Connect With Existing Clients, Attract New Ones on Facebook

You have a dedicated Facebook page for your practice. You have spread the word to your clients, have a respectable number of followers, and are gaining new fans among pet owners every day. How, then, do you keep the momentum going and use Facebook as an effective marketing tool to strengthen your relationship with pet owners, drive them to your website, bring new clients through your front door and, ultimately, enhance your revenue stream.

Don’t bore your audience, or Google

We all have at least one Facebook friend who peppers our news feed with mundane, self-serving posts about what they’re doing (“Dentist appointment today, yuckkkk”), how they are feeling (“I hate Mondays!”), and other cringe-worthy banalities. We don’t bother to like or comment and may even think “I really should de-friend this person…” while scrolling down the page in search of more interesting news—like a link to one of those hilarious cat videos! Facebook’s algorithm EdgeRank ranks posts based on follower response. Posts that do not attract consistent interest are more difficult to find.  As a business owner, you must refine your approach.  Only interesting, useful, and entertaining posts that receive immediate likes and comments become highly visible top stories—with the potential to benefit your marketing arsenal and your bottom line.

Be the life of the party

When posting, consider your audience and how they interact with the social media platform. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have made people choosy about their online content. They select their friends, the pages to like, and whom to follow on Twitter and they don’t subject themselves to anything that doesn’t speak directly to their interests. Now that you have arrived at the party, dazzle the attendees.

• Ask questions that solicit responses. Your clients love to tell stories about their pets. Poll questions encourage interactive dialogue, so use words like “why,” “when,” “would,” and “should,” as those typically drive higher engagement.
• Post pet photos and videos, avoiding anything graphic.
• Encourage users to like or comment on posts.
• Link to your blog or website newsletter. Posting status updates with links to your latest articles drives traffic to your practice website and keeps your clients informed.
• Introduce the staff and post news about employees, such as continuing education achievements, along with photos of them taken in the hospital. This will help build the relationship between your fans and employees.
• Keep posts short. According to Buddy Media, they should contain 80 characters or less.
• Alert clients to food recalls and other pertinent breaking news.
• Time posts to coincide with peak usage. According to Buddy Media, posts made early in the day, at the end of the work day, and late at night receive an average 20 percent higher response rate. Use Facebook’s narrative scheduler to set specific dates and times for posts.

Examples of strong posts are:

• Many pets’ abnormalities would go undetected without a wellness screen—a blood test designed to detect silent problems. What questions do you have about wellness screenings?
• Warm weather is here. If you’ve taken a break from tick preventives, it’s time to start again. Check out our most recent blog post about tick bite prevention!
• Meet Rex, a Labrador who successfully completed his heartworm treatment and is now in perfect health! Isn’t he cute?
• Does your pet have a toy he/she can’t live without? Tell us about it!
• Quick quiz: How many calories does a 20-pound dog need? A) 275 calories, B) 1,200 calories, or C) 500 calories (Check back tomorrow for the answer!)

At VetNetwork, we realize that maintaining your social media presence is not how you want to be spending your time. Our team of digital marketing professionals, led by a veterinarian with more than 25 years of hospital ownership experience, is uniquely positioned to handle all your social media marketing, website, and SEO needs.  We know how to achieve the top rankings that assure your message reaches pet owners and create value and growth for your veterinary hospital.

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