In this article, we’ll learn the different benefits of paid social media ads in promoting your pet business to millions of pet owners and increasing your share of the pet market.
Marketing your pet company or local pet store can be tough. Although the market is quite large, your target audience includes a limited number of people: pet owners—and not even all of them but only the ones who are willing to spend a bit more for their pet’s food, accessories, grooming, and so on.
In spite of this, the good news is that the pet market continually grows: in 1988, only 56 percent of U.S. households had a pet, but as of this year (2023), that number has jumped to 66 percent. This is equivalent to a staggering 86.9 million households!
If you think your awesome (or should we say, pawsome) pet products or services are not getting the awesome sales they deserve, it’s time to try paid social.
In this article, we’ll dive into the different advantages of using paid social media to promote your pet business to enlarge your share of the market.
Benefits of Pet Company Paid Social Media Advertising
Paid social media advertising—often shortened to simply paid social—refers to the type of online advertising in which your pet business pays a social networking site to have your ads shown on their platform.
Paid social can be in one of various forms, such as display ads, video ads, and sponsored posts. You can set a budget for your ads and how long they would run on the site.
As a subset of digital marketing, paid social offers a number of benefits to your pet company. One is that it is much more affordable compared to traditional marketing methods (TV commercials, billboards, print ads, etc.). On top of that, social media ads can be seen by a much larger number of people, regardless of where they may be in the world. This is in stark contrast to traditional ads, which are generally seen only by a limited number of people in a specific area.
However, this doesn’t mean that your paid social media ads will automatically be shown indiscriminately to people on the other side of the globe. This is not the best use of your ad resources if your pet business serves only a specific market, like if you’re a pet grooming salon in Manhattan. One of the greatest advantages of paid social is that you can set your ads to target only certain people. Ideally, your ad’s target audience would be people who are part of your preferred demographics (for example, you may want to target young single adults in NYC) and who have specific interests (perhaps those who follow ‘Dog Whisperer’ Cesar Millan) and behaviors (like those who watch shows on Animal Planet).
Traditional ads are seen by everyone who watches the TV channel where your ad is played, by whoever passes by your billboard on the freeway, and by whoever reads the newspaper where you advertised on). On the other hand, with paid social, you can set your ads to be seen only by pet lovers who are more likely to be interested in your pet products or services.
This targeting capability gives you more bang for your buck, leading to a better return on your ad spend.
Paid social also comes with great tracking and analytics. Each social networking site has its own dashboard for advertisers, which allows you to track and measure the effectiveness of your paid social campaigns in real time. Using the data they provide, you can optimize and refine your campaigns anytime you wish. Making changes to your ad campaign is something that you simply cannot do that quickly (or at all) in traditional ads.
Finally, as a bonus, paid social allows your pet company or store to build relationships with both your prospects and existing customers. You can post messages (promotional and not) on your social media page and actively communicate with people by replying to their questions, feedback, complaints, and reviews.
This two-way communication (which is a missing element in traditional ads) can enhance brand loyalty and bring more repeat business to your pet company.
Paid social media ads offer a long list of benefits to pet companies compared to traditional ads.
Paid Social Statistics Related to Pet Companies
With all of those benefits of paid social, it is not surprising that paid social media advertising is quickly becoming indispensable in the marketing strategy of pet companies. In fact, a number of pets have even become celebrities—or ‘petfluencers’—in social media, like Grumpy Cat, Tuna, and Mr. Pokee. Believe it or not, a single sponsored post from a petfluencer can cost as much as $15,000!
Advertising on social media should be a no-brainer for your pet company because a lot of pet owners are active on social media: A study from Mars Petcare (the world’s largest petcare company) reported that 65 percent of pet owners post about their furry friend on social media about twice every week.
Purina PetCare (a subsidiary of Nestlé), another behemoth in the pet industry, spent more than $100 million on paid advertising just in 2019. But you don’t need to be a giant like Mars and Purina to get pet owners to know your offerings. A well-crafted paid social advertising campaign can effectively promote your pet products or services to your target market in just a few clicks.
How a Meta (Facebook) Advertising Agency Can Help in Your Pet Company Marketing
If your pet company’s marketing team doesn’t have the time or expertise to set up and manage your paid social ad campaign, it’s best to hire a social media advertising agency.
An experienced advertising firm like Zero Company has the experience and know-how to create targeted social media ads for your business to meet your objectives while staying within your budget.
When choosing an advertising firm for Facebook and YouTube (the top two social media platforms), or any other social networking site, take a look at the agency’s website. Read their case studies and references to gauge the ad agency’s capabilities based on their past success.
Also, make sure that the digital advertising agency you’re considering gives clear and accurate pricing to avoid any issues with your budget.
A Facebook advertising firm can help you set up and manage your paid social on Facebook as well as other social media sites.
Take Your Pet Marketing to The Next Level With Paid Social
Paid social can help your pet business promote its pet products and services to a targeted audience or even to the world. It offers a lot of benefits, like a much wider reach, targeting options, flexibility, and greater cost-effectiveness compared to traditional ads.
An experienced digital advertising firm like Zero Company can help your pet business revolutionize its pet marketing with an effective paid social ad campaign.
Book a free consultation with our team of paid social experts today!
