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VNN Media Insider Newsletter March 25th, 2010
In This Issue
Microchips Cause Tumors, Part II
New Story Resources at MyVNN
AAHA Long Beach!
ASVJ Accepting Applications
Simplifying New Media!
Featured Article
Flashing light and siren
Thanks to the eagle eye of Dr. Mike Hutchinson, VNN Reporter in Cranberry Twp, PA.  He noted how a story from two years ago is now resurfacing.
 
In Sept 2007, just after I started full time with VNN, there were reports of microchips causing cancer in pets.  Today, a similar story was seen in World Net Daily.
 
We already have Message Points prepared for this story.  If the story continues to unfold, we will update the Message Points as needed.  We also have statements from Dr. Julie Levy at Florida and Dr. Linda Lord at The Ohio State University.  These statements are two years old, but so far, there has not been any reports that would likely change the veracity of the statements.
 
The other continuing story from last week is the EPA announcement fo their findings on topical flea/tick products.  We generated Message Points for this news item as well.
 
Stories like these are a great way to develop discussion on your social sites.  Use the Message Points to write your blog, post them on our hospital's Facebook Fan page and even Tweet links back to both pages to drive traffic.
 
It's this type of controversy that can gain you audience and enhance your image as an expert!
Featured Article
Big News!

Check out the latest VNN story, Pet Parasites Don't Take Vacations at the MyVNN and PetDocsOnCall websites.  This look at our favorite intestinal parasites, roundworms and hookworms, can help with client eduation, staff training and might even influence your thoughts for a hospital newsletter or blog.

 Coming up on April 1st is our next video blog release...The Continuing Plague of Heartworms.  I think you will really be pleased with this story.
 
We are also in the final stages of working on a system that will allow you to customize our videos and use your face and voice to create a unique video blog for your hospital and for use on your website.
 
Soon, we should be back to our routine of a new video story every 2 weeks!!  Great news!!
 
Standard VNN videos with Dr. Jim doing the opening and closings are still available if you would prefer that for your website.
Featured Article
 

AAHA Members

Were you at AAHA Long Beach last week?  If so, we would love to hear from you about exciting new items, science, protocols or anything that you think could be valuable to your fellow VNN Reporters.

Dr. Brian Hurley gave us some great insights from Western Veterinary Conference and we would love to see the great information that you picked up from AAHA Long Beach.
 
Contact me if you would like to send information from the meeting to include on our Facebook pages or if you find a topic that would needs a set of Message Points!
 
Featured Article
ASVJ Seal
 
 

Congratulations to Dr. Dean Vicksman, the newest Certified Veterinary Journalist!

In case you have missed the announcements, you can now apply to become a Certified Veterinary Journalists through the American Society of Veterinary Journalists. 

 
Applications are being accepted at www.asvj.org.
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Dear VNN Reporters:
 
Dr. Jim's column is SO important today that I don't want to waste any of your time by sidetracking you with notes here!   This is part 2 of his Social Media Presentation from the Western Veterinary Conference.
Let's Simplify the Seemingly Bottomless Pit of "New" Media
Dr. Jim Humphries on VNN set
 
There are only two things you need to jump on the social superhighway:
 
1) Communications skills and
2) The tools, most of which are free. 
 
That's it!  When you come across the hundreds of thousands of crazy names of sites (tools) don't get bogged down with what they mean.  Names like Loopt, Skype, Ping, AIM, Foursquare, Digg, Stumble, flickr (and the list goes on and on) should not confuse you.  Think of these as different wrenches and screwdrivers in your toolbox.  You can pick them up and use them if you like.  But don't be paralyzed by the "hardware store", just know what they are and that you may or may not use them later. 
 
Here is how I would like to simplify New Media for you; WFB...LTF.  We begin with your Web Site, which is your "home" on the internet.  Then use the most popular tools like Facebook and Blogs.  Then expand into tools such as Linkedin, Twitter and Forums.
 
Your Web site:
Ninety-One percent of all users say customer reviews are their number one aid in a buying decision.  87% trust a friend's recommendation over a critics review and they are three times more likely to trust their peers than advertising.  That shows the power of building a social network. 
 
Consequently your home on the net, (your hospital web site or blog) is your web foundation and all the other tools and audience building activities will lead there.  Your Web home is where you tell people about you, demonstrate your facility, and proudly invite users to visit you in person. 
 
SO... your web site should be professional, highly functional, easy to navigate, visual, and fun to visit time and time again.  While web sites can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, a good web site for a veterinary hospital should not cost more than $5,000.  Design, construction and hosting should be done by a pro and you should have excellent user control over small details and editing plus the site should allow you to build and maintain a database. 
 
