Is your practice crushing it on social media? Content calendar on lock for the next three months? Organic engagement through the roof? All caught up on your inboxes? If so, kudos are in short order–congratulations and keep it up! If not, you are likely among the many veterinary professionals pulled in a myriad of directions on a daily basis…and staying on top of social media. While this is something you would love to get to, it tends to be a task that finds its way to the bottom of your to-do list. Social media can boost your hospital’s visibility and reputation, attract new business, improve client satisfaction, and humanize your brand. However, at the end of the day, it only works if it works for you—your schedule, resources, and technical know-how. With the following framework, we want to take the pressure off and help you bring the fun back into managing your social media presence. From celebrating your veterinary technicians to sharing behind-the-scenes clinic moments, engaging posts help build trust and connect with pet owners. GettyImages/Nikola Stojadinovic Try approaching your strategy in the same manner you would host a successful social gathering. (Social media is intended to be social, after all!) 1) Stay genuine When hosting a party: If you think you need to be a Martha Stewart-type host in order to pull off a successful party, setting out only the finest China and the most perfectly polished cutlery when your authentic self would look more like hosting a backyard barbeque with paper plates, your event will likely come off as odd or forced. To put guests at ease, let your true vision shine. When building your social presence: You may feel a platform like LinkedIn is a strictly formal space, where you can only speak in full, grammatically perfect sentences, with no emojis or exclamation marks. However, if your practice is laid-back and loves puns, let your genuine voice shine–no matter what platform you are on. If you would greet a group of clients in person with a resounding “Y’all,” write that in your online post copy. Details like this will show your audience who you are and inspire them to bring their authentic selves to your pages and your business. They may even feel so connected with your practice’s personality and invite others to join your social space, growing your following organically. 2) Select what works for you When hosting a party: Maybe you heard about a new event space at one of those virtual reality labs, and in order to get in, you have to have a certain number of Instagram followers. Cool, but if your ideal venue would be your family lake house, and everyone brings a picnic blanket and an appetizer to pass, you’ll surely have a more memorable event if you’re all in on the vision. When building your social presence: Social media platforms come and go, so it is not a sustainable strategy to hop on every trendy channel. Instead, focus on maintaining an active presence on the platforms where you feel most confident and comfortable–both in navigating the technical requirements and in the platform’s interface. Choose to participate in spaces where you have the resources to manage your accounts, those where you perceive value and those where your current or target customers are already active. 3) Be welcoming to everyone—even haters! When hosting a party: If your end goal is an awesome party that’s memorable for the right reasons, you’ll want to be welcoming to all attendees and potential attendees. If you were to stick only to your comfort zone and cater to a handful of besties, it wouldn’t be as interesting, diverse, or successful as it would be if you were open to a larger community of revelers. As for welcoming haters, what better way to dispel any rumors or misinformation than to invite them into your space and show them what you’re all about and how you operate? When building your social presence: To create a welcoming social media experience, your pages should provide value. If someone takes the time to engage with you by leaving a comment or posting a photo of their pet, engage back. That’s exactly the sort of interaction you want to encourage–and that goes for whether the individual is a current customer. When it comes to haters on social media, your inclination may be to block them or delete a negative comment, but it could be helpful to address all comments, even unfavorable ones. Taking the time to leave a thoughtful reply shows your “spectating” followers that you make a genuine effort to address all feedback. Someone who had a less-than-stellar experience and wants to vent about it often doesn’t expect a response. Providing one and doing your best to make the situation right can turn a hater into a brand advocate. 4) Don’t hold back in storytelling When hosting a party: You might think it’s best to keep interactions surface-level at a party, flitting around and exchanging brief niceties. However, if you have something meaningful to share, perhaps a toast to the guests and some background about why you felt compelled to host this particular event, chances are it will be a standout moment, well-received by guests. When building your social presence: You have likely heard attention spans on social media are short and getting shorter, but that doesn’t mean all of your posts need to be brief. Storytelling posts can be highly effective, and they tend to be lengthy. Stories invite your audience in and allow them to experience your authenticity. Some ideas for storytelling posts include sharing what brought you to the veterinary profession, sharing why you brought a particular piece of equipment into your practice and what it means for patient care, or sharing why it was important for your team to participate in an off-site continuing education event. Some topics in the veterinary space are highly emotional, like compassion fatigue and animal euthanasia; It is okay to lead with your values and share those stories, as well, if it feels important to you to do so. 5) Take photos and videos When hosting a party: There’s a reason the photographer or videographer is one of the first vendors you think about hiring when planning a wedding. When you know you’re going to have an epic event, you want to capture the moments and memories to share with each other, to share with other attendees and to share with anyone who couldn’t make it. When building your social presence: Social media is a highly visual medium, and photos or videos tend to outperform text-based posts. On some platforms, such as Instagram, a photo is required to publish, making visuals an even more key element of your presence. When it comes to images, more is more. Posts that feature image albums (more than one photo) are effective for telling a richer story. Ideas for social content that plays well with image albums include photos from your recent customer appreciation event, an album of patients that had “Dogust” birthdays, or a roundup of 4th of July tips for keeping pets calm. Social media doesn’t require hiring a professional photographer or videographer. iPhone photos and videos work great, especially in portrait or cinematic mode. Just make your subject is in focus, the lighting is adequate, and people are smiling! GettyImages/Andresr 6) Stay active and engaged When hosting a party: If guests arrive at your party and the appetizers have been sitting out for a long time, there aren’t any refreshments, there’s no music playing and the mood is stale, chances are any future parties you host will not be well-attended. When building your social presence: You don’t have to post every day, but it is important to keep your social feeds fresh by maintaining an active presence so your followers have a reason to visit your pages again and again. A healthy content mix keeps your visitors informed, interested, and intrigued. Informative posts include topics such as your clinic hours and operational announcements, as well as running a sale on products and services. Interest-based posts could include a photo album for Hug Your Cat Day, a Vet Tech Appreciation Week shoutout, or a roundup of holiday gift ideas for pets. Posts to pique curiosity may take the form of storytelling posts, behind-the-scenes video tours of employee-only areas of your clinic, or content that includes a call to action, like “Ask us what you can do to help your aging pet’s joints feel better today!” 7) Be gracious and grateful When hosting a party: It wouldn’t be a party without the guests, so take time to make sure they know their presence is appreciated. You may even consider sending them home with a party favor. When building your social presence: You would just be shouting in a digital void if it were not for your social media audience, and there are plenty of opportunities to express your gratitude through dedicated posts. Thank your followers when you hit a fan growth milestone, thank them during Customer Appreciation Day, or thank them by reposting their pictures to your page, whenever they tag your practice. Consider offering a percentage off a service like nail trims or shampoos, for people who like or follow your pages. One final suggestion: Have a good time while you’re at it—joy is contagious! Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, be present, and enjoy. Aleksandra Boyd is social media content lead for Patterson Veterinary; listed as Patterson Vet on social channels. For more details on this topic, check out the All Things Veterinary podcast.
