Live Dog Training Seminars

One of the issues I encountered when I first started working at Your Dog's Guru was a lackluster social media presence. With previous knowledge of how social media can increase sales and encourage consumers to return to an existing product, I decided to use the face of Your Dog's Guru, Michael Jayko, as a featured part of my social media strategy.

I introduced these "Live Dog Training Sessions" as a new way for Michael to connect with the company's existing audience. I facilitated these seminars by creating loose-scripts for Michael ahead of lives sessions and worked to ask questions that I had screened from clients and staff members on the subject matter. I selected seminar topics by focusing on the repeated questions we got in real-time training sessions.

At the core, this social media push was supposed to gauge what content our consumers engaged in and see if there was success in including the face of the company in our social content.

Goals/Requirements: • Pick a topic that engages the chosen audience • Curate a conversation that is dynamic and learning-based • Create a campaign that spreads the word and encourages reposting

Consumer-research is the most important part of any marketing campaign. To grow the follower count and engagement of our existing clientele, I set out to find out what resonated with our audience through actual surveys. Both in-person and over social media, I asked our clients what they would like to see more of on our social platforms.

From my research, while people wanted more content overall, the clear theme was that people really trusted the product because of Michael. Knowing that a "mascot" of sorts has been effective with products like Frosted Flakes, Mr. Clean, etc. I capitalized on Michael's iconic look and existing rapport with clients to create these 1:1 sessions.

The process included research, scheduling, prepping, and staging:

What are the demographics of our social media audience?

What content is getting the most traction?

What specific issues would be best to cover in a seminar?

Once isolating a topic of conversation, the next steps in development are creating a social media image that is recognizable and adjustable so that we can continue live sessions on a regular basis. I also took the time to prep a list of bullet points and questions for Michael to reference and help guide him through the program in lieu of a memorized script. This is a part of the branding as well, hitting key phrases without making the seminar feel unnatural.

Beyond this, I prioritized scheduling each seminar at a time that doesn't conflict with Michael's schedule, but also works for our client-base. A midday livestream makes sense because working individuals can hop on a live while enjoying their lunches.

Rollout is done a few days prior to the session. In addition to creating the hard post shown below, soft posts (stories) were pushed out on our social media platform every day prior to the actual livestream day and time.

While social media engagement for the first live was initially lower than expected, the company saw great success with the livestream being posted afterwards. Engagement grew outside of our client-base and raised YDG's follower count.

The in-person response was a greater success, as existing clients who had a relationship with Michael previously claimed that the session provided solutions to problems they've had training sessions for previously. It served as an educational tool for them and they ended up sharing this with others—speading the word about the business.

Research is the foundation of good marketing!

Identifying accessible language is key for consumer engagement

Copywriting is based in storytelling, and Michael was a character that the audience could connect with