April 16, 2024 • 17 mins
Hey, hey, friend! We get down to the nitty-gritty about ways we can encourage clients and local pet owners to follow our social media accounts. I also share why it's important to focus on attracting followers in your local community and how beneficial it is to your veterinary practice. You won't want to miss this one; it's SO good! Catch ya on the pod!
Cheering for you!
Cheyanne Flerx 🧡
P.S. Below are some helpful resources for you!
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Learn how to run a photo contest on Facebook here: https://www.heycheyanne.com/post/the-2024-guide-to-facebook-pet-photo-contests-for-veterinary-hospitals
- Join the Veterinary Social Media Managers Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/heycheyanne
More Juicy Goods:
- Want a monthly posting calendar with Canva and caption templates delivered straight to your inbox? Check out the Vet Vibes Hub membership: https://vetvibesmedia.com/membership
- Newer to managing social media for a veterinary clinic? Grab my quick start guide here: https://www.heycheyanne.com/start
- Looking for some fresh creativity for your posts? Grab my 60 free post ideas cheatsheet here: https://www.heycheyanne.com/freestuff
- Want to work with Cheyanne? Learn how here: https://www.heycheyanne.com/work-with-me
- Got a question? Email Cheyanne: https://www.heycheyanne.com/contact
- Connect with Cheyanne on Social:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heycheyanne
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hey_cheyanne/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheyanne-flerx/
Other Episodes You May Enjoy:
- VSMP 8: 3 Ways to Increase Your Engagement with Pet Owners On Your Social Media Posts: https://www.heycheyanne.com/post/3-ways-to-increase-your-engagement-with-pet-owners-on-your-social-media-posts
- VSMP 1: The Other Forms of Social Media Engagement No One Talks About: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2284496/14075939
- VSMP 4: How to Get Your Veterinary Team Excited About Social Media: https://www.heycheyanne.com/post/how-to-get-your-team-excited-about-social-media
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cheyanne (00:00):
Welcome back to the podcast, my friends, we are in
episode nine, where we are goingto be talking about how we can
get our clients to follow ourhospital on social media.
And this is a particular topicthat I love talking about,
because our clients who alreadyknow and love us and trust us
with their pets are some of ourbest advocates.
(00:23):
And I don't know about you, butI personally feel like.
Word of mouth marketing is someof the best type of marketing
for a hospital because once wehave someone who's advocating
for us as a hospital and reallyspread that energy that they
love about us to other people,those people have a great
impression about us already.
(00:44):
So I really love just focusingon attracting people in our
local communities to ourhospitals because.
At the end of the day, we wantpeople following our hospitals
on social media to be people whoare local to us, who live in the
area, because they are going tobe doing, they have a more
(01:05):
likelihood of doing businesswith us than someone who lives
across the country from us orlives in a different state.
So it's really important to methat we are attracting.
Those type of clients to oursocial media pages so that we
can stay top of mind with themand really build that long term.
relationship that social mediacan do for us.
(01:27):
But how do we do that?
I'm going to be diving into thatmore in this episode, but if you
haven't yet, this is the timethat I really encourage you to
follow or subscribe to ourpodcast because I've got a lot
more episodes like this plannedout.
And I don't want you to miss itbecause I want to be your
biggest supporter, your hugestfan, whatever you want to call
(01:48):
me.
And I just want to be alongsideyou.
So if you would just subscribeand follow now, so you don't
miss any of that, I would lovethat.
So let us get into the content.
Welcome to the Veterinary SocialMedia Podcast, where you learn
how to navigate social media andapply it to the world of
veterinary medicine.
I'm your host, Cheyenne Flerks,and let's get down to business.
(02:09):
Okay.
Let's get into our first juicydetail here.
So first off, I want you to talkabout a little bit more about
why it's important for us toattract our existing clients.
And I already alluded to it.
But for a brick and mortarbusiness, like a veterinary
hospital.
Typically if you're mobile tothis really, really applies to
(02:33):
you because you don't want to betraveling across state lines or,
you know, miles and miles andmiles away, but the local
community is your main source ofclient leads and business, as I
said already, but when I hear alot of people come to me and
they say that they, one of theirbiggest Biggest goals for social
media is to get as manyfollowers as possible.
(02:55):
And I know that there's thislike shiny object syndrome going
on of like getting 10, 000followers for my social media
clinic or my social mediaclinic, veterinary hospital.
