Social media: how to engage your team and clients

When we talk about “social media”, what we really mean is Facebook. Yes, countless other platforms exist, but Facebook is where the majority of pet owners hang out – which means it’s where you should focus your resource.

So many opportunities exist within Facebook that the “usual” – such as posting daily, engaging content and responding to comments – is the tip of the iceberg. In reality, running your Facebook page effectively has the potential to be a full-time job in its own right – social media coordinators are already commonplace in many other professions and industries.

This article explores some key elements of what Facebook is and what it offers.

Getting started (the fundamentals)

Is your page set up properly? If you said yes to that, check again.

As a company, Facebook loves to change things without much warning. Using Facebook’s business manager tool, you must verify your page, configure the “call to action” buttons and pack the “about us” section with keywords, links and lots more.

Housekeeping and best practice

Help protect your team members on social media by encouraging them to increase their privacy settings. Also, adopt a social media policy to ensure they understand any views posted on Facebook are done so in a public forum and representative of your practice.

A comprehensive policy works both ways and will help your team sidestep the awkward moment a client sends a friend request.

Understand the bubble

Algorithms have been around since the dawn of the internet, but have gained notoriety due to the influence they are believed to have had on the US presidential elections by perpetrating so-called “fake news”.

Nicknamed “the bubble”, Facebook’s algorithm monitors what users interact with on their news feeds and shows them similar stuff. That’s why it is so important to post engaging content.

How, what, when and why to post

We’re fortunate to have the most engaging subject matter to work with – animals. Put it this way, whenever you’re struggling for content, remember there’s a poor soul stuck in an office somewhere in charge of running the social media for East Midlands Trains.

However, everyone suffers writer’s block occasionally, so to oil the wheels of inspiration, you should have a social media calendar.

To answer the “what should I post?” question, look for the content that gets the most engagement – reactions, shares and comments – and post more of it.

Directing traffic

Are you signposting your social media profiles to encourage clients to visit them?

Opportunities range from taking a photo on the practice camera accompanied by a cheery “you can check out this photo of Roxy on our Facebook page”, to including a prompt as part of your telephone system’s on-hold messaging.

You should incorporate your social media profiles on to all printed material, too, including vaccination record cards and till receipts. There’s also TV screens and/or posters in reception.

Also, are your social media profiles embedded into your website on the appropriate pages? If your website is built on the WordPress platform, this can be easily done by a web developer in an hour using a widget. If your website isn’t built with WordPress, it can still be incorporated, but the author’s advice would be it’s probably time you invested in a new website.

Extending your reach

The most common misconception is Facebook is free, when it should be viewed as any other advertising medium seamlessly integrated into your marketing mix.

Endless paid-for ways exist within Facebook to promote the amazing work your practice does, which, while costing money, can be incredibly cost-effective if used correctly. Boosting posts, for example, is the beginning of a journey that will eventually introduce you to carousel link ads and remarketing.

Handling complaints and negativity

At some point in your social media journey, you’re bound to encounter disgruntled clients, vigilante groups and spammers.

Understanding what Facebook does and doesn’t let you do will enable you to handle these situations quickly to minimise the damage to your hard-earned reputation.

Targets and the future

Everyone would agree every practice needs a strong Facebook presence and must post interesting, engaging content three to five times a week. A good marker is 1,000 “likes” per full-time vet; although, for practices in densely populated urban areas, this should be viewed as the beginning.

Other social networks are around, but their audience is evermore fragmented while their diminishing return on investment (essentially, whether they drive clients through the door of your practice) makes it difficult to justify team members spending time on them.

As the profession moves forward, specialists will become increasingly more common in the veterinary world – with job titles such as marketing manager, content marketing executive and social media “maven” (really) bringing experience of industries outside the veterinary sphere.

Video, meanwhile, will grow in popularity. Videos are easier to consume than a lengthy article and can say more about the quality of care provided in your practice than a photo ever could. Facebook Live makes streaming video – in effect, running your own TV channel – incredibly easy, too. Congratulations if you are one of the practices that has already gone “live” broadcasting a puppy party.

Personalisation, segmentation and targeting will become evermore sophisticated as well, while social logins for websites will become commonplace, allowing content and the user experience to be personalised. At its most basic level, this means dog owners will see canine-focused content. The use of the Facebook Pixel, meanwhile, enables a bewildering level of complexity when it comes to retargeting paid-for ads.

Remember, though, whatever the future holds, view every development as a chance to bond clients to our practices and educate owners about the importance of responsible pet care. After all, ours is the most engaging content on the World Wide Web.

• Create a generic practice profile on Facebook so you can leave computers and tablets logged in – this is preferable to team members using their personal accounts, for many reasons.
• Buy the latest iPad, log in with your generic Facebook account and use this to manage your practice page. In the author’s experience, the best device is the iPad Air 2 WiFi 16GB (£360). The cheaper Android and Samsung tablets are not as good and can be frustrating to use.
• Set up an automatic response within the site’s messaging service and set its status as “away” when you leave the practice each night. This will preserve your hard-earned “100% response rate” and ensure team members aren’t having to deal with urgent out-of-hours requests in their spare time.
• Invest in training. Developing your team members is central to the culture of any successful practice – and it’s no different when it comes to social media skills. To suit all budgets, you can choose from online webinars to full-day seminars.
• Get together in your practice to create a weekly content calendar and yearly events calendar. This will provide inspiration for what to post, especially on the days when we are all lacking in inspiration.
• Build a library of resources you like. These may be the Facebook pages of pet charities, memes or other veterinary practices, which, in turn, can provide inspiration.
• Use the scheduling functionality within Facebook to line up posts for the week – with 20 minutes’ effort, you can reasonably expect to line up 90% of your posts for the week.
• Add special effects or your practice logo to make your photos stand out. Some great free tools exist, such as www.canva.com
• Consider outsourcing. This isn’t right for everyone, but if you don’t have the resource and/or skill, or will, in your practice to run a page, consider paying someone to do this for you. Depending on your budget, you can ask anyone from your Saturday assistant to a social media agency.
• Empower your team members to run the page as if it was their own. Ensure they have the equipment, training, support and freedom they need, and your page will be an invaluable asset to your practice and the community of pet owners.
• Set aside time to review the “insights” tab, to see which content has been well received. Understanding when your audience uses Facebook will help you schedule posts at those times.
• Most importantly, have fun. It’s your Facebook page and it’s a great way to engage with local pet owners.