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Reasons by Social Media Might Not Be Working For You
by Dr. Jim Humphries, Veterinary News Network
Tom and I have talked about the value of social media networking now for about a year. Some of you may be wondering after trying this for many months why you don't have more of a following, or more clients walking in the door from your Facebook page.
There are a variety of reasons why your time has not paid off...YET. But it will. Let's look at some and suggest some action steps.
What is your plan? Just as with a marketing effort, most veterinarians jump in without a plan or a way to track success. We throw a little money at the yellow pages and a local neighborhood weekly paper and expect the phone to ring. Hey, we are doctors not marketers.
But a plan really helps all your social efforts to work together and cause them to build quicker and with more of a singular purpose. Basically I suggest you have all your social media work point back to "home". Home may be your blog or your hospital web site. Then all your efforts are driving that one thing which enriches your practice.
Next, take a look at what you are posting. I can't tell you how many people are still posting what they had for dinner or how great a concert was. Social Media can surely be used that way - if you are a teenager and want to keep in the circle with all your friends. But Social Media in our terms is a business driver and is meant to get people to your site and to your front door. Therefore keep your content business related. Sure, fun, light-hearted as that is mostly the nature of our profession. But animal health news, cases and events are the core of your postings and you will attract quality clients who will want to get to know you and your practice even more.
It also helps to target your clients. Don't assume they are all on Facebook (although most are). Ask them as they rotate through your office what social sites they most frequent and set up accounts and post great info there. Print up cards with your Facebook and Twitter accounts on them and let interested clients see you are proactively involved in this new method of communications and information delivery. Add a place for social media networks on your new client forms.
TIME! You are right we don't have the time for all this. However, everyone is doing it and if you are not, you are behind. Properly train trusted staff to help you with this and then delegate authority for postings. That is the only way a busy office will be able to keep up with the 'stream' of activity in the social media world.
Listen to the conversations and respond to concerns and complaints. That is your best strategy for handling anything negative and an opportunity for you to learn more about your hospital and how you can improve. In addition to finding new clients, Social Media is an excellent opportunity to get to know your existing clients more deeply and develop stronger bonds.
Don't just dabble. The best idea I've hear on this is to treat Social Media as if you paid for every post! That puts it more into the category of paid advertising, which you would not squander. Make it work for you by investing in learning the sites, techniques and then committing to posting regularly. Think of your Social Media work as writing a daily column in the paper. It is a commitment and one that will pay off for you next week and next decade! Happily postings are not as in-depth as a newspaper column and don't take near that amount of time, but treating as a regular contribution will take you from dabbling to doing and results will follow.
We are happy to help you learn the basic Social Media tools and how to use them. Watch this newsletter, see our training videos and soon we'll have webinars for you to attend.
Don't forget, it is free and unlike traditional media you are in control!
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