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Marketing Series :: Facebook isn’t the only Social Media!

Friday, September 20, 2019

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Social Media :: Facebook isn’t the only Social Media!

Most everyone utilizes Facebook, establishing a page for your business, and using it as a marketing tool, but have you ever considered using other forms of social media to promote your business? You are missing key areas of marketing if you only have a Facebook page! It is time to consider launching an Instagram or Twitter, posting some Snapchat stories, and even listing your operation on LinkedIn! Below are some tips to consider when contemplating the value of social media outlets and having more than just a Facebook page.

CONTENT NEEDS TO MATCH

We touched on this last week, but driving this point home is really key in understanding how to market your show pig operation on social media. WHAT YOU POST ON FACEBOOK SHOULD ALSO BE POSTED ON INSTAGRAM! Even if it may seem redundant or like you are overwhelming people with the same content across all your platforms, we promise this is not the case! Instead it is branding you across multiple different platforms, imprinting your colors and brand in people’s memory! This consistency is how lasting brands like Under Armour, Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A become household names, with logos that don’t even need their name anymore. Over time, your show pig operation can become a household name was well, as long as your marketing is CONSISTENT!

Instagram

Too often people associate Instagram as a platform that only young people have. While this may hold true in the sense that most every millennial is very active on IG, the main question is, why wouldn’t you want to target this demographic? Your junior exhibitors are on Instagram! Not to mention, more and more people are choosing Instagram as the best platform to market and sell items! Unlike Facebook, Instagram provides you with a newsfeed of images that is not inundated with random videos or ads. Your content is more likely to reach your followers on Instagram than it is on Facebook. Navigating Instagram, tagging yourself or showpig.com, is as easy as a click of a button!

Like previously stated, junior exhibitors are the main demographic you can target on Instagram. While they may not have the money to purchase anything, they will also be the first people to find a picture of an animal for sale on IG and turn around to their parent (aka the check book) and say “Hey, look at this one!” This also provides a unique opportunity to post winning pictures, tagging junior exhibitors, and highlighting the kids that purchase their projects from you! This demographic will also do marketing for you, sharing your posts on their own Instagram stories and getting their followers to follow you.

The use of hashtags are key when it comes to using Instagram. Creating your operation hashtag and using it on EVERY post is important. Hashtagging and marking your location can also help to draw new followers. Some other common hashtags to include to draw more people would be #showpigs, #stocksshowlife, and of course #showpigcom! Just about every brand has an Instagram and tagging those brands and including their hashtag can help to promote your page and business as well!

Snapchat

Snapchat is a whole other area of social media marketing that is becoming wildly popular in the show livestock industry when it comes to selling animals. Unlike Instagram, Snapchat is a platform that will target a large swath of people, not just the younger generation. Snapchat can engage people to talk and discuss with you after you have posted an animal being for sale. The most often complaint we get from people holding online sales is that too many people buying online wait until the night of the sale or into extended bidding before they contact a seller. Want to find a way to get people engaged in asking questions and knowing more information before then? GO TO SNAPCHAT!

On Snapchat, you don’t have to have business account, just use your own! Post pictures or videos of sale lots to your story, with just the basic information (lot number, sale date, sale platform, etc.) and then let the people come to you! It takes about 5 seconds for a person to see a picture of your sale animal on Snapchat and then immediately type in the “Send a chat” bar, asking what that animal is or wanting to know more info. This is a great way to engage people weeks before the sale or even the day of your sale, garnering interest in your animals long before the sale closes. Another positive to Snapchat is posting unedited, raw picture and video of for sale animals. In an era when Photoshop has taken over, people have begun to start trusting Snapchat as a place to see images and videos of livestock that haven’t been edited. Give your clients and buyers an honest look at your stock! They will appreciate it and trust you as a seller, more than you even know!

Twitter

Most people tend to have a love or hate relationship with Twitter, but it is an area of marketing you can use. Twitter is great for posting short blurbs of information, and can largely be used to draw back to your other pages, like Facebook or Instagram. Twitter is mainly used for publishing news, so you can use it for publishing news about your operation as well! Again though, Twitter only allows a certain number of characters in any post, meaning you need to be short and concise. Post a picture, include basic information and then drive your followers back to your other pages or your sale site on showpig.com. Twitter is also a great place to use your hashtags! The more you use your hashtag, the more popular it becomes and the more widely searched it will become! Twitter won’t help you write your story, but it will help to promote your other pages, website or even print ads, which will let people know who you are and what your story is!

LinkedIn

While LinkedIn isn’t the first social media platform to go to when it comes to marketing your livestock, it can be a good conversation starter among professionals. If you work or own your show pig operation, be sure to list it as one of your places of employment on LinkedIn. Posting show pictures or sale pigs to this site probably won’t get you far, but so many industry professionals are active on LinkedIn. Having your livestock operation listed on this site as a place of employment or as the owner will get other people in the industry to ask questions, creating conversation about your business and maybe even get your operation highlighted by a bigger, corporate company!

Struggling with putting together a social media plan? Is the thought of managing Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. giving you a headache? Let showpig.com help! Contact the Showpig.com team and let us help you get started with a social media marketing plan!

Katey Brattain 765-720-2769

Stacey Watje 209-604-2542

Emily Miller 419-575-5999

Taylor Miller 419-822-1796