And.
I, my, I, I kind of cringe whenI hear that a little bit because
like, I love that girl.
I used to be that person.
I so used to be that person.
(03:15):
So no hate or shade here at all.
But honestly, when we thinkabout each of those followers as
people and where they are atgeographically, we need to be
sure that we are checking withourselves to say, okay, each of
those people, if they were avalid customer or a client with
(03:39):
us, would they be able to dobusiness with you?
Because our ultimate goal whenwe are the social media manager
for our veterinary hospital isto get business and whether
that's.
Your hospital is trying to getactive clients right now.
If you're trying to sell moreservices, more products, or even
(04:00):
if you are just building moreawareness about your hospital
and building those connectionsand getting employees, yes, you
heard me right.
It's important for us to reallybe sure that we are.
bringing that back into focusand tying that those results to
our actions as the social mediamanagers.
(04:22):
So it's great that you want toget all those followers, but in
the longterm, it's, it's goingto hurt you and your following,
because if you're getting allthe other hospitals across the
world to follow you, they're notgoing to do business with you
either.
So with that, We really want tofocus on connecting with other
(04:43):
businesses in your localcommunity or with other people
that can get you more followersin that regard.
So really just partnering upwith other people is going to be
a huge key here.
And I should say really withyour local partnerships is where
it's key.
And I've done this with my withmy former hospital that I used
(05:04):
to work for.
And I'll, I'll share that herein a little bit, but I just
really want to be sure thatyou're understanding that.
You could be attracting thewrong people to your social
media following and notrealizing that it could be
hurting your, your engagement,your ability to show that you're
ROI for your social mediaefforts and really just proving
(05:25):
that.
Social media is a useful toolbecause the chances are, if
you're listening to this, youhave a heart for social media
for your hospital and you wantto do a good job.
At least that's what I I'mspeaking from experience.
That's what that what's the casefor me.
So I want to be sure that youare taking action in the right
ways and really spending yourefforts appropriately.
(05:47):
So with that, I want to dive inon some action steps that you
can do today to start attractingyour local community and get
people following your socialmedia pages.
So, one side note before Iforget, because I have a feeling
someone's going to ask this, doyou need to go back and unfollow
all those people that aren't inyour area?
(06:07):
No, no, don't worry aboutspending time and energy on
that.
Just know that moving forward,you really want to be focusing
on the people who are local toyou.
So, all right.
So the first step I want you tostart taking is tell your
clients that you're on socialmedia and invite them to follow
you and literally say, would youfollow us when you're mentioning
(06:30):
it to them.
This can be done when you'retaking a photo or a video of a
patient or the owner with theirpet and you're asking permission
or letting them know, Hey, we'regoing to post this on social
media, be sure that you reallylet them know that, Hey, we're
going to be posting this and inthe next week or two, would you
consider following us?
So you don't miss your pet'sfeature.
(06:51):
Something along those lines,just to let them know that you
can follow them, or they canfollow you, so that they don't
miss out on their pet's fiveminutes of fame.
Right?
So, just really be clear in yourcommunication with them, because
chances are they don't know thatyou're on social media.
Alright, so another way that youcan be sure that your clients
(07:13):
know that you're on social mediaand encourage them to follow you
is to include your social mediahandles on a few places, like
literally everywhere in yourhospital.
It's not too much if you put asit everywhere.
I have a few places where youmight wanna consider adding them
if you don't already.
So I'm gonna list them now.
So add them in your emailsignature.
(07:35):
Right below your name or yourhospital name, you know, link
them there business cards If youstill have business cards, be
sure that you're adding theicons there People can figure
out how to find you from thereput signs in your lobby with a
QR code pro tip canva does haveThe ability for you to create QR
(07:55):
codes that link to your socialmedia profiles or your website
and On that note, if yourwebsite doesn't have your social
media handles on there, pleasebe sure that they're on there
now, because oftentimes whenpeople go to your website, they
will click to your social mediaicons and go to your platforms
to learn more about you and see,actually see how you are
(08:18):
posting, how you're showing upon social media so that they can
get a good impression about you.
So.
be sure that your website hasthose linked because that is a
huge thing and something that Itruly believe in.
Be sure that you're posting onyour other platforms.
