We all know the importance of social media in promoting your veterinary hospital. But what we may not know is how to use it. Or better yet, how to use it effectively as a part of our veterinary marketing campaign. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re one of these veterinarians or hospital owners, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not alone. One of the most popular \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as well as most misused social marketing tools \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is Twitter. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re probably accustomed to hearing people discuss their profiles, posts, and statuses, but when it comes to tweets, hashtags, and trending topics, your brain may shut down. Yet what should catch your attention is that Twitter can serve as one of the most simple, widespread, and not to mention \u00e2\u20ac\u201c free \u00e2\u20ac\u201c forms of veterinary marketing and promoting your veterinary practice.<\/strong> With some basic information and vocabulary, you too can tweet your animal hospital to veterinary marketing success. <\/p>\n \n1. Know the lingo!<\/strong> Once you understand the vocabulary, much of the mystery will fade. Knowing the terms is the first step towards putting them into practice. So, here are the vocab basics<\/strong>:<\/p>\n 2. Twitter with care! <\/strong>Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tweet about everything and anything. Only use Twitter when you have something especially interesting, cute or relevant to say. New surgical or medical cases, pets of the month, tutorials, or special promotions and discounts provide perfect tweet subjects. From your Tweet, direct people to your veterinary hospital\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website or blog for more information. You can also have your tweets automatically posted to your hospital\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Facebook page. But again, be careful not to inundate your audience with the same information again and again. Though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s useful to provide multiple outlets for your clients to obtain information, try not to overwhelm their inboxes. Just provide enough information to establish your legitimacy and expertise in the veterinary field \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and stop there. <\/p>\n 3. Keep it simple! <\/strong>Avoid verbose or redundant tweets, and try to keep your updates short and concise. Twitter is specifically programmed to limit a tweet to 140 characters, but you should strive for even shorter. As the human attention span decreases, so should your messaging. In all social media, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s smart to abide by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the simpler, the better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d principle.<\/p>\n 4. Gather followers and start a conversation! <\/strong>A Twitter account isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t of much use without a following. The more interesting your veterinary posts, the more followers you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have. In turn, the more potential you have to generate visits to your veterinary hospital\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website and attract new clients through this interactive veterinary marketing technique. But don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it a one-way street. Once someone begins following you, they will likely want you to follow them too. So go ahead and follow, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shy away from starting conversations; after all, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what social media is all about!<\/p>\n 5. Lastly, create your own Twitter style and agenda.<\/strong> Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get too wrapped up in the details and competition of Twitter. It is not necessary that you spend your nights trying to gather the most followers possible. This is a waste of time. Target a relevant audience, and post relevant issues. Finally, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take it personally when people unfollow you \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is common in the Twitter world. <\/p>\n Tweeting is your entry into real-time messaging an audience of over 300 million people, and there is no reason for you or your veterinary hospital to miss out. With your twitter toolkit, your potential to immediately connect with a new client base through veterinary social marketing will expand exponentially. So go tweet away (with discretion, of course)!<\/p>\n\n