Christina Sutu: Social Media and Your Veterinary Hospital: What, Why and How?

• 1.SOCIAL MEDIA ANDYOUR VETERINARYHOSPITAL:WHAT, WHY AND HOW?Christina SutuSocial Media Manager Encina Veterinary Hospital Walnut Creek, California

2. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? According to Wikipedia, social media is an umbrella termthat defines the various activities that integrate technology,social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures,videos, and audio. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, blogging, LinkedIn 3. In essence, social media is a tool to insert ourselves into theconversation between current and would-be clients. In fact, depending onhow viral your exposure is, a person could be getting a personalrecommendation about us from a friend-of-a-friend who they dont evenknow! By placing our messages in this conversation, you can craft amessage that can support the conversation and develop a relationshipwith someone who the practice has never met yet. Angela Linvill, MS(Hospital Administrator of Encina Veterinary Hospital)We dont have a choice on whether we DOsocial media, the question is how well weDO it.Eric Qualman of Socialnomics.com 4. MOST COMMON SOCIAL NETWORKS Facebook allows you to set up a customized page, which otherusers can like to become fans. You can then share interestingcontent, such as updates, pictures and videos with your followersand engage in two-way communication. According to Social Media Today, in April 2010 an estimated 41.6% of the U.S. populationhad a Facebook account. As of April 2012, Facebook has 901 million active users (PCMag.com) Twitter is another huge online network that can help to expand yourreach exponentially and should be a part of your veterinarymarketing plan. Users set up accounts from which they candisseminate quick, helpful and interesting tidbits ofinformation. Each tweet is limited to 140 characters, so you haveto be creative. Over 140 million active users as of 2012 (Twitter Blog) 340 million tweets are sent every day on average (Twitter Blog)DVMelite.com 5. MOST COMMON SOCIAL NETWORKS Youtube YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees inFebruary 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. Youtube offers a widevariety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, aswell as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos. In November 2006,YouTube, LLC was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion, and now operates as a subsidiary ofGoogle. Youtube is the 2nd most used/popular search engine in the world, only behind Google (Rocketmedia) Youtube is the third most visited website in the world (Rocketmedia) 6. VETERINARIANS IN SOCIAL MEDIA Its a very small pond right now; veterinarians are not utilizing the toolsthey have to become active and present in social media or online. A website gets your information out there but social media allows you to connect toclients and potential clients Many feel a sign outside and a Yellow Pages ad should suffice when itcomes to advertising and building clientele it no longer does! Gone are the days of looking up a business in a phone book; people are now relying onthe internet and friends to tell them where to go and why. 78% of people trust recommendations (yelp, friends) versus only 14% trust traditional advertising 7. According to a survey released byPew Interest, amount of userschecking in on social networks atleast once per day: Facebook 52% Twitter 23% Myspace 8% LinkedIn 6%According to the 1995 AAHA Reportentitled A Study of the CompanionAnimal Veterinary Services Market,45% of pet owners considered therecommendation by anotherperson as the most importantfactor in selecting aveterinarian. 8. WHY IS SOCIAL MEDIA IMPORTANT? Social media is how people search for services they need Social media allows you to connect with your clients which leads tofuture/new clients Social media gets the name of your clinic out into the world wide webmore often which leads to more business Clients share your information with their friends and family easily through social media Clients dont have a chance to forget about you in between exams Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are all FREE Become a trustworthy resource for pet owners 9. WHERE DO YOU FIT IN? As a veterinarian, its important to build personal and trusting bonds with your clients. Social media helps with that: Your clients can and will stay connected with you through social media, year around Your clients wont forget you or your hospital because you will have a constant presence Your clients will refer you to their friends because of your personal touch and its EASY to do so on Social Media platforms 10. WHERE DO YOU FIT IN? Target age: 20-40 Your future clients are already using social media; to keep up and be appealing, youmust be on the same playing field as them. As time goes on, technology improves. You must keep up with thetrends to remain relevant and attractive to clients and prospective clients Our Dr. Jill Christofferson has been in practice for 20 years andmaintains an excellent presence and bond with her clients throughFacebook Coming to the vet to see Jill isnt scary or unpleasant; they feel like they are going tosee a friend and are at ease. 11. WHERE DO YOU START? Depending on your area, see which social networks are most popular with staff,clients and other businesses. Select only 2-3 networks to become active in and a universal username for all You may select more to simply sign up and put something out there on that network,but it becomes very difficult to manage so many networks while providing quality. Select a username that reflects your hospital that can be used on all venues(encinavet) Let your clients know you are now on Social Media A sign in the lobby, email newsletters, stamp on invoices/statements If