Flaunt Those Fur Babies

Six easy (and free) tips for promoting a dog park on social media

By Rebecca Barton

JiffPom, the Pomeranian, has over 10-million followers on Instagram. As a point of comparison, the current vice president of the United States has about 16-million Instagram followers. Our furry, four-legged friends are taking over social media—and it’s not just Instagram. Scroll through a Facebook feed on National Dress Up Your Pet Day, Love Your Pet Day, National Puppy Day, National Hug Your Dog Day, Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, National Therapy Dog Day, or countless other dog-related recognition days, and you’ll see dozens of photos of friends, colleagues, and family members showing off their fur babies.

Leah Hetteberg, Unsplash

Dogs make us smile, and in a world where social media can be a platform for education, debate, and awareness, it can also be a platform for giving us a much-needed break from the stress of the day when we see a set of sweet puppy eyes (have you seen JiffPom?).

With so many dogs and dog owners actively using social media to share, collaborate, and find a sense of community, it is an ideal channel for promoting a dog park. Here are six tips for leveraging organic social media to spread the word about your dog park and strengthen its engagement and participation in the community.

Create a hashtag.

Hashtags will help loyal visitors spread awareness of a park to their network, and it will help you track social engagement. Hang signs around the park and invite dog-park visitors to share photos of their pups enjoying their time at your park using a custom hashtag. Then, curate the best pictures and re-post them to the department’s social feeds for further exposure.

Encourage visitors to tag your account when they share photos.

The only tactic easier than the re-share is when followers and friends tag your account directly in their posts. Dog owners are dog people, which means they are likely friends with many other locals looking for a safe and affordable way to socialize their pets. If they’re not already frequent users of your parks and activity services, they might not know that there’s a dog park in the community—until they see it on a friend’s social feed.

Create a Facebook group for a dog park.

Dog-park visitors want to socialize and exercise their dogs, but they also want to find like-minded pet lovers who share their love for their pets. So give them a forum to keep in touch between park visits by creating a dedicated Facebook group for a dog park. Assign a staff member to monitor it closely and help facilitate conversation around training tips and best practices for safety.

Chris Andrawes, Unsplash

Hold a social media-based contest.

Dog owners love taking pictures of their pups—but not as much as they love sharing those photos. So work with your legal department to create a contest that requires submitting a photo of a pet enjoying a day in your dog park. Perhaps ask pets to sport their Halloween costume in the Fall, provide pictures of doggy besties who met at the park, or maybe offer a theme to play on, such as summertime fun time. Giving people a reason to visit a dog park to show off their photogenic doggo will likely increase awareness of a park and might even grow a loyal visitor base.

Collaborate with local influencers.

Over the last five years, influencer marketing has grown from an ancillary marketing tactic to a $5- to $10-billion industry. A quick social search of pet accounts based out of your city, town, or county is bound to reveal local dog celebs that have grown a small (or even a large) following in the area. Message them (er—their owners) via social media and invite them to a special photo shoot at the dog park. In return, all you ask is that they share the photos and tag the park on social media. 

Plan a live stream.

Facebook and Instagram both allow users to go live with content, broadcasting activity as it happens. Promote to a dog-park community that you’ll be broadcasting live dog action at a set date and time. The advance notice will encourage people who want to show off their pups to be there and encourage those who can’t attend to tune in for all the adorable chasing, rolling, and panting. 

Final Advice

Love me, love my dog is the motto of dog owners across the country. Show love for people who call your community home by showing love for their four-legged companions. The result will be a growing community of dog lovers who see the dog park as a haven for friendship, fitness, and a fur-flying good time.

 Rebecca Barton is the Product Marketing Manager for CivicRec. She obtained a Master of Business Administration Degree in Marketing and Strategy from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She holds a Digital Marketing Certification from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Family Studies and Human Services from Kansas State University.