Why social media strategy is like training a puppy

19th August 2024 by Rachael Bruce

It’s no secret that we’re dog lovers at Active PR and ICYMI we’ve recently welcomed a new four-legged team member Lucie. Helping her settle in made me think about the parallels between puppy training and social media strategy. Read on to discover why you should think like a dog trainer when it comes to the social media strategy for your business.

1. Planning and preparation –  just as you’d make time to teach your pup the basics, you should set aside time on a regular basis to manage your social media. This includes:
   • Content creation – shooting or sourcing images and video, writing the captions so that you have a bank of posts.
   • Scheduling posts for broadcast across various social media channels in advance will save time in the long run as you won’t be wondering when to post.
   • Monitoring and responding to comments on your posts and DMs. Have a bank of approved stock replies to speed up processes. These can be tweaked to circumstances as appropriate.
2. Fun and engaging – learning should be fun for your pup and the same applies to your social media content, your followers should want to see your posts and be encouraged to interact with them.
3. Consistent tone –  your puppy will need to know the difference not just in what you’re saying but the way you say it to help them understand what’s expected of them. Establishing a brand voice is equally important, although the tone may vary across different platforms – it’s unlikely you’d use the same content on LinkedIn and TikTok even if the message you want to convey is the same.
4. Little and often – puppies have short attention spans, just like people on social media. Don’t expect people to read long posts or watch long videos. Keep it short and snappy with a link to the full article or longer video on your website or YouTube channel.
5. Acknowledge positives and negatives – just like puppies, there may be occasions where things get a little messy. On social media people will be quick to criticise and slow to praise. Acknowledging feedback, both good and bad, is important. Instead of simply hiding a negative comment, invite the poster to DM or email to take the conversation off line.
6. Rewarding – if your pup follows the instructions and training is going well, you’ll want to reward them, perhaps with a treat, affection or a toy. Treating your followers could be simply giving them practical tips or providing them with infotainment or it could be running a competition where all they need to do is like a post, follow your page, share the content and tag a friend for a chance to win.
7. Track performance – knowing what works and what doesn’t will enable you to adjust and tailor your puppy training and your social media strategy. If your pup hasn’t learned to sit, it’s unlikely they’ll master stay. If your videos aren’t being watched but people are swiping to look through multiple images, then your content mix should include more multi-image posts.

While we don’t claim to be experts in dog training, we’re a pack of seasoned PR pros who’ll happily take the lead in helping develop a social media strategy for your business. Just like our canine companions, we’re loyal to our clients and have worked with some of them for decades. We also bring the enthusiasm of a puppy to everything we do. Want to know more? Email beinspired@activepr.co.uk.