Episode 5: Building Community Through Pet Content with Sandra Macedo
Maddie and Sandra start their discussion by sharing their hopes to meet up in person some time soon but share that they’re excited to chat virtually.
Sandra begins her discussion of her background. She wasn’t always a dog content creator! Her background is in biology, she started in the aquarium industry after college. Sandra educated people on how to keep their aquatic pets safe and happy. She traveled to meet distributors, educated others on safe aquatic care, and more. Being one of the youngest at her company, Sandra was offered the social media accounts for the company she worked at. She took them over and utilized her biology background for social media education!
That’s where Ryder’s account comes in. Sandra is continuing to educate pet parents through her dalmatian’s social media. Ryder is an HUA dalmatian which comes with dietary restrictions. Despite research, two years into owning an HUA dalmatian Sandra noticed that a lot of the information available about HUA dalmatians is anecdotal and confusing for the average pet parent. She does share that she enjoys a tight knit community with other HUA dalmatian owners. They chat, ask each other questions, and support each other.
Maddie shares that her two dalmatians are also HUA. She explains that dalmatians have genetic differences that change how they process uric acid. That means they can be more prone to urinary stones and blockages if they have high uric acid, HUA. Maddie says that dalmatian enthusiasts are working to better the breed by lowering the uric acid through another genetic mutation. Maddie and Sandra originally connected over discussions surrounding low purine diets for their HUA dalmatians that keep their uric acid in check.
Maddie followed Sandra on tiktok because she loves keeping up with other dalmatian owners. Sandra shares that the dalmatian community online is very tight knit because of their dietary restrictions. Sandra tries to educate on HUA versus LUA dalmatians to help other owners understand and find that community support. They talk about an HUA dalmatian instagram groupchat to discuss research and stories.
Sandra shares that she recently did a urinalysis on Ryder that she’s been discussing with the group chat. She variety feeds and wanted to see how Ryder is doing. She’s navigating the results with her vet but shares how much information she received on social media after sharing her results.
Maddie discusses how she didn’t start out interested in pet food but saw a need from other dalmatian owners when she opened the retail store for her accessories. She shares a story about a dalmatian owner coming into Modern Companion and asking if she made a store specifically to cater to dalmatians. She laughs and says “no but yes.” Her HUA dalmatians often test the things we bring into the store so it has to be safe for them. If they can’t test it, another employee's dog will.
Maddie also shares that her dog, Domino, had a blockage in 2022 and was hospitalized. She was away on a work trip and struggled to get home to be with him. Domino was ok but it gave Maddie a new outlook on how HUA impacts dalmatians. She shared that Domino thankfully did not need surgery since she’d already been doing regular urinalysis and ultrasounds yearly. Thanks to that established care, her internal vet was able to clear the blockage without surgical intervention. Maddie emphasizes how helpful getting ahead of any potential issues can be.
Sandra says how interesting it is that she learns something new every day in the dog world, she didn’t know there was a way to clear blockages without surgery. She talks about turning down partnerships as a pet influencer because they aren’t safe for Ryder. She’s had to turn down PR boxes and gifted items to keep Ryder safe. Sandra discusses how many options are out there that aren’t all safe and how lots of pet stores don’t have the employee education to know how to assist. She shares that that’s why she likes Modern Companion, there’s an extra layer of education available.
Sandra asks Maddie about how she finds and sources all of her interesting products. Maddie discusses all the trial and error behind finding products for the store and subscription boxes, it’s a long process. Sandra brings up the Modern Companion Subscription Box, she just received her third box. She’s excited about the Tick Mitt because of how useful it is for hiking and keeping ticks away. She also asked about the Tailr tag from the July box. Maddie says she found them at Global Pet Expo and that she likes how they’re changing the way you communicate with other people about your pet. Sandra says she loves that the box emphasizes things pet parents might not think about. For example, she says the Tailr tag would be great to use if a dog sitter ever needs to take your dog to a vet. It would give the vet access to your pet’s full health history.
Sandra talks about how much she loves the small business world and how small businesses uplift and help each other. Maddie shares that community is so important to her and that that’s a connection she has with Sandra. Sandra says she started Ryder’s tiktok account the day after she brought him home. She brought Ryder home after 8 years of waiting, he is her first dog. She wanted to document everything for herself and quickly had a video go viral. Her first viral video was of Ryder pawing at a door stopper following a trend. She never anticipated growing as much as she has. Sandra says it's given her financial freedom, it's been a blessing.
Maddie says social media can be really weird because she shares so much about herself. Her husband did a market after their wedding and was receiving congratulations from people who knew about their wedding from social media. Sandra relates and says her fiance works at a corporate job and his coworkers will talk about Ryder’s account to him at work. Maddie likes that that means people are interested and engaged in the content.
Maddie asks if Sandra’s community seems to enjoy specific content over anything else. Sandra says it’s tricky. She tries to find the balance between content for her followers and content for herself. She doesn’t want to burn out especially since social media is now her full time job. Sandra doesn’t focus on the numbers. She says if you post what you want you’ll find your people.
Sandra shares that she’s starting dog sports with Ryder and will be sharing content about that. Maddie talks about how she and Mackenzie both participate in dog sports. Sandra talks about how people seem to be very interested in dog sports. She says she enjoys sharing her experiences there and wants to encourage more people to give it a try even though people can be catty at first. Maddie says the retail space can be the same way.
Sandra says she’s noticed that in pet retail. She emphasizes the importance of a social media presence for building relationships and your business.
Maddie asks if Sandra has advice for people who may want to grow on social media. Sandra says to be consistent and authentic. Trust is precious. She says shareable, relatable content does well and that interacting with brands you really use can help you get brands attention. Maddie says she still values the relationships she still has with her first brand ambassadors.
Transparency is important, uplifting others is important, Maddie and Sandra emphasize community over competition to finish out the episode.
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