When you decided to pursue a career in animal care, strategizing how to market your practice on social media probably didn’t top the list of things you’re most passionate about.
Save yourself some time and effort by trying these 12 ideas to improve your practice’s social media presence.
1. Explore new platforms
As important as Twitter and Facebook are, the world of social media is much denser and rewarding than these two alone. Millennials are now the largest demographic of pet owners, so branching out to some additional platforms like Instagram and Snapchat can maximize your reach.
2. Post more often
Perhaps more important than where you post, is how often you do so. While you don’t want to spam your followers, posting a few times per day on each platform is a good investment.
3. Post consistently
Once you’ve figured out the most effective social media game plan, try to stick to a schedule. Consistency projects reliability—an important quality to possess as a practice. When pet owners know what to expect, they’re more likely to check back and engage with your content.
4. Keep it real
Speaking of engaging content, authenticity is key on social media. After all, clients don’t want to interact with a corporation, they want to connect with the humans to whom they’ve entrusted their beloved pets. How? Share behind the scenes media, profile your staff, and post about real patients!
5. Embrace reviews—the good, and the bad
Part of being transparent is allowing negative reviews on your social media pages. Sure, it may seem counterintuitive, but hiding bad reviews actually tends to break pet owner trust. Instead, think of them as customer service opportunities.
Want to get ahead of a bad review? ALLYDVM’s completely customizable client communications include automated client satisfaction surveys, so you can engage and address potentially unhappy pet owners proactively—before they hit the internet.
6. Make your social known
Consider this: how can you grow your online reach if your clients don’t know you’re online? Refer pet owners to your social media pages wherever you can; at reception, on your veterinary website, and in all your communications to get the word out.
7. Use #hashtags strategically
Think of hashtags like a digital label maker—you can add a few to a post based on topic, to make your content easier for pet owners to find. Don’t overdo it though—stick to around one or two well-chosen hashtags, or risk annoying your followers.
8. Add some fun and games
You know what else annoys clients? Too many business-oriented social media posts. Amp up the fun by adding in some viral pet videos, funny memes, or engage followers with an easy game like a caption or photo contest. Leveraging viral tips online, such as trending pet-related hashtags or popular video challenges, can also boost engagement and help your content reach a wider audience.
9. Always add value
To follow this golden rule of social media, don’t just post for the sake of it—share educational information, fun posts to make clients smile, community event details, and anything else you feel will be useful or entertaining for pet owners.
Looking for quality content to share? Save yourself the time, and let us do the footwork! With WebDVM Social, you’ll get curated content delivered right to your inbox each week so you can get back to pet care!
10. Ask and answer questions
Questions are a surefire way to build your online presence—by getting pet owners talking. Asking questions of pet owners helps you keep tabs on what they’re thinking, while answering their questions opens the floodgates of transparency.
11. Prioritize evergreen content
There’s nothing wrong with posting one-off type content based on some topic trending on social to get likes and shares, but ultimately, you want to focus your posts on that which has no expiry date—like a how-to post on nail trimming, to keep clients coming back.
12. Strike a balance
We’ve talked a lot about the different kinds of content you can post, but what’s the perfect mix to best engage pet owners? There’s no magic recipe, but with the right tools, you’ll figure out what works best for your practice to blend equal parts fun, educational, and promotional.
Growing your veterinary social media can feel overwhelming, but there is comfort in knowing there’s no one right way to go about growing—and these 12 tips will help jumpstart your success. Until next time, we’ll see you online!
