How to Market Your Veterinary Clinic on Social
February 6, 2023
Social media marketing is a powerful tool for veterinary clinics
If your veterinary clinic isn’t utilizing social media to get its name out there, it’s time to start. When it comes to building your brand and getting your name in front of a greater number of people, nothing is quite as powerful as social media marketing.
Social media marketing for veterinarians is also a great way to build deeper, more meaningful connections with both existing customers and potential customers, because it makes way for two-way communication. With most digital marketing channels, communication is very much a one-way street, but that’s not the case with social media.
However, you can’t just create a profile on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and expect hundreds of new followers and tons of new patients streaming in through your doors. You need to learn how to get it right, and that’s exactly what I hope to help you with in this blog.
3 key social media marketing tips for veterinary clinics
#1. Figure out what your goals are
Businesses use social media marketing to accomplish many, many different goals for their overall veterinarian marketing strategy. And, before you start putting together a strategy for how to market your business on social media, you need to figure out what your goals are.
Here are a few examples of common social media marketing goals:
- To increase brand awareness
- To improve public relations
- To collect information about the wants and needs of current and future clients
- To build a loyal following of your brand
- To drive more leads to your website
All of these goals are wonderful, and although they’re connected in many ways, each one takes a different strategy in order to accomplish it. That’s why identifying your main goals is such an essential part of developing an effective social media marketing strategy.
#2. Determine which social media sites to focus on
There are so many different social media sites that your veterinary clinic could have a presence on. While it pays to have a presence on many different social media sites — the more people who interact with your veterinary clinic on social media, the better — most veterinary clinics just don’t have the resources to effectively manage a presence on every social media site.
Here’s a quick look at the main social media sites that your veterinary clinic could focus on:
- Facebook – With billions of users, Facebook is the big daddy of social media, and it’s the ideal option for connecting with your local community, generating leads, and running highly targeted advertising campaigns.
- Twitter – On Twitter, it’s all about immediacy, which is why it’s ideal for making announcements and breaking news. Twitter also offers an avenue for brands to be a part of the current conversation online.
- Instagram – Instagram has more than a billion active users, 80 percent of whom follow brand accounts. Fifty-three percent of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 29, making it a great platform to connect with a younger audience.
- YouTube – As the second-largest search engine after Google, there’s tons of opportunity on YouTube, and no other platform is quite as effective for reaching and engaging viewers with video content.
- LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the number one social platform for recruitment and building business-to-business (B2B) connections. It’s also ideal for releasing case studies and white papers.
- Pinterest – At 300 million active users, Pinterest doesn’t quite have the numbers that Facebook or Twitter does, but it’s growing rapidly and the perfect platform for driving conversions.
#3. Post regularly
Every business that’s active on social media needs to make posting regularly a priority. Of course, there’s a lot more to an effective social media strategy than posting — even if you do so on a consistent basis — but posting often is an absolute must for every veterinary clinic.
If your veterinary clinic is like most, you’re probably wondering exactly how often you should be posting on social media. After all, it’s not as if it’s a small job, and with so much on your plate already, you want to know what you’re getting into.
The truth is that how often you post depends on you — what your goals are, how much time you have to dedicate to social media management, what you have to say, etc.
How often should you post on social media?
- Facebook – Aim to post one to two times every day.
- Twitter – Aim to post five to 10 times every day when users are most active — typically between 8 AM and 4 PM.
- Pinterest – Aim to post at least five pins per day and up to 30. The more pins you post, the more exposure and engagement potential you’ll have.
- Instagram – Aim to post one to two times per day.
- LinkedIn – Aim to post about 20 times per month — or about one time every business day.
- YouTube – On YouTube, it’s less about the frequency of your content and more about the quality of your content. So the answer to how much you should post depends on how often you are able to post quality content.
What kind of content should you post?
- Give your followers a behind-the-scenes look at the day-to-day operations of your veterinary clinic by sharing photos of your cutest patients, your staff at work,and more.
- Keep your followers in the loop about upcoming events and announcements.
- Educate your clients on all aspects of pet care; this could be done through all kinds of posts — text, imagery and even video.
- Celebrate holidays, milestones within your veterinary clinic and even the birthdays of your patients.
- Share the content that your followers generate about your clinic on social media.
Social media marketing is something that every business can benefit from, and veterinary clinics are no exception. If you’re new to the world of social media and unsure of where to start, the social media team at Marketing 360® is standing by, ready to help.
The Marketing 360 all-in-one veterinarian marketing platform has everything you need to grow your clinic with social media marketing. Plus, you can develop a convertible website, drive exclusive leads, master SEO and content marketing, and so much more — all from one place.
Learn more about how we can help today!
Originally published on 2/27/20
Get Plans and Pricing Below
Get the know-how to get ahead
Get business, marketing and sales tips written by experienced industry practitioners. 100% free. Cancel anytime.