Email news letters can be an easy function from your web site.  They allow consistent contact with your client base and are well read by highly involved social network.  They should be timely, short, visual, fun and give the user a way to opt-out.  Email newsletters should cross promote your social media presence elsewhere so readers can follow you at other places on the web. 
 
Facebook
Founded in 2004, Facebook it is now the largest and most popular social network in the world.  Facebook has 350 million users, and about half of those log in every day.  It is very social, friendly and informal.  You should first have a personal profile, and then you can build one for your business.  Business profiles are called Fan Pages and can attract many Friends. 
 
For an example of a personal profile, sign up as a user and find me at Jim Humphries.  Also visit our Fan Pages at PetDocsOnCall, the Veterinary News Network and the American Society of Veterinary Journalists.  Great examples of animal hospital fan pages are:  VRCC, Gardner Animal Care CenterMeyerland Animal Hospital, and the Morris Animal Foundation
 
What do you do with a Facebook Page?  Use this tool to say things that would be interesting to your clients and potential clients.  Post pictures of interesting cases, link to your blog, announce what you are doing for the community and offer your opinion on news and even controversial things.  Fans will gather and will enjoy and appreciate your involvement. 
 
Blogs: 
A blog is simply a web-log or your "column" on the internet.  They have become extremely popular over the past 7 years.  There are now 50 Million blogs, but interestingly 66% of those are not updated regularly.  It is a commitment, just as writing a column for the local paper is a commitment to the publisher. Here you are the researcher, writer, editor and publisher.  While it is a time investment, it can be a powerful tool in influencing people.  Many do this for a hobby and others use the tool as a driver of web site traffic and a source of new clients. 
 
Blogs are powered by blogging software such as WordPress, TypePad and Blooger.  These sites make it very simple.  Blogging allows you to humanize your business, improve client service promote your profession and offer client education. 
 
Once a blog post is made, it is opened up for comments.  This makes many professionals nervous because of what might be said.  It is true that some people feel the anonymity of the Internet gives them cover to say crazy things.  However, you do have control over what is shown and you can easily delete objectionable comments. 
 
Be brief and visual.  Link to interesting sites, comment on other blogs and share a link to your blog in your email signature.  All this inter-connectivity helps build your audience.  To help you jump into the world of blogging, head over to our forum site at www.PetDocsOnCall.com.  If you are already an approved veterinarian there you are ready to BLOG as our new software has that capability.  If not, simply email Tom and he will get you set up to answer questions and blog away.  If you just want to see how it all looks, head over there and look around.  Of course we welcome your help. 
 
Video blogging is becoming more popular.  Most video blogs are very boring "talking heads".  In order to keep someone watching for more than 30 seconds you would need to be very compelling or have an extremely newsworthy topic.  B-roll or graphics will improve your video blogs tremendously.  Please check with www.MyVNN.com to learn more as this is one of the services offered.  One of the newest services we offer you is video clips you can use within the video blog.  You will have the script and then can easily do an open and close at your desk using your computer, then simply make your v-blogs leading edge with good video that VNN offers you at no cost.  It is in the works now and even training videos are being produced.  By this summer you should be video blogging with the best on the net. 
 
LinkedIn:
Linkedin is a mostly business and professional site began in 2003 and now has over 55 million users, adding 600,000 a week.  It is an outstanding professional connection site and is essentially a giant database of professionals from all walks of life and all over the world. It is a great research and connection tool.  Each connection has three levels and when you connect with highly connected people your degrees of connection begin to grow dramatically.  Think of this site as the virtualized and interactive version of a pile of business cards on your desk.  It is also your On-Line Resume and your ability to demonstrate your expertise and learn from others. 
 
It is a very deep and highly functional site that is amazing in its ability to search and find people, businesses and make beneficial connections you may not otherwise have.  Users are older and have higher incomes than Facebook and other social media sites.
 
You will want to create a profile and fill out each section as completely as possible.  Use a good "head shot" photo and update your status weekly.  Invite people to connect with you to expand your degrees of connectivity.  Add your hospital web site and even your blog site.  You can inter-connect with Twitter, however I do not recommend you do so.  The audience here is different and messaging is therefore different.  Personalize your public profile URL and then use your Linkedin profile link on business communications.  Once you have a profile, search for me (Dr. Jim Humphries) and send me an invitation to connect.  www.linkedin.com/in/drjimhumphries
This will immediately expand your network and I am sharing various media PowerPoint presentations on my profile.  You can see my connections and decide if you'd like to send them invitations to connect. 
 
Finally write and request recommendations for people you know and with whom you have done business.  Growing your recommendations gives you excellent credibility. 
 
Twitter: 
Twitter is called a "micro-blog".  Each entry is about the length of a sentence or two (140 characters).  These "tweets" are posted into a constant stream of these micro-blogs.  To make it useable for each person, you "follow" a person on twitter and on your page you only see the tweets from the people you follow.  This means it is "recipient driven". 
 
