Most veterinarians know they must be on social media, but finding the time to organize, create, and analyze content is easier said than done. That’s why we created a list of today’s top free tools that can help personalize your social media strategy while saving time.
Google Alerts
Instead of manually searching the Internet for mentions of your vet practice, you can use Google alerts to automate the search for you. Google alerts are set up through your Google account and help you monitor when someone mentions your practice.
To start, simply indicate which words you want to monitor (e.g. John Smith Vet). Then, you’ll receive an email each time these keywords are mentioned on the Internet, including social networks. This is especially helpful in keeping tabs on your online reputation and monitoring reviews.
Twitter Ads
Did you know that Twitter has its own free platform to help you schedule and update tweets? To get started, log–in to your Twitter account, and then type ads.twitter.com into the URL bar.
Once you’ve signed up, simply follow these instructions to schedule your tweets. You will not be charged unless you choose to “sponsor” your tweets.
Reference the analytics within your Twitter ads account to see how many impressions and interactions you receive on your tweets. You can even export the data to do an analysis if you want to go the extra mile.
Facebook has a proprietary platform that helps you schedule and monitor how your posts or “stories” perform.
First, log-in to the Facebook account that manages your business page. Then, navigate to your Facebook page and look for the Publishing Tools tab and start scheduling your content. Finally, go to the Insights tab to see how your posts are performing.
Pixabay Photos
Using an image without the owner’s permission can get you into a lot of trouble. That’s why services like Pixabay provide royalty-free, high resolution photos that you can use. Pixabay has over a million photos with no cost to use and if you can’t find something you like, they also show you some options from iStock which is a paid option. It is simple to get started, simply search on a keyword like veterinary or dog and see what shows up.
Canva
Creating original content once in a while augments any social media content service because it personalizes your feed. That said, it’s difficult to create compelling images for vet practices to post, especially since most people aren’t photoshop savvy. That’s why Canva is so great – it features an extensive library of pre-designed, high-impact social media templates that are easily-customizable and will cater to all major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. No design experience needed.
Utilize these free tools to help maximize your social media marketing performance. To learn more about marketing your practice on social media, schedule a free consultation with our experts.
