Social media is a great place to communicate with pet owners, and it can be a great way for them to engage with your practice. Whether it’s a like, share, comment or retweet, it’s a good reminder of how powerful your veterinary social media can be when it comes to engaging pet owners. The best part? There’s always room to grow your audience in new and exciting ways.
So what’s next on the docket? It might be a good idea for your practice to look into social media advertising. Social media is the way many of today’s pet owners interact with businesses, which makes it a great place for your practice to invest a little and reach even more pet owners.
So what do you need to know before diving into social media ads? We’ve compiled a brief overview on everything you need to know to get started.
Facebook is a great place to try out budget-friendly promotional tools that can help drive traffic to your veterinary website, expand the reach of your Facebook content, and improve your online reputation with pet owners—all while leaving you in control of the goal and budget.
So let’s look at your options.
How can I use paid ads?
Like a print advertisement, Facebook ads are intended to promote your veterinary practice. Unlike print, Facebook has a distinct advantage—the ability to specifically target pet owners in your area. When you run a Facebook ad, you can essentially choose who sees it based on location, demographics and interests.
To set up a Facebook ad, you’ll need a page for your veterinary practice first, and you will need to ensure that it specifies your type of business. Then, go to the Ads Manager. After that, you just set up a budget and schedule, enter your targeted audience, and post your ad content.
There are a few guidelines you’ll need to follow, so be sure to check the Facebook Business page first.
Once you’ve posted your ad, you’ll be able to monitor how it’s performing as well. Facebook Insights, which you can find on your Facebook page, has a section for promotions, where you can check on things like whether your ad met its goal and what you can adjust for future campaigns.
How can I use boosted posts?
You may already have plenty of followers, and maybe you’re rocking the balance between fun and informative posts. Why does your latest blog post only have two likes? Unfortunately, you may not be getting noticed. Facebook has been decreasing the organic reach of businesses’ posts since 2014—in some cases, around 16% of followers see posts, but the numbers can dip as low as 2%.
Boosted posts give you the ability to temporarily raise a particular post, so it can reach more newsfeeds. Clicking “Boost Post” at the bottom right corner of your post takes you to a condensed version of the ad builder. Here, you can select your desired budget and schedule.
Again, you can track the performance of these social media ads with Facebook Insights and your WebDVM Social account.
How do I find the right content?
If you’re not sure what content to boost for the best result, Facebook’s built-in analytics can help track pet owner engagement. Boosted posts are more flexible than paid ads, so if you notice fun content is doing better than educational content, it may be time for a boost.
Instagram has experienced a lot of growth as a go-to social media platform for millennial users, making it the perfect spot to reach out to one of your veterinary practice’s biggest pet owner demographics. You’ll have to engage them without so many words—but Instagram ads can help.
How can I use paid ads?
Facebook owns Instagram, so the advertising process is almost the same. You can set up your ads to run as images, image carousels, or videos—or even add them to your story!
You will need an Instagram business account to run social media ads, and for that, you’ll need to connect your Facebook page to your Instagram account. From there, you’ll be able to use the same Ads Manager to create your Instagram ads. You can also use Insights to track analytics.
Because Instagram is so visual, your ad content will be slightly different. Try using images from around your practice; this will show pet owners just what your practice is like, and who wouldn’t love seeing images of adorable animals (with permission)?
Your ad will appear as sponsored content, leading pet owners to your website by targeting a specific audience based on various factors. For example, let’s say a pet owner spends a lot of time browsing cute puppy photos. This person lives in your practice’s area and shows an interest in pet care. Instagram will show this person your ad, so you’ll get some screen time, and hopefully gain a new client.
How can I use promoted posts?
Like Facebook, Instagram gives you the option to boost individual Instagram posts. This helps ensure that as many of your followers as possible see your content, while also reaching out to other potential clients with similar interests. The exposure helps to streamline your communication efforts with pet owners for better client education and compliance.
Unlike ads, you can boost posts directly from the Instagram app, which will also show you basic insights.
Twitter is where many folks go for tidbits of news throughout the day. It’s a great place to start a conversation with pet owners—and Twitter advertising works as an extension of that connection. So how can Twitter help promote your veterinary practice?
How can I use paid ads?
Although Twitter profiles are typically brief, there’s still enough personal information to create effective, targeted social media ads. This information is compiled in your account’s analytics, where you can see demographics, interests, household income, buying styles, and more. In fact, 85% of Twitter users believe Twitter promotions help them find new businesses—so it could be a great opportunity for your veterinary practice!
Twitter ads organizes your ad campaigns based on your objectives, ranging from website clicks to gaining more followers. Whatever you want, there’s an ad campaign for that—and Twitter’s step-by-step guide makes it easy to create your ads.
How do I use Quick Promote?
Important as it is to connect with new pet owners online, try not to forget about your dedicated regulars! You’ve done the hard work to gain followers, and it’s important to engage with them as best as you can.
Twitter’s Quick Promote option is similar to boosted posts on Facebook and Instagram, and can help ensure more accounts see your educational tweets. You control how much you want to spend, and even a small budget can go a long way to improve communication with pet owners for better education and compliance.
How do I use Twitter Analytics?
With its own analytics software, Twitter offers an effective means of tracking pet owner engagement. Here you can follow your growth over time, to learn what posts gain the most attention so you can fine-tune your technique as needed to keep pet owners coming back for more.
There are all kinds of options available for promoting your veterinary practice with social media ads. Each unique platform offers great features that can effectively market your clinic to pet owners, without breaking the bank! So what are you waiting for?