youre interested in blogging, then do it! Blogspot.com = free easy to use blogging tool 12. WHERE TO START? Set up a posting plan Who will be posting? Do not have more than 2 people who will post; you dont want the style of information to vary too much Devote a calendar to social media and make aschedule each month for things you would like to post. Week before the fourth of July, remind pet owners that this is the number one holiday pets go missing, promote micro- chipping Do not over post! You do NOT want to spam your followers; you will annoy them and lose them Quality versus Quantity Decide how much time you want to dedicate Ask staff to keep an eye out for cases 13. ONCE YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR HOSPITALS PAGE ON FACEBOOK Let clients know Email clients, stamp/print on invoices, handout, sign in lobby, on website Find local and veterinary related pages to like AHAA, organizations, pet supply stores, specialty veterinary hospitals, emergency veterinary hospitals, rescue organizations, companies of products you carry You will be able to comment on their pages as your veterinary hospital which will get your name out to their followers Ask clients to send you pictures of their pets for an album on Facebook People love to share their pets; this will give them the ability to share your post of their pets picture with their friends on Facebook which leads to more exposure for you 14. ONCE YOU HAVE CREATED YOURHOSPITALS PAGE ON TWITTER Let clients know Email clients, stamp/print on invoices, sign in lobby, on website Sync your Facebook and Twitter page When you post on Facebook, it will automatically post on Twitter Find pages on Twitter to follow Local businesses, pet related, clients Tweet and Connect! 15. ONCE YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR HOSPITALS PAGE ON YOUTUBE Let clients know Email clients, stamp/print on invoices, sign in lobby, onwebsite, handout Include links to How To videos on take homeinstructions How to cut your pets nails, how to tell if your pet isdehydrated, how to administer sub-q fluids, how to brushyour pets teeth, what to include in a pet emergencykit, how to clean a pets wound Create a video of a tour of your hospital Highlight an employee each month Each time you post a video, share it on Facebook! Your Facebook can be synced to automatically post eachupdate to Twitter so your information can goEVERYWHERE! 16. WHAT TYPE OF STUFF SHOULD YOUPOST ABOUT? Success stories and complex, puzzling cases Patient photos, thank you cards, testimonials Milestones for the hospital and staff Weddings, anniversaries, new babies, new pets Changes to the hospital Policies, remodeling, new staff members, new hours, new products Information Recalls, specials, sales, events (yours and other local businesses), seasonal petdangers, tips for pet owners, adoptions available, emergency hospital, how to Contests Ask representatives of the products you carry to give you free stuff (products,coupons, water bottles, tee-shirts etc.) 17. WHAT TYPE OF STUFF SHOULD YOUNOT POST ABOUT? Cases with an unhappy ending Posting about a patient without the clientauthorizing it can lead to troubles Create a simple authorization form for clients tosign allowing you to use the first name of their petand pictures of their pets for social media Diagnosing or giving personal veterinary advice If someone posts on your wall describing a condition, answer them in a manner thatacknowledges their concerns and suggest they see a veterinarian for the best care Wow John, I can see why youre concerned for Rover! My best advice would be to schedulean appointment with Dr. Smith, that way Rover can get the best care possible. Anything negative! 18. HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS/ROI Create coupons for eachFacebook and Twitterwhich are easy to track inyour practice softwarewith a specific productcode Ask new clients how theyfound you and make sureFacebook, Twitter,Google/search engine,YouTube and any othersocial media you mayuse are listed as options 19. ENCINA VETERINARY HOSPITALSUCCESS STORIES Icebear the cat March of 2011, one of our interns took possessionpresented to us inof a German Shepherd who had been hit by a carearly summer of Through posting about it on Facebook, it got out to2011 for 2 foxtailsour 300+ fans and 21 shares.that penetrated to hislungs. We raised over$1,500 for Sammys We blogged aboutcare, spread story tohim, his interestinglocal blogs, andcase and happygenerated positiveending!buzz about us and In July of 2011, a found a future homeman called from New for Sammy!Mexico, scheduledanappointment and drove for 8+ hours for anendoscopy with our team after reading ourblog on Icebear. 20. HOW CAN YOU WORK WITH PET BLOGGERS AND OTHER INTERNETMARKETING PERSONNEL? Helpareporter.com Myblogguest.com Clients who are influentialin your community Local rescues 21. Create a business profile on Facebook and Twitter Your company logo is your picture and avatar If you are a consultant, use a professional headshot Dont mix personal and business profiles Start social networking with peers Experiment with social media tools Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging, Youtube, Twitter, FLICKR Twitter Daily Learn from the experts Study, research the peers sites Enroll in free webinars Determine how your success will be measured Do not spend too much time online; set schedules Embrace customer review social sites such as Yelp Consider using Groupon Ask each visitor and customer how they heard about your business Remember it may take 6 months or more to get results 22. Christina Sutu Social Media Manager [email protected] Veterinary HospitalEast Bay Veterinary Specialists & Emergency Walnut Creek, Californiawww.encinavet.comwww.facebook.com/encinavet www.twitter.com/encinavetwww.youtube.com/encinavetwww.encinavet.com/blog