10 Ways to Optimize Your Dog Training Facebook Page
There are a few quick updates you can make to your dog training page that will have a big impact!
Vanity URL: Is your Facebook page easy to find? If you aren’t using a custom URL that says your practice name, it might be hard to locate. These are often called vanity URLs. My vanity URL is: https://www.facebook.com/dogdaysconsulting/. It works like this: if you tag my business in a post using my Facebook username @dogdaysconsulting, I will get a notification that you tagged me, and if others click on that link, it will go to my page! Win-win. You definitely want your clients using your @username in their posts about how great you were with their dog so their friends can click on the link and find out more! To check your username, open your Facebook business page and look on the left-hand side below the profile picture. You will see it listed there as your page name. You can edit this from the ‘About’ page.
Update Basic Info: Keeping your hours, phone number, address, website, and other pertinent info updated is critical to making sure that your existing and potential new clients can find you easily!
Use Your Keywords: Keyword research can be time-consuming, but it's essential. Over time, make a list of keywords that you can refer to when creating content. Think about what people are typing into a Google search bar to find dog trainers like you: ‘Dog Trainer Near Me,’ ‘Puppy Training,’ ‘Behavioral Training for Dogs,’ etc. Google ‘crawls’ your pages and websites and measures the use of keywords to help with SEO and searchability. Don’t go overboard or use the same ones repeatedly. It’s obvious if you are stuffing your page. A few free tools to find relevant keywords are the Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere and Ubersuggest by Neil Patel.
Short Description: This is the short description area on the About page where you can enter your training business's mission statement. Use some of your keywords in this box as well.
The Practice Story: This is a longer description area that tells the story of your dog training business and your ‘why’ for doing what you do. Use keywords that naturally fit into the flow of the story. Be compelling. Remember why you started your practice in the beginning and what brought you to the day you decided to open your business.
Customizing Tabs: There are tabs on the right-hand side of your page that help viewers navigate your page. These tabs are there by default and can be moved around or turned off. For instance, if you don’t have ‘Groups’ linked to your page, you can hide that tab from view. You can also rearrange the tabs to be in the order you want.
Profile Picture: This is what people see when you post or comment on posts. This image is small but needs to be good quality and represent your training business well. Some businesses use their logo, which isn’t a bad thing but can feel a little cold. If you have images of you with a dog or something that shows your training in action, that would be a great profile picture. You can change your profile picture, but remember to stay consistent with your branding.
Cover Image: This is your business imaging real estate, much like a billboard on the side of the road. This image can and should change based on current seasons, monthly themes, and so on. It could mirror the ongoing marketing agenda you are following inside the business. If you are promoting a certain training program or service, this would be a great space to highlight that. Always add your logo to the bottom right corner of the image to continue with your branding.
Quality Content: Videos, shared posts, trending topics, and images are all types of content. The kind of content you post will appeal to some and bore others, which is okay. The main idea is to reach a broad sampling of your intended audience and strike a balance. Don’t post things that are inflammatory, controversial, gross, ultra-emotional, or devastating. Your audience is not prepared to handle what you handle every day at your business.
Have Fun With It: Engage with your audience, respond to comments, and post fun things that happened during training sessions or community outreach you participated in. This is a social site. It is in our nature to be introverted professionally, but in this instance, there is a fine line you can walk that allows you to be extroverted professionally. Celebrate business events and holidays, and use random social media holidays for post ideas.
If you need more ideas on how to optimize your Facebook page or other platforms, please reach out to me! I’m happy to answer any questions.