Reach More Followers Using Your Veterinary Facebook Posts This Year!
Updated: Nov 25, 2023
Between managing patients, clients, and your practice, it can be really difficult to also manage veterinary clinic Facebook posts for your practice. But don’t fret, we have provided a list of 6 tips to craft the perfect veterinary Facebook post to help expand your veterinary clinic Facebook page.
Why is Social Media Necessary for your Practice?
Well the simple answer is that everything is about technology these days. Social platforms are key to providing informed content to your clients, but it can also bring in more veterinary clients if done correctly! What veterinarian doesn't love more clients and more income?
According to a recent study by Pew Research, 69% of adults in the United States actively use the Facebook social media platform. This is showing that the target demographic for your veterinary Facebook page is not just the younger generations; it is everything from millennials to boomers.
Investing your time into crafting veterinary Facebook posts for your practice will allow current and potential clients to have a little insight on how your clinic operates, humanize your staff, see what services you offer, and provide informed veterinary medical content straight from the best source… YOU!
Do I Need to Manage the Posts or Can I Delegate?
Honestly, that is up to you. However, it looks really great to have veterinary clinic facebook posts that are written by a veterinarian or registered veterinary technician because it boosts your credibility.
If you are struggling to make time to craft your veterinary Facebook posts, it may be worth your while to delegate certain topics and posts to employees within your practice. You may give them a topic or allow them to come up with one on their own, but you can review for final approval before submission. This will give your veterinary staff pride that their work was ‘published’ on social media and you have reviewed it to be sure it is accurate, thereby boosting your own credibility (and letting the world know that you have an extremely competent staff).
6 Tips and Tricks to Craft the Perfect Veterinary Facebook Post:
1. Choose A Topic
Successful veterinary clinic Facebook posts are often informative, eye catching, and/or heartfelt. These topics can range anywhere from ‘How to Prevent Heartworms in Your Pet’ to ‘Here is One of the Cutest Patient’s We’ve Seen Today’.
Ideally, your veterinary page should make a post at least once a week if not more. However, daily posts are best because it increases your chances of having page activity from current and future animal owners.
Here are a few topics that you may consider posting about:
Heartworms and Prevention
Fleas and Ticks
Internal Parasitic Infections
Hair Loss
Halitosis
Torn Cruciates
Dietary Management
Hospice Care
First Puppy/Kitten Visits
Meet the Team
Veterinary Appreciation Week(s)
Unique Services Offered
The possibilities are truly endless. Don’t be shy. Talk about whatever you are most passionate about within veterinary medicine even if the subject you post is considered controversial or taboo.
*Be aware that controversial topics or posts within our field (for instance, services such as feline onychectomy, age-appropriate spay and neuter times, breeding, mental health within veterinary medicine, etc) can cause heated debates on your veterinary Facebook page. This is great for shares and overall engagement purposes on your page and has the potential to pull in more followers and wonderful clients with your clear transparency. However, be conscientious of how you word these posts because it also has the potential as personal kryptonite.*
Once a month, especially if you are having difficulty finding creative topics to post, you could ask each of your staff members to pick a topic that they would like to see posted on the veterinary clinic Facebook page. As mentioned early, you may also consider having another staff member to occasionally write a post to take a little of the load off of your shoulders.
2. Do Your Research
Research is key if you want to really drive your point home on any educational veterinary facebook post.
If you are not totally familiar with the topic, it doesn't hurt to brush up on your facts. It is also encouraged to take the topic a bit further and provide documented veterinary research for animal owners to look into themselves. You can do this easily by attaching a link to the end of your post for owners to look into more thoroughly.
A really fantastic resource for further education purposes is JAVMA, the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. As you probably know, this site has fantastic articles and studies in regard to the most recent research on thousands of veterinary related topics.
It is also worth considering doing research on how OTHER veterinary clinics are managing their social media marketing accounts. Look into other practices, clinics, and hospitals that are local to you. This can help you see what topics and posts are more engaging and popular, but it can also tell you what topics and posts are not. Additionally, these local places are your direct competition. So, by looking at their page, you can see how they currently operate their social media marketing accounts, the services they offer, and determine what you may be able to do better.
3. Keep It Easy to Read
It is so important to remember that pet parents often do not have the same knowledge we do. Ideally, you want to make sure that the verbiage is not overly technical and that it reads at a very basic level.