So this really applies if youare starting a new social media
(08:39):
platform.
So say you are already onFacebook.
But you want to be more activeon Instagram, or you just
started an Instagram page, besure you share that on Facebook,
because I'm sure there are somepeople who have Facebook still,
that only have it just to keepup with a couple of friends from
college, or from a couple ofrelatives, but really prefer to
(08:59):
be on Instagram, they'd be sohappy to see that you're on
Instagram now and can connectwith you in a different way,
that really you favors them.
So don't be afraid to share thaton your social media platforms
that aren't tied to that, theother, the alternative posts or
platforms.
Be sure that you also add yoursocial media handles to the
(09:20):
bottom of your invoices that nowthat could be a digital or
print, but sometimes when peopleare scanning through the
invoices, you never know whenthey'll see like, oh, they're on
Instagram, they're on Facebook,they're on Snapchat or wherever
you're at, and they'll go andnavigate to that platform to
follow you.
(09:41):
And finally add it to yourappointment reminders.
This is a often a spot that isforgotten about, but I think
this is a really great way tosneak in a little bit of a promo
for social media
so If you can monopolize that in some way,
then go for it.
And then anywhere else, really,that a client might see your
(10:03):
social media handles, definitelyadd it there.
Like one thing that I didn't addto my list, I just thought of
now is if you are still doingcurbside or if you have a
waiting area outside that makesit just easy for your workflow.
Now, Why don't you just havelike a sign up there saying,
Hey, while you're waiting,follow us on, on Instagram,
Facebook, wherever.
And that might give peoplesomething to do while they're
(10:25):
waiting.
Yeah, just an idea.
So that concludes my list forwhere you can.
include your social mediahandles for people to see and to
follow you.
But one thing you can do to addan additional boost of
engagement and to get somefollowers is to host a giveaway
in the clinic and have peoplefollow you as part of the entry.
(10:46):
Now there's some nuances therethat we could talk about, and I
have a blog post, which I'll addto the description of this
episode.
But that can be one way thatpeople can follow you and you
can also get some engagement andgrow your local following as
well.
I had done this kind of what Iwas thinking about with my blog
article, in that blog article, Italk about ways that you can
(11:09):
host a Facebook photo contest Sodefinitely check that out if
that's something you'reinterested in or you've tried
them in the past and you'relike, no, that didn't work for
me.
Chances are you haven't seen myway of how I've run a photo
contest on Facebook and you canapply this to Instagram too.
So definitely give that a lookthrough and see if that's
(11:30):
something that you might want toconsider doing.
But.
This is one of my favorite waysthat I'm going to be sharing
here in just a second of gettinga local following is to partner
up with a local business.
So for example, you sponsortreats at your local coffee shop
or espresso stop or at thehardware store or something like
(11:53):
that, and then have a littlesign next to them.
To those treats with your socialmedia handles.
So this could be like today'streats are sponsored by.
ABC Animal Hospital, follow uson social media, and then you
can have those icons for theplatforms that you're on.
I actually did this, and it wasa lot of fun for me.
(12:14):
Honestly, this is one of myfavorite examples to share.
But where my hospital was, Iworked for a general practice
hospital, if you don't know.
Right across the street, like,literally my team would go walk
over all the time for coffee, orthey would pick up coffee for
our staff meetings.
We would walk over to thisespresso stand and They would
(12:36):
often just were, we would oftenrefer our clients to go over,
get a coffee if it's going to bea little bit of wait for their,
their pet to finish up withwhatever procedure we were doing
and come back and it was just anice way for us to provide the,
a sweet treat for our clients.
But.
I, I leveraged that for ourbenefit as a hospital to get
(12:57):
clients.
And we sponsored the treats.
So we provided them dog treatsfrom our hospital.
We had sweet potato treats.
I think it was.
And every time that someonewould one of the baristas would
give the dogs treats, whichthey'd say, Oh, these treats
came from Woodside animalhospital.
Or if the, the Client was askingof the, the customer was asking
(13:18):
the baristas, Oh, my dog lovesthose streets.
Where'd they get them from?
And they'd say, Oh, the hospitalacross the street.
And we have that sign.
Like I mentioned following us onsocial media.
And I think I had the QR codesup at that time.
I can't remember now it's beenso long, but yeah, that was a
huge hit.
And I loved having thatpartnership and it really
generated some business for us.
