Tips to Improve Video on Instagram for Pet Stores

Jul 1

In order to grow your business through a pet store social media platform, you have to understand the platform and it’s/your audience comprehensively. Instagram specifically has grown to over a billion monthly active users in 2020, and with the popularity of pet-related content on that platform, we believe it’s a good platform to be on for pet stores.

But you don’t want to waste your time! Here are a handful of quick tips and pet store social media ideas you can use to run successful video marketing campaigns on Instagram for pet stores.

And if you know your pet store should be on Instagram but you don’t know the first thing about it (that’s okay, you’re not alone), we can help you train a staff member to start maximizing it! Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation and marketing audit to start improving your pet store marketing strategies right away.

Tips to Improve Video on Instagram for Pet Stores

There’s a caveat to Instagram’s billion monthly active users: you need to stand out! Keep in mind that, in general, people are coming to Instagram to be entertained. This often doesn’t translate directly to sales unless you are running ads for specific products (generally not recommended for pet stores).

Don’t work too hard for the sale!
No one really wants to feel like they’re being sold. If you’re going to talk about a new and exciting product you have, make sure you’re focusing on the problems or issues that it solves, why you’re excited about it, who it’s perfect for. Don’t just talk about the item! Make it mean something.

A quick idea: HomeoPet has a storm stress formula and fireworks formula, perfect for the upcoming July 4th holiday for pets that get anxious due to fireworks.
Learn from more successful creators!
Spend some time digging into the creators that have more followers and more engagement than you, and emulate them in some areas. You can find them through various hashtags (use those) and the discovery area.
Use the right hashtags.
It’s possible to go overkill on the hashtags. Keep your hashtags narrowed down. For instance, if your video is about a German Shepherd in the store, use #GermanShepherdsofInstagram rather than just #Dog. It’s also a good idea to use geographical hashtags like #AnnArborMichigan.
Stay flexible and diverse.
Vary your video content from brief snippets to longer content. Talk about products, behind-the-scenes, people or team profiles, pets and customers, how-tos, and various other promotional content. There’s an infinite number of content ideas and ways to make a strong video!
Aim for shorter content!
Most Instagram videos should be no longer than 30 seconds unless you’re going Live or on IGTV. The average follower’s attention span has dwindled over time, so you know you have to capture them very early and for a short amount of time. It can be difficult, but that’s, in general, the life of all sorts of pet store social media content.
Don’t forget about your other platforms!
Some of your content is going to be JUST for Instagram. Others might work well on Snapchat or Facebook or Twitter as well, so don’t forget to leverage those other platforms to increase your reach and push your brand and pet store marketing strategy through several means.
Video quality DOES matter!
Let’s face it - nobody is going to spend a lot of time watching your grainy, scratchy, ugly video! At a minimum, record with a modern smartphone and do your best to control the audio levels (this can be difficult outdoors). At best, use a professional camera, tripod, and indoor lighting.
When is your audience using Instagram?
If you haven’t considered this or don’t know the answer to this, it’s just a matter of looking into your insights and tracking and measuring your data! If you don’t have time, expertise, or people to do that, why don’t you reach out to us? Pet store social media is our bread and butter and we’d love to help you out.
Post consistently.
It’s that simple. If you don’t work for it, you won’t grow! Post video to your pet store's social media consistently to keep your brand active, your audience engaged, and your accounts improving.

Quick idea: start a habit of creating 1 video per week for a specific reason, whether it’s a product highlight every Thursday afternoon or a behind-the-scenes video every time an order comes in.
Use Stories!
Can’t stress this enough! Stories are an incredibly powerful part of Instagram, and therefore your pet store marketing strategy on Instagram. They are right at the top of everybody’s feed when they open up the app and using Stories increases your visibility. Stories are ideal for quick, spontaneous, shareable content.
Don’t set it and forget it!
If you post content that people like and comment on, don’t leave them hanging! Interacting with your community will lead to more engagement, more growth, and more visibility - that’s how the algorithms work. It will also give you valuable learning and insights from the most engaged parts of your base.
Tag your posts!
This is another big one! Use your posts to tag products and manufacturers, popular accounts, customers and their pets, your store (location), etc.
Make branded content.
If you have time, slap your logo on your video content! If your video only gets viewed for 3 seconds, make sure they see that logo in the first 3 seconds or in a corner for the entire video. They might not watch your video, but they could remember your logo and business.
Use the resources that are available to you to improve your video.
If you haven’t check out the Freesources in our Blog area, it’s full of free (or very cheap) resources, tools, and platforms that pet store owners can use to improve their content and pet store marketing strategy.

We recommend a platform like Hootsuite to schedule content, or an app like Boomerang to make quick, engaging videos. You should also develop an understanding of the capabilities of the Instagram app itself: you can add text, gifs, emojis, locations, timers, hashtags, filters, and all sorts of flair to boost your video content.
Last and certainly not least - have a goal!
Nobody needs disruptive clutter online. Make sure that your content has a purpose, value, goal, and an appropriate call to action. An easy, popular one is saying “link in bio” to encourage people to visit your profile and then click to visit a shopping, contact, content, or event page!

Tips to Improve Video on Instagram for Pet Stores
Conclusion

So, 15 tips to improve your video content on Instagram might seem like a lot. With all things marketing/learning/life, take it one step at a time. Find a few useful takeaways and start improving growing your pet store through Instagram today.

For additional help, find us on Facebook: THE Group for Marketing Help for Pet Businesses. Our growing community of petpreneurs can help with inspiration, feedback, and beyond. Tag us in your videos!