How Twitter Can Impact Your Veterinary Hospital’s Bottom Line

There’s a basic rule of thumb in business: “Get ahead of the wave of change or risk getting swamped by it.” Today that means technology and, to a large extent, that means Social Media. As one of the three legs (Facebook, Linked In) of the stool propping up the medium, Twitter is a key element in that wave of change and if your veterinary practice doesn’t have a presence in the Twitter-sphere, you could be losing revenue.

Twitter Appeal

Twitter’s appeal is equal parts ease of use, brevity and the immediacy of real-time communication. Consider that projections show Twitter reaching nearly 37 million users in the U.S. alone by 2014. Members now send out nearly 200,000 Tweets a minute – or roughly 96 million in an eight-hour cycle, a truly staggering number both hard to fathom and illustrative of the potential impact.

Chances are that communicating within that vast electronic realm are pet owners residing in your geographic area, an easy drive from your veterinary hospital. And that’s the whole point – to drive new clients to your front door with a well-planned strategy that markets your strengths and distinguishes you from other practices via Tweets of 140 characters or less.

Keep It Short, Keep it Simple

Joining Twitter because “everyone else is doing it” is not a valid reason to do so. Make the tool work for you and your veterinary hospital via short, snappy updates on a regular basis, whether that means posting daily or weekly. Twitter provides the perfect method to remind veterinary clients that tick season has arrived, to promote an upcoming clinic, or to announce a new addition to your staff. Your followers are kept in the loop and their re-tweets to their followers (and your future clients?) broadens your audience.

Used properly, Twitter allows you to engage existing and potential pet owners, refine and strengthen your brand, helps keep you in a leadership position within your veterinary market segment, raises your hospital website’s online visibility by driving traffic to it and increases opportunities to increase your revenue stream.

So start Tweeting – there’s no reason not to and no time like the present.

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