As a busy Practice Manager, I know full well how difficult it is to carve out time for marketing the practice on social media. I had all sorts of “reasons” why it shouldn’t be a priority and having a social resistant owner didn’t help combat my efforts to evade and avoid. It was downright easy to ignore. Seriously, who needs MORE work to do? I have recently seen the light. I discovered a couple of articles that really drive home how important social media can be to veterinary practices and the overall effect it has on capturing the client’s interest in your practice. If you take anything away from this, remember that it’s easier and more effective than you think.
Dr. Dave Nicol @drdavenicol shares a great article on his blog titled, Digital Marketing Part 1: Will Your Veterinary Practice Avoid The Slide Into Irrelevance? In this first part of a four-part series, Dr. Nicol lays out the importance, ease, and impact of marketing to our veterinary clients on social media. Social Media is everywhere and just about everyone is using it. Dr. Nicol’s post is so spot on relating the relevance of social media marketing and its ability to reach our clients on a personal level. Reaching the client on a personal level creates a bond with the client. Those bonded clients will be a source of referrals, recommendations, and continued patronage. If veterinary practice managers and owners are not getting social media savvy, there is real potential for lost revenue and opportunity. Veterinary practices need to get social! Here is Dr. Dave Nicol’s book:
Life Learn Animal Health @lifelearninc shares this article on its blog titled, 9 Reasons NOT to Market Your Veterinary Practice on Social Media, listing all the reasons veterinary owners and managers use to NOT push their practices into the social media marketing arena. This article could have been written about me and titled, 9 Excuses I Used to Fail at Social Media Marketing. ALL the reasons listed are for real, no joke, legit and we have used one, some or all of them. The use of social media does take time and a little know how but it is doable, manageable, affordable, and not all-consuming. This article serves as a little inspiration for those of us that need to take on social media marketing but just can’t seem to get out of our own way.
Drawing on these two articles and based on my own past very successful resistance to the force, I mean to learning social media marketing, I have coined three new mantras. Say these simple phrases quietly or loudly to yourself when you want to give yourself a little pep talk about the greatness of social media. Repeat these phrases when you are thinking about exploring social media marketing but keep coming up with excuses instead. Recite these to yourself repeatedly, write them down on a sticky, and post it on your monitor where you’ll see it when are you busy checking Facebook and Twitter.
- Avoid Digital Death- Failing to embrace social media marketing could mean slow death to your new client and client retention numbers (YOUR EYES SHOULDV’E READ THIS AS REVENUE).
- Stop Social Hesitation- Owners and Managers MUST stop hesitating to use social media to market their practices to their clients and future clients.
- Connect with Clients- Our clients are using social media to connect with each other and we are missing out on the golden opportunity to engage them outside of our four walls.
Let’s get social!
My name is Rhonda Bell, CVPM. I am a veterinary practice management consultant. I enjoy studying social media as an affordable marketing tool for small “mom and pop” practices to increase their revenue. The Social Marketing Specialization http://bit.ly/2ATRayH , through Northwestern University via Coursera http://bit.ly/2ASO9yO has inspired me to help veterinary practice owners and their managers to “get social”. Join me on Social Media!