So.
(13:38):
See if you could find a similarway that you could partner up
with local businesses in yourarea.
So another way that you could dothis is partnering up with a dog
trainer.
If you, offer puppy classes,free puppy classes, or something
along those lines.
That's a great way to bringpeople in so that they can get
an idea of the hospital or getto get familiar with your team
(13:59):
or with the name of yourhospital, depending on where you
host it.
This could also be a way for youto partner up with a local pet
shop in some way, or like Isaid, a hardware store.
So lots of possibilities there.
I hope that gets your creativejuices flowing.
But yeah, I really enjoyed that.
And I thought it was a greatreturn on investment for our
hospital.
All right.
(14:19):
So I'm going to wrap this upnow.
That was three ways that you canreally get clients to follow you
on social media.
But if anything, if you take onething away from this episode,
it's really just to focus onways that you can connect with
your local community and get.
them to follow you on socialmedia versus just chasing anyone
who can follow you, whetherthat's, you know, your neighbor
(14:42):
or someone across the world, youknow, I want to be sure that
you're focusing on people whoare local to your hospital so
that you can provide thesolutions to problems that pet
owners are having with theirpets, or really just.
fostering a good relationshipwith pet owners as a whole,
right?
We, you know, obviously we don'twant to just see the pets when
(15:03):
they're sick.
We want them to come inregularly for wellness exams and
prevent anything harmful to comea pet's way.
So really just being sure thatyou're connecting with the
humans on the other side of thescreen is huge.
So with that, be sure thatyou're tailoring your social
media marketing efforts to alignwith that.
(15:24):
If you have any questions aboutwhat I've said or want some
further action to take on this,I invite you to join my Facebook
group, the Veterinary SocialMedia Managers group, and I'll
have a link for you in thedescription.
But that group is a great wealthof knowledge and support because
(15:44):
I know for sure for me, the casewas that learning social media.
Was something that I had toteach myself.
I've never marketed a businessbefore, let alone a veterinary
hospital.
So having this group was a hugehelp for me.
So definitely I invite you tocome join us ask questions, help
others.
We would love to have you.
(16:05):
So, if you haven't joined usyet, I highly encourage you to
join us now.
We have a lot of fun in there.
But I want to hear from youafter listening to this episode.
Either send me a DM onInstagram, Facebook, send me an
email or.
You know, asking the Facebookgroup what are some other ways
that you're getting clients tofollow you?
Cause I would love to add tothis list.
(16:27):
I always love just learning newways to get more engagement and
followers.
So I personally would love tohear from you.
So definitely.
Please reach out and that is ourepisode today, but if you found
value and enjoyed this episode,would you please share this with
a friend and even leave me areview your reviews and sharing
(16:48):
the episodes with people reallydoes support my podcast.
And I want to get this podcastout to as many veterinary social
media managers as possible, andI would love your support in
that.
So.
If you could take a moment to dothat now, I would just love you
forever.
But for now, I will be catchingyou in the next episode.
(17:08):
But of course, if you have anyquestions, please reach out and
I would love to support you.
All right.
Thanks for joining me, friend.
Bye.
Welcome back to the podcast, my friends, we are in
episode nine, where we are goingto be talking about how we can
get our clients to follow ourhospital on social media.
And this is a particular topicthat I love talking about,
because our clients who alreadyknow and love us and trust us
with their pets are some of ourbest advocates.
(00:23):
And I don't know about you, butI personally feel like.
Word of mouth marketing is someof the best type of marketing
for a hospital because once wehave someone who's advocating
for us as a hospital and reallyspread that energy that they
love about us to other people,those people have a great
impression about us already.
(00:44):
So I really love just focusingon attracting people in our
local communities to ourhospitals because.
At the end of the day, we wantpeople following our hospitals
on social media to be people whoare local to us, who live in the
area, because they are going tobe doing, they have a more
(01:05):
likelihood of doing businesswith us than someone who lives
across the country from us orlives in a different state.
So it's really important to methat we are attracting.
Those type of clients to oursocial media pages so that we
can stay top of mind with themand really build that long term.
relationship that social mediacan do for us.
(01:27):
But how do we do that?
I'm going to be diving into thatmore in this episode, but if you
haven't yet, this is the timethat I really encourage you to
follow or subscribe to ourpodcast because I've got a lot
more episodes like this plannedout.
