Greetings!
 After an amazing week of lecturing and video gathering, both Dr. Jim and I are back in the office today. We are monitoring a couple of situations closely.
First, many of you are seeing a story out of Denver about a morning news anchor bitten by a large dog live on air. As you will see below, there are some crucial things that you need to be aware of with respect to this story.
Second, thanks to all of you sharing our current video story on non-anesthetic dental scaling. As I explain in my column below, getting your content to go viral is a chore, but it can pay off with great benefits.
On to the news....
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| Animals, Veterinarians and VNN Members in the News This Week |
 After a dramatic rescue of a dog who had fallen through the ice chasing a coyote, the Denver NBC affiliate station, KUSA, chose to have the dog, the dog's owner and the firefighter who saved the dog on their morning show. Sadly, the segment ended with the anchor being bitten in the face by this large Argentinian Mastiff, or Dogo Argentino.
 Beyond the shock of this story, there is another story that should greatly interest you as a media veterinarian...will this event cause news directors and producers to rethink allowing pets on sets? Because animals are so entertaining and helpful on video, the odds are that most stations won't change their policies. But, it does give YOU an opportunity to reach out and help your local media with some tips and advice on how to avoid dog bites (which are available for you at MyVNN.com). Let's remember that this is an isolated incident of a dog who appeared to be well socialized but was obviously more than stressed by being on set and having someone strange invade his space. This story will likely die down in the next 24 hours or so, but you as a media savvy veterinarian should be "on call" and ready in case your local media wants to talk about this.
PETA has filed a lawsuit in San Diego alleging that SeaWorld is violating the 13th amendment that prohibits slavery. They are trying to shut down any sort of performance or captivity of marine mammals and show that these animals have the same constitutional rights as humans.
Congratulations to a couple of VNN members this week...Dr. Elizabeth Bradt is continuing her great work educating folks in Salem, MA through her local paper and Dr. Rob Ballinger of Canyon, TX recently returned from Iraq with a great story to tell about rescuing some pups.
In last week's News Alert, we shared a story that stated Novartis was asking veterinarians to also check Sentinel, Interceptor, Deramaxx and Milbemite products for foreign tablets. This story was not verified at the source and it was only the Clomicalm product that was affected. We sincerely regret this error. The good news though is that Novartis has now resumed distribution of their veterinary products.
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Starting a "Viral" Epidemic
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 Thomas Dock, CVJManaging Editor, Veterinary News NetworkBoard of Certification, American Society of Veterinary JournalistsWe have been extremely happy to see the reach we have gained with our latest VNN video. Thanks to our members and many others who shared this great story, we are making some big waves across the web. So...what lessons did we learn that might help you with your own outreach? In other words, how can you "inoculate" your social media so that your posting ends up causing a full blown viral "infection" of uncontrolled growth? First, it's extremely important to understand your audience's experience with your material. Is your blog or video easy to access or do people have to jump through multiple hoops to find it? How long is your article or your video? Does it cover a topic that generates a strong interest or even a passionate response?  We found using our YouTube channel links to the non-anesthetic dental scaling video gave us an impressive reach AND it has enabled us to also follow where the video is being played. As you might expect, Facebook has been a huge platform for the viral sharing of this video. We opted to focus more on using our YouTube channel links rather than the direct link to MyVNN.com because the user's experience seems to be better with the YouTube video. This is not to say that we don't want to promote our VNN site, but in this instance, we knew that we could make sharing easier AND improve the user's final experience with the video by using the YouTube links. LESSON: If you don't have a YouTube channel...set one up!! Next, don't be afraid to share your video or blog as a comment or response on other pages or even sites. You do want to be careful and make sure that you are ADDING to the thread or conversation and not simply promoting yourself. We found that when we shared our video on Facebook pages where there was a discussion of pet dentistry, we received almost 100% positive responses, lots of thanks and then, most importantly, a lot of shares. Again, this stresses the importance of connecting with other local businesses and maintaining good, positive engagement with them throughout your social network. LESSON: Reach out and let people know your thoughts and share your work! Finally, look at your subject matter. As we all know, controversial topics will generate more views and engagement, but it will also generate a little more work as it is important to monitor and even respond to some of those who are interacting with you. Focus on topics that are 1) passionate for you, 2) promote you as a pet expert and 3) have a little bit of an edge (like the NADS story or raw diets, etc). Although we often see a lot of viral sharing of "cute" animal pictures, focusing on those does nothing to enhance your reputation as a "pet health expert". Share those cute things on occasion, but don't devote your entire social outreach to them. LESSON: Just like in news, the subject matters. Find topics that create a little bit of a stir.... There are a lot more technical things that you can do to enhance the probability of your material going viral. But, that's a subject for another column! |
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Sincerely,
Thomas Dock, CVJ
Managing Editor
tomdock@MyVNN.com
719-445-7065
Dr. Jim Humphries
President/News Director
dr.jim@MyVNN.com
719-495-2100
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WHAT'S NEW AT MYVNN.COM
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WOW! Have you seen this video? " Avoid Pet Dentistry Without Anesthesia" has really taken off this past week. We have seen more than 5,000 views on our YouTube channel alone!! We appreciate the state VMAs, individual veterinarians and even the Amer. Veterinary Dental College for their help in spreading the word about this story. This is a video that really gets down to the nuts and bolts of what is happening with these unlicensed individuals. It shows the danger to our pets and exposes the fact that the practice is illegal in many states. This video has the power to help sway hearts and minds at a time when many veterinarians feel as if their businesses are under attack. This is not simply about educating pet owners about the right care for their pet, it's about "taking back the media" from people who don't always have the best interest of pets or owners in mind. We can make a difference in search engine results and throughout social media. We need stories like this one to start replacing the less than accurate "testimonials" shared by these unlicensed and unregulated people scaling the teeth of your clients' pets. Please share this story through your social network, on your own webpage and look to see if your state or local association has it. We have seen a lot of response and discussion about this video and we want to keep the energy going. If you need help understanding how to get the video to your site or share on your social pages, don't hesitate to contact either Dr. Jim or me. | |
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Looking Forward
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In the coming months at MyVNN.com, we are expecting stories covering the topics of second hand smoke's effects on pets, a high tech story on spinal cord injuries in pets, feline diabetes, how our pets are helping in the battle on cancer, several nutrition stories and even a story about a "Day in the Life of a Veterinary Student".
We DO want to hear from you. If you have story ideas, interesting cases or thoughts on topics in veterinary medicine that need addressed, send us an email and let us know! Better yet, show us your writing skills and help develop the next hit VNN story!!
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VNN MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS!
| | Thank you to everyone who has renewed for another year with the Veterinary News Network. We are extremely happy to see that so many members see the value in our services and that our numbers continue to grow!!
Again, if you have not renewed yet, you can check out your anniversary date by logging into MyVNN.com, clicking on the My Profile tab and scrolling to the bottom of the page. If you are within 45 days of your date, there will be links for renewing by credit card or check. If there are no links, you have more than 45 days before your renewal is due and the anniversary date is listed for you.
If you are unable to log in to the MyVNN site, it is possible that your renewal is overdue. Please contact us for the most expedient method of re-establishing your membership. |
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