You’ve been working on building an awesome online audience for your veterinary practice. You’ve started expanding your reach and connecting with heaps more pet owners—both old and new—to build a strong online reputation and establish your team members as industry leaders.
Now, it’s time to put your online reputation to work and get your practice out there, and get started on the important work of educating pet owners.
Client education is something that you’ve likely invested valuable time and energy in within your practice. But did you know that your online reputation could be the key to unlocking a whole new world of communication with pet owners?
Your classroom is no longer confined to the exam room, and your audience isn’t restricted to your client database. All bets are off, and it means good things for your practice.
So how can you use your online reputation to branch out on client education?
Use it to inspire confidence.
Building a strong foundation for your veterinary practice’s online reputation can often feel like an uphill battle. It’s definitely worth the effort, but that doesn’t mean the work stops once you get there. If you want to optimize your clients’ educational experience, you must maintain your online reputation by remaining transparent and posting accurate, up-to-date content regularly for your audience.
Using consistent content can help inspire pet owners’ confidence in your practice, which can also deter focus from potentially inaccurate “Dr. Google” information. After all, while a recent study showed that pet owners are turning to online searches more frequently, most of those pet owners like to confirm online information with their veterinarians.
By proving time and again that you have the correct information, as well as giving them an online library to find good information, you can build up and sustain confidence and comfort between your practice and your pet owners.
Use it to target your content.
Pet owner reception is everything when it comes to client education. Let’s say there’s an issue you’re burning to share on your veterinary blog, and you’re sure that pet owners need to hear it. However, “need” is not the same as “want.”
Ask yourself: will this story appeal to my audience? If the answer is “no,” your topic might not resonate so well with your clients, which won’t get you anywhere.
If you’re not sure whether it will resonate, using social media listening tools can help you identify what your audience wants to hear about.
Have a topic that you’re not sure how to share effectively with pet owners? ClientEd Online gives you access to a database of educational resources to inspire new angles for your veterinary content.
Whether you need to scrap the idea entirely, or write it from a different angle, make sure the end result speaks to pet owners. Write to your audience as though you’re solving their pet problems with confidence, while being cautious not to over-promise. Targeting your content can help improve client education and compliance, encouraging a deeper level of pet owner engagement.
Use it to add some character.
Now that you’ve gained a decent following of pet owners online, you can take advantage of your reach by posting educational content and resources. That said, the online world can be fickle, so you must make every effort to attract new eyes, and to maintain their engagement for the long haul.
Pet owners don’t want to read a blog that sounds like a textbook—so try to adjust your writer’s voice accordingly so you can keep clients engaged. Informative content and entertainment shouldn’t be mutually exclusive! Adding personality allows you to bond on a deeper level and improve communication to keep pet owners keep coming back for more.
Use it to find new venues.
So, you’re maintaining your online reputation, and using it to rock client education—what now? Keep growing! Your content doesn’t have to be limited to your blog and website alone. Branching out can help you attract new pet owners to your practice.
Where else can you post your content?
There are plenty of options for sharing your content. For example, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are a straightforward way to get the word out there. You could also try guest-writing on local websites and newspapers to improve your SEO results. Wherever you post, be mindful that relationships go both ways—so talk freely, but remember to listen too.
According to a veterinary client focus group study, pet owners often feel that their concerns are not heard by their veterinarians. We know how busy your clinic can get, and when you’re trying to help as many patients as possible, sharing every detail with pet owners just doesn’t seem practical. While every effort should be made to communicate effectively with clients during each visit, it’s definitely useful to have a set of trustworthy online resources to which you can refer information-hungry pet parents anytime.Building the ideal online reputation for your veterinary practice may take some time, but with the right guidance and a healthy dose of effort, the positive impact you’ll have on client education is immeasurable.
See more LifeLearn’s Online Reviews Content
- Using Your Online Reputation to Educate (âžś Currently Reading)
- How To Deal With Negative Online Reviews For Your Vet Practice
- How to Manage Online Reputation for Veterinarians
- Veterinary Reviews and Reputation Management: Navigating Yelp to Google and More
- Understanding Why Clients Post Negative Reviews Online
- The Benefits of Negative Reviews
- Are You Missing This One Crucial Step When Asking for Online Reviews?