And I don't want you to miss itbecause I want to be your
biggest supporter, your hugestfan, whatever you want to call
(01:48):
me.
And I just want to be alongsideyou.
So if you would just subscribeand follow now, so you don't
miss any of that, I would lovethat.
So let us get into the content.
Welcome to the Veterinary SocialMedia Podcast, where you learn
how to navigate social media andapply it to the world of
veterinary medicine.
I'm your host, Cheyenne Flerks,and let's get down to business.
(02:09):
Okay.
Let's get into our first juicydetail here.
So first off, I want you to talkabout a little bit more about
why it's important for us toattract our existing clients.
And I already alluded to it.
But for a brick and mortarbusiness, like a veterinary
hospital.
Typically if you're mobile tothis really, really applies to
(02:33):
you because you don't want to betraveling across state lines or,
you know, miles and miles andmiles away, but the local
community is your main source ofclient leads and business, as I
said already, but when I hear alot of people come to me and
they say that they, one of theirbiggest Biggest goals for social
media is to get as manyfollowers as possible.
(02:55):
And I know that there's thislike shiny object syndrome going
on of like getting 10, 000followers for my social media
clinic or my social mediaclinic, veterinary hospital.
And.
I, my, I, I kind of cringe whenI hear that a little bit because
like, I love that girl.
I used to be that person.
I so used to be that person.
(03:15):
So no hate or shade here at all.
But honestly, when we thinkabout each of those followers as
people and where they are atgeographically, we need to be
sure that we are checking withourselves to say, okay, each of
those people, if they were avalid customer or a client with
(03:39):
us, would they be able to dobusiness with you?
Because our ultimate goal whenwe are the social media manager
for our veterinary hospital isto get business and whether
that's.
Your hospital is trying to getactive clients right now.
If you're trying to sell moreservices, more products, or even
(04:00):
if you are just building moreawareness about your hospital
and building those connectionsand getting employees, yes, you
heard me right.
It's important for us to reallybe sure that we are.
bringing that back into focusand tying that those results to
our actions as the social mediamanagers.
(04:22):
So it's great that you want toget all those followers, but in
the longterm, it's, it's goingto hurt you and your following,
because if you're getting allthe other hospitals across the
world to follow you, they're notgoing to do business with you
either.
So with that, We really want tofocus on connecting with other
(04:43):
businesses in your localcommunity or with other people
that can get you more followersin that regard.
So really just partnering upwith other people is going to be
a huge key here.
And I should say really withyour local partnerships is where
it's key.
And I've done this with my withmy former hospital that I used
(05:04):
to work for.
And I'll, I'll share that herein a little bit, but I just
really want to be sure thatyou're understanding that.
You could be attracting thewrong people to your social
media following and notrealizing that it could be
hurting your, your engagement,your ability to show that you're
ROI for your social mediaefforts and really just proving
(05:25):
that.
Social media is a useful toolbecause the chances are, if
you're listening to this, youhave a heart for social media
for your hospital and you wantto do a good job.
At least that's what I I'mspeaking from experience.
That's what that what's the casefor me.
So I want to be sure that youare taking action in the right
ways and really spending yourefforts appropriately.
(05:47):
So with that, I want to dive inon some action steps that you
can do today to start attractingyour local community and get
people following your socialmedia pages.
So, one side note before Iforget, because I have a feeling
someone's going to ask this, doyou need to go back and unfollow
all those people that aren't inyour area?
(06:07):
No, no, don't worry aboutspending time and energy on
that.
Just know that moving forward,you really want to be focusing
on the people who are local toyou.
So, all right.
So the first step I want you tostart taking is tell your
clients that you're on socialmedia and invite them to follow
you and literally say, would youfollow us when you're mentioning
(06:30):
it to them.
This can be done when you'retaking a photo or a video of a
patient or the owner with theirpet and you're asking permission
or letting them know, Hey, we'regoing to post this on social
media, be sure that you reallylet them know that, Hey, we're
going to be posting this and inthe next week or two, would you
consider following us?
So you don't miss your pet'sfeature.
(06:51):
Something along those lines,just to let them know that you
can follow them, or they canfollow you, so that they don't
miss out on their pet's fiveminutes of fame.
Right?