This is fairly new and began as a mobile-based tool, and therefore has a younger demographic of mostly Gen Y and X.  Users feel as though they are "life-casting" to a community they feel highly connected with.  Twitter users tend to be less affluent and most are not active with 80% of accounts inactive.  Most do not know how to use the tool to drive business and the novelty of tweeting wears off very fast.  94% of accounts have less than 100 followers and about 5% of twitter users account for 75% of the traffic. 
 
While social media insiders are still talking about whether Twitter will survive as a main social tool, most agree that an understanding and use of Twitter can generate good traffic to your web site your Facebook page, your blog or to important articles.  In this way it is yet another method of social influencing and audience building. 
 
The main functionality with twitter comes with the use of key tricks within your tweets.  These include "@" replies, hash tags, re-tweets and direct messaging.  Twitter has a very extensive users guide on the site to learn these functions.  Twitter is highly indexable by Google meaning normal Google searches will find your twitter profile very easily and that can lead users to your blog and your web site.
 
Finally, there are services such as TweetDeck and HootSuite that are much better at managing tweets than the twitter site itself.  I would suggest you use twitter.com for simply managing your profile and then use one of these other tools for actually managing your message stream.  You can also attach pictures to your tweets using twitpic.com, and shorten URL links using tinyurl.com or TweetDeck.  Suggestions of people to follow:  PetDocsOnCall, PetDocsOnCall09, ASVJ, Snoopydoc, MeyerlandAC, drbhurley, PetPoisonHelp, Azzore, TVMA, CDCEmergency.
 
Forums: 
Internet forums are an extremely popular and time tested tool of expert question and answer functionality. There are forums for just about every business, hobby, technology and profession.  These are highly interactive sites and allow users the ability to participate in both asking and answering questions.  Often in a signature block the user can link back to blogs, sites and articles.  Forums are a great way to enter social media as the software interfaces are simple and users are very grateful for information and resources.  They are highly searchable and you will find them fun and useful for any interest you have - either as a user or an expert. 
 
In 2009, the Veterinary News Network began a forum for members to learn social media interactions and to help pet owners from around the world.  Visit www.PetDocsOnCall.com to see this great forum.  There is a landing page with various articles and links, then entering the forums you will find many different categories. THIS IS YOUR FORUM!! PetDocsOnCall has the potential to help VNN become financially independent.  We ask all VNN members to sign up as a contributing veterinarian and devote a few minutes a week in answering questions.  Now over a year old we have had some amazing interactions with pet owners and helped thousands.  We would love your help.  Sign up as a user and them ask Tom to help you become an "insider" with our appropriate veterinary signature and disclaimer.  ([email protected])

Get Started: 
You can easily set up user accounts at these sites.  Tom and I can help you and we are planning monthly webinars to teach you to actually punch the buttons.  It is easy and fun and we are here to guide you.  One of the best places to start is at PetDocsOnCall.com.  Register at www.PetDocsOnCall.com and join the forum conversations.  If you would like to answer questions as a veterinarian, you will need to join VNN and agree to our staff guidelines.
 
If you have contributed to either traditional or web media in the past, I encourage you to join the American Society of Veterinary Journalists at www.ASVJ.org.  This certification and seal of approval will give you unmatched credibility in the world of traditional and online media. 
 
Start by connecting with me.  Sign up at Linkedin and send me an invitation to connect.  At that point you can be seen by almost 2 million first, second and third degree connections immediately!
 
Visit Twellow.com and WeFollow.com and find users by categories.  Follow a hundred or so and begin to learn how they use Twitter. 
 
VNN continues to make history and throw open the doors of the media to our profession.  Tom and I are here to help you do just that, and we hear real world examples of success almost every day.  Dive in and join social media evolution. 
 
 
You can find Dr. Jim's entire Social Media Presentation by following this link:  http://tinyurl.com/yal5vf6
 
 
WELCOME to our newest VNN Reporters from Virginia and Australia!
 
 
Remember, Dr. Jim and I are available if you have any questions about social media or how to get started.  You can call Dr. Jim at 719-495-2100 or email him at [email protected].  My contact information is below.  You can also connect with Dr. Jim at LinkedIn...just send him an invite!
 
Our goal is to continue to provide you with the highest level of media resources and information to grow your practice through publicity and PR. 
 
Sincerely,
 

Thomas Dock, CVJ
Veterinary News Network
317-281-8658 
 
ASVJ Seal of Approval
 
 
 
 
 
Dr. Jim Humphries
President
Veterinary News Network
 
719-495-2100 Direct Line
888-254-9946 Fax
719-963-6852 Cell
 
Executive Director
American Society of Veterinary Journalists