For the next month, I want to move away from the clinical and medical aspects, and focus on some other demands and challenges part of everyday veterinary life. So, over the next four weeks, I will look at the main considerations when planning social media campaigns for your veterinary practice.
As a director of a number of emergency animal hospitals, it is also part of my role to produce content, develop a strategy and oversee our social media presence.
Of course, I am not solely responsible. I am lucky to have a great team surrounding me, which is crucial in making social media work in your practice – it has to be a team effort with everyone understanding, and sticking to, the agreed rules, strategy and objectives.
If I am honest, I was unsure about our hospitals – and me, personally – venturing out on social media; however, after a couple of years, it had proved both rewarding and essential in raising awareness of our work and profession, and in connecting with our clients and pet-loving public.
In this four-part series, I will look at four key aspects in making social media work for your practice. The first aspect is goals, or motivation for getting your practice online socially.
Goals and objectives
Firstly, the whole practice must agree and commit to a set of shared goals and objectives, and all be on the same page when it comes to what they want to achieve and how to go about it.
Without a plan or strategy in place, no direction, teamwork or accountability exists. Plus, it is hard to know you have been successful, if the practice hasn’t agreed what successful means to them.
Secondly, for the most part – although it is nice to get a little fame and recognition – the main motivation for any vet practice when sharing what they do socially is that it comes from a place of training and education. We all want to educate pet owners in preventive measures and help them keep their pets safe and healthy.
I also find in the veterinary industry, misinformation and misconceptions can exist about the work vets actually do, so this is our chance to show and educate people what it is really like behind the scenes, by showing real life stories and cases – even the tough ones. This has been a favourite aspect of mine – I love being able to share what we do behind the scenes, and the reaction has been incredible.
Thirdly, in a veterinary practice, social media offers a unique opportunity to strengthen and enhance the client bond, and be a constant source of accurate and important pet health information. Being able to have that two-way street with our clients is also essential for us to continually improve and learn.
Public awareness
Emergency practices don’t have clients as such; they only need us when their pet is in a critical state. So, what we want is for the public to know our name, what we do and, most importantly, where we are in case, one day, they need us.
Social media has been integral in allowing us to reach and engage with people before they actually need us.
- Next week, Gerardo will be looking at targeting and its importance in creating return on investment on your social media efforts.
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