Promoting an All Breed AKC Dog Show
Well, this is a little embarrassing! I planned to create multiple posts about my social media promotions heading in to the 2022 Michigan Spring Cluster dog shows. I am a member of the Progressive Dog Club of Wayne County and I created and scheduled a series of Facebook posts about our event weekend.
We had a successful show weekend, entries well over 1000 dogs on Saturday and Sunday, a profitable scentwork trial, and many compliments from exhibitors. Over the course of the cluster weekend we had some conflicts with our partner all breed club, the Pontiac Kennel Club, and decided to part ways for our 2023 shows.
2022 Social Media Review (oops!)
I just sat down to work on the social media schedule for this year, and reviewed the performance of the posts I created in 2022. This was work I planned to do leading up to the shows, but it didn’t get done until now. It’s interesting to see how different posts performed, and I’m going to use that information to inform my plan for this year.
We decided to cut costs by changing dog show superintendents from MB-F to BaRay. It’s sad to leave our friends behind, but without the multi-show discount that the cluster enabled for us, BaRay seemed worth a try based on the potential savings. We will evaluate and see where we end up for 2024. This has made putting our premium list together a bit more challenging since they don’t have copies from last year as a starting point, so we are getting started just a bit later this year.
Impactful Dog Show Promotion Posts
Our event flyer and the link for online RV reservations had the most reach, both seen by over 2000 Facebook accounts. Other posts that had reach over 1000 accounts included a link to the cluster premium lists and reminders about the scentwork trial online closing date. Our Special Attractions, the Junior Showmanship scholarship competition, 4-6 months puppy classes and Afternoon with the Professionals handling clinic announcements all reached over 1000 accounts.
All Breed Dog Club Social Media in 2023
I will be creating similar posts for our club and affiliated dog clubs and activities in 2023. Some of the content can be repurposed with slight updates. Club members were able to take photos of our events in 2022 that will provide relevant images for posts this year. It’s good to have a better idea of what kinds of posts are most engaging, to make sure we have similar ones in 2023.
Leveraging Dog Show Public Relations for Toastmasters
I’m currently a member of the Oak Park Toastmasters Club based in Oak Park Michigan, affiliated with Toastmasters International. I’m working on getting an educational award in their Pathways educational system, and I’m at a level now where one of the projects I can do is “create an engaing blog.” I’m going to blog about this year’s show on our club website and use those posts for my project. I have to blog 2 times a week for at least a month. Once I settle on the days, I plan to start next week, and cross promote the blog and the show’s promotion on Facebook.