So, just really be clear in yourcommunication with them, because
chances are they don't know thatyou're on social media.
Alright, so another way that youcan be sure that your clients
(07:13):
know that you're on social mediaand encourage them to follow you
is to include your social mediahandles on a few places, like
literally everywhere in yourhospital.
It's not too much if you put asit everywhere.
I have a few places where youmight wanna consider adding them
if you don't already.
So I'm gonna list them now.
So add them in your emailsignature.
(07:35):
Right below your name or yourhospital name, you know, link
them there business cards If youstill have business cards, be
sure that you're adding theicons there People can figure
out how to find you from thereput signs in your lobby with a
QR code pro tip canva does haveThe ability for you to create QR
(07:55):
codes that link to your socialmedia profiles or your website
and On that note, if yourwebsite doesn't have your social
media handles on there, pleasebe sure that they're on there
now, because oftentimes whenpeople go to your website, they
will click to your social mediaicons and go to your platforms
to learn more about you and see,actually see how you are
(08:18):
posting, how you're showing upon social media so that they can
get a good impression about you.
So.
be sure that your website hasthose linked because that is a
huge thing and something that Itruly believe in.
Be sure that you're posting onyour other platforms.
So this really applies if youare starting a new social media
(08:39):
platform.
So say you are already onFacebook.
But you want to be more activeon Instagram, or you just
started an Instagram page, besure you share that on Facebook,
because I'm sure there are somepeople who have Facebook still,
that only have it just to keepup with a couple of friends from
college, or from a couple ofrelatives, but really prefer to
(08:59):
be on Instagram, they'd be sohappy to see that you're on
Instagram now and can connectwith you in a different way,
that really you favors them.
So don't be afraid to share thaton your social media platforms
that aren't tied to that, theother, the alternative posts or
platforms.
Be sure that you also add yoursocial media handles to the
(09:20):
bottom of your invoices that nowthat could be a digital or
print, but sometimes when peopleare scanning through the
invoices, you never know whenthey'll see like, oh, they're on
Instagram, they're on Facebook,they're on Snapchat or wherever
you're at, and they'll go andnavigate to that platform to
follow you.
(09:41):
And finally add it to yourappointment reminders.
This is a often a spot that isforgotten about, but I think
this is a really great way tosneak in a little bit of a promo
for social media
so If you can monopolize that in some way,
then go for it.
And then anywhere else, really,that a client might see your
(10:03):
social media handles, definitelyadd it there.
Like one thing that I didn't addto my list, I just thought of
now is if you are still doingcurbside or if you have a
waiting area outside that makesit just easy for your workflow.
Now, Why don't you just havelike a sign up there saying,
Hey, while you're waiting,follow us on, on Instagram,
Facebook, wherever.
And that might give peoplesomething to do while they're
(10:25):
waiting.
Yeah, just an idea.
So that concludes my list forwhere you can.
include your social mediahandles for people to see and to
follow you.
But one thing you can do to addan additional boost of
engagement and to get somefollowers is to host a giveaway
in the clinic and have peoplefollow you as part of the entry.
(10:46):
Now there's some nuances therethat we could talk about, and I
have a blog post, which I'll addto the description of this
episode.
But that can be one way thatpeople can follow you and you
can also get some engagement andgrow your local following as
well.
I had done this kind of what Iwas thinking about with my blog
article, in that blog article, Italk about ways that you can
(11:09):
host a Facebook photo contest Sodefinitely check that out if
that's something you'reinterested in or you've tried
them in the past and you'relike, no, that didn't work for
me.
Chances are you haven't seen myway of how I've run a photo
contest on Facebook and you canapply this to Instagram too.
So definitely give that a lookthrough and see if that's
(11:30):
something that you might want toconsider doing.
But.
This is one of my favorite waysthat I'm going to be sharing
here in just a second of gettinga local following is to partner
up with a local business.
So for example, you sponsortreats at your local coffee shop
or espresso stop or at thehardware store or something like
(11:53):
that, and then have a littlesign next to them.
To those treats with your socialmedia handles.
So this could be like today'streats are sponsored by.
ABC Animal Hospital, follow uson social media, and then you
can have those icons for theplatforms that you're on.
I actually did this, and it wasa lot of fun for me.
(12:14):
Honestly, this is one of myfavorite examples to share.
But where my hospital was, Iworked for a general practice
hospital, if you don't know.
