Coral Springs Animal Hospital's Pawfessional Winter 2013 | Page 10

By: Brittany Buccieri - Coral Springs Animal Hospital CSR Manager Social media is an essential one particular topic. Be careful not to oversell, or turn tool to use today in the vet- your Facebook into a never ending advertisement that erinary industry. It’s a way for is constantly pushing services or products. Facebook is your clinic to reach out to meant to be fun, interactive and informative. current and prospective clients in a cost effective, efficient and interactive way. There are many different social “networks” out there, but what network should you primarily focus on? I used a simple formula when I began building the so- Personally, I’ve found Facebook to be the most effec- cial me- tive and most powerful social media outlet. Currently d there are 1.26 billion users connected to Facebook, and founda- that number is growing daily. If you really understand tion for the platform that Facebook runs on, it’s a very social Coral place and the more social you are, the more you are Springs recognized. For instance, it doesn’t always matter how Animal many friends, fans or “likes” your page has. What really Hospi- counts and weighs heavily on your social media pres- tal. ence is your content. If you post content that is relevant teract and “popular” with others, they will like and share with 4 0 % , others in the Facebook community. If you post some- Inform thing that interests 10 of your Facebook followers and 2 0 % , they “share” that content with their friends, your content Enter- is now exposed to potentially hundreds of other users. In t a i n order to host a successful Facebook page for your prac- 2 0 % , tice you have to post good relevant content and post a often. I suggest once per day and at minimum once Convert every other day. 2 0 % . However, there is much more to having a successful Facebook page than posting cute pictures of puppies and kittens. Formulating a plan of action and sticking to it is really the key. I recommend formulating your plan at the end of each month for the following month and making a calendar of exactly what you will be posting each day. Ensuring that you don’t get off track and start posting things that are irrelevant or post too much on i a In- n d Interaction is one of the fundamentals of social media. Facebook loves interaction, loves sharing content, and loves conversation. Interaction means engagement; examples include a caption this contest, posting a funny photo and asking your clients what the caption should be. Vote on your favorite and post the winner. Or a Facebook Halloween Costume Contest. Asking your clients to post pictures of their pets dressed up in their