it differently? (Thanks for this Duncan!)

2. How can you encourage your fans to become your content creators? (Did you know Disneyworld use almost 100% User Generated Content on their Instagram feed?! Yup, next to NO marketing spend!)

3. How can you make what you sell more of an experience, and how can you show this on Social?

4. Where can you look for inspiration that your competition aren’t? …like the dog food industry!

So there you have it, this is what I have learnt from dog food companies about how you can make your business better.

Could this help you to make your business stand out on Social?

Jo x

PS: Next time you book a 1:1, maybe we can have a chat about this aspect of your business?

9 thoughts on “Improve my social media with dog food?!

  1. A great blog Jo and this is where we need to go with THM! Some serious uplift on branding with Mary, the website, then what else can I do to increase business – I love the idea of a subscription but would this work for what I do?!!

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