Right across the street, like,literally my team would go walk
over all the time for coffee, orthey would pick up coffee for
our staff meetings.
We would walk over to thisespresso stand and They would
(12:36):
often just were, we would oftenrefer our clients to go over,
get a coffee if it's going to bea little bit of wait for their,
their pet to finish up withwhatever procedure we were doing
and come back and it was just anice way for us to provide the,
a sweet treat for our clients.
But.
I, I leveraged that for ourbenefit as a hospital to get
(12:57):
clients.
And we sponsored the treats.
So we provided them dog treatsfrom our hospital.
We had sweet potato treats.
I think it was.
And every time that someonewould one of the baristas would
give the dogs treats, whichthey'd say, Oh, these treats
came from Woodside animalhospital.
Or if the, the Client was askingof the, the customer was asking
(13:18):
the baristas, Oh, my dog lovesthose streets.
Where'd they get them from?
And they'd say, Oh, the hospitalacross the street.
And we have that sign.
Like I mentioned following us onsocial media.
And I think I had the QR codesup at that time.
I can't remember now it's beenso long, but yeah, that was a
huge hit.
And I loved having thatpartnership and it really
generated some business for us.
So.
(13:38):
See if you could find a similarway that you could partner up
with local businesses in yourarea.
So another way that you could dothis is partnering up with a dog
trainer.
If you, offer puppy classes,free puppy classes, or something
along those lines.
That's a great way to bringpeople in so that they can get
an idea of the hospital or getto get familiar with your team
(13:59):
or with the name of yourhospital, depending on where you
host it.
This could also be a way for youto partner up with a local pet
shop in some way, or like Isaid, a hardware store.
So lots of possibilities there.
I hope that gets your creativejuices flowing.
But yeah, I really enjoyed that.
And I thought it was a greatreturn on investment for our
hospital.
All right.
(14:19):
So I'm going to wrap this upnow.
That was three ways that you canreally get clients to follow you
on social media.
But if anything, if you take onething away from this episode,
it's really just to focus onways that you can connect with
your local community and get.
them to follow you on socialmedia versus just chasing anyone
who can follow you, whetherthat's, you know, your neighbor
(14:42):
or someone across the world, youknow, I want to be sure that
you're focusing on people whoare local to your hospital so
that you can provide thesolutions to problems that pet
owners are having with theirpets, or really just.
fostering a good relationshipwith pet owners as a whole,
right?
We, you know, obviously we don'twant to just see the pets when
(15:03):
they're sick.
We want them to come inregularly for wellness exams and
prevent anything harmful to comea pet's way.
So really just being sure thatyou're connecting with the
humans on the other side of thescreen is huge.
So with that, be sure thatyou're tailoring your social
media marketing efforts to alignwith that.
(15:24):
If you have any questions aboutwhat I've said or want some
further action to take on this,I invite you to join my Facebook
group, the Veterinary SocialMedia Managers group, and I'll
have a link for you in thedescription.
But that group is a great wealthof knowledge and support because
(15:44):
I know for sure for me, the casewas that learning social media.
Was something that I had toteach myself.
I've never marketed a businessbefore, let alone a veterinary
hospital.
So having this group was a hugehelp for me.
So definitely I invite you tocome join us ask questions, help
others.
We would love to have you.
(16:05):
So, if you haven't joined usyet, I highly encourage you to
join us now.
We have a lot of fun in there.
But I want to hear from youafter listening to this episode.
Either send me a DM onInstagram, Facebook, send me an
email or.
You know, asking the Facebookgroup what are some other ways
that you're getting clients tofollow you?
Cause I would love to add tothis list.
(16:27):
I always love just learning newways to get more engagement and
followers.
So I personally would love tohear from you.
So definitely.
Please reach out and that is ourepisode today, but if you found
value and enjoyed this episode,would you please share this with
a friend and even leave me areview your reviews and sharing
(16:48):
the episodes with people reallydoes support my podcast.
And I want to get this podcastout to as many veterinary social
media managers as possible, andI would love your support in
that.
So.
If you could take a moment to dothat now, I would just love you
forever.
But for now, I will be catchingyou in the next episode.
(17:08):
But of course, if you have anyquestions, please reach out and
I would love to support you.
All right.
Thanks for joining me, friend.
Bye.
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