Here at Black Dog Studios, we are fortunate enough to have some wonderful clients in the pet industry. After building websites for them, more and more clients were looking to us for the next logical step: marketing plans tailored to drive existing and new customers back to their shiny new sites. Websites are great, but are useless without traffic.
Like many businesses, our savvy clients wanted social media to be an integral part of their marketing plans. In our efforts to provide them with the most comprehensive, effective and current social media strategies, we started doing some research on what was going on in the industry. A LOT of research. We found ourselves poring over thousands of pet industry social media accounts. When all was said and done, we had reviewed the websites, Facebook pages, and Twitter handles of over 1,600 pet industry companies.
What we discovered was surprising. As a member of the industry, we’re sure you’ve seen the staggering statistics that show that the pet industry did over $50 billion in business in 2011. Despite terrible economic times, devoted pet parents ensured that the industry saw steady growth over the past few years. However, many of the companies that are no doubt contributing to those fiscally fantastic numbers, aren’t seeing the same great results in their social media campaigns. What gives?
Don’t get us wrong–there are some pet companies that are knocking it out of the park. A few are even highlighted in the report. We found that the gap between the handful of companies really doing a great job and the rest of the pack was huge. We can’t imagine what the industry profit statistics would look like if pet manufacturers were mastering the art of social media marketing across the board.
Click below to see the report in full!