For instance, instead of saying:
“Sarcoptic mange is a mite infestation that burrows into the hair follicle. It is an extremely contagious, zoonotic disease that causes erythema, alopecia, and pruritus.”
Say this instead:
“Sarcoptic mange is caused by mites that burrow into the skin. It is highly contagious to humans and other animals. In afflicted patients, it can cause redness of the skin, hair loss, extreme itchiness.”
Not only will this help your target audience actually understand what you are saying, you will show all of the animal owners that you can speak to them in a way that is not condescending. The way that the public perceives you is a fantastic way to increase positive word of mouth or social media reviews to gain more clientele and patients.
4. Add a Photograph
You would think that this is a given. However, some practice pages do not use pictures associated with their Facebook posts. If you think about it, whenever you are on social media, it is the picture attached to the post that grabs your attention, right? Not necessarily the content written for the post?
Pick a related picture to the subject matter you are posting about. It does not have to be anything fancy what-so-ever. You can even use a free graphic if you do not have a personal photograph on hand. When using pictures or graphics from the internet, be sure to use ones that are not copyrighted. The best sites to find these are Pixabay, Free Images, or Pexels. Simply search the subject matter and use the image royalty-free on your Facebook post!
When using photographs you have personally gathered, it is very important to make sure that you have permission from the owner of the patient prior to use. In order to make sure you have the right to use any picture of patients you take, you can add a clause to your new patient form asking each client for permission to use any photographs taken of their pet. Additionally, you can ask for their personal Facebook/social media handle to tag the owner if their pet is featured on their page. If they decline, no photos will be taken of their pet. If they accept, you are all set to post!
5. Always Personalize
Personalization just may be the most important part of not just the post, but your entire page! You want to set yourself apart from all of the other practices, clinics, and/or hospitals. What makes you different? What makes you special? What makes you care more than anyone else?
But how do you do this? Here are a few tips!
Have each of your staff members write their own biography to post.
This should include who they are, their accreditation (if applicable), their job title, what they love about the clinic, their personal hobbies, and their personal pets.
Be sure to have them include a picture of themselves that they are comfortable with posting.
Have a strong, attention-grabbing first sentence.
ie. “Be Still My Heart: Heartworms and their Heart-Stopping Reality”
Don’t be afraid to use subject appropriate emojis in your post to really grab that attention.
Use your own voice.
These Facebook posts do not have to be journalistic material. The entire point is to engage the reader. So, use text that is conversational. Type as if you are speaking to the client directly.
6. Be Patient
Remember that social media marketing success very rarely happens overnight. It often takes lots of time and patience to keep up with making the veterinary Facebook posts, increasing the shares, and responding to the messages, the comments, and/or the questions.
However, keep it up. Keep responding and keep engaging with your current and potential clients. Share the Facebook posts you make with your personal social media accounts. Encourage your staff and clients to share these posts on their personal pages and become a follower. This creates much more engagement than what would be if you simply posted to your page and left it.
Additionally, consider following other various veterinary-related Facebook groups. If you have interesting cases, you can share your Facebook posts to these groups for further engagement.
A fantastic example of a practice utilizing their social media marketing accounts to the fullest is Dr. Andy Roark. He uses his platform to connect and discuss issues within veterinary medicine with his followers who are typically other veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary professionals, current clients, and pet owners. Take the time to browse how his page is set up and you will find exemplary ideas on how to personalize your own Facebook page and Facebook posts to better connect with your target audience.
What are the Overall Benefits?
Crafting the perfect veterinary Facebook post to your page is exceedingly beneficial as it can do a number of things for your practice. This includes, but is not limited to:
Reinforces the client-patient relationship via better communication
Gives you a place for clients to provide you and your staff positive feedback
Increases client acquisition
Increases overall revenue
Helps with client compliance
It really is easy to get your veterinary clinic Facebook page to take off with likes, shares, followers and comments from current and potential clients. People love learning new things and seeing their own pets featured on your page. Keeping it heartfelt, no matter the topic, is key because it really shows that you care about your patients and, by proxy, your clients.
The goal this year is to be bigger and better than the last, right? Follow these 6 tips from DVM Elite starting today and your year-end goals will certainly exceed your expectations! Could you use the additional guidance or do you have further questions? Talk to one of our practice coaches and your veterinary clinic Facebook page and individual veterinary Facebook posts are going to take off without a hitch!
Resources:
