Why bother?

The world is online and the figures are frankly mind-blowing: 1.23 billion people on Facebook; 200,000 videos uploaded to You Tube every day; 21 million tweets per hour; 209 million Amazon shoppers….the list goes on and on.

The figures are brain-busting and, of course, they are nonsense! No sooner are estimates made, collated and published, they’re immediately out-of-date…this great, big, amorphous thing we call the internet is expanding as fast as the universe itself. Or are least the rate of it’s growth is as difficult a phenomenon to get your head around!

What we do know though is that just about everyone - and that includes veterinary clients - are spending an increasing amount of time every day on their PC’s, tablets and other mobile devices. They are searching for information, looking for service suppliers (vets), soliciting opinions and advice, meeting one another, dating, sharing experiences, buying and selling…..

Animal owners everywhere are increasingly online, so online is where vets need to be too.

1. Be found

Veterinary practice is a local business by nature, therefore geographical location is and always has been important; put simply, where your buildings are physically situated influences how easy it is for people to find you.

The only thing that’s changed in recent years is that being found online is now of equal importance, as more and more people search for veterinary services via the web. So here are some simple action points that will help your practice turn up when people are looking for veterinary services in your area:

The obvious stuff: If you haven’t already done so, claim your Google business listing so that your practice appears whenever anyone is searching for a vet in your area. Give Google as much information as you can about your business, including appealing pictures of people and animals as these act as an emotional hook for animal lovers.

There are many directories on the web, some free and some available with subscription. Identify the ones that are attracting traffic and make sure your practice is listed.

Optimise your website. No-one knows exactly how Google rankings work…. However, what we do know is that those sites organically attracting traffic will rank higher than those who do not, and that creating blogs and unique content has become more important than ever. Blogs act like bait that reel in interested parties when they’re searching for animal-related stuff; they enhance your reputation and the best blogs are spread around the internet. Vet practices should never be short of engaging, appealing, informative stories to write about!

2. Be recommended

Word-of-mouth has long been the principal mechanism for driving new clients through the doors of established practices; veterinary practice is a people business after all!

The importance of WOM has not changed in decades…except that the standard vehicle of face-to-face communication is now often replaced by ‘word-of-mouse’, with people increasingly reliant on online reviews before making decisions about which products and services to choose. In one recent study, it was shown that 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations

So make sure that you capitalise on this and encourage your best clients to leave positive reviews in places where others might be searching for a vet. Some of the better online directories encourage recommendations and comment.

The most effective reviews are probably still Google ones as they also influence your website ranking; clients will need a gmail account in order to do this so it requires some effort on your part to identify who these clients are and to ask them to review your service. It’s worth it.

3. Connect and Engage

One of the key effects the internet has had is that is has shrunk the world, allowing the human race to connect more easily than ever before and on a hitherto undreamt of scale. As in the ‘real world’, like-minded people tend to aggregate around common interests, values and purpose when online; it is only mass and speed that separates the virtual world from our day-to-day lives with social media being the main facilitator in this respect.

The Veterinary Business Journal (Number 131: Feb 2014) recently reported that UK Vet practices are leading the way in social media use compared to their European and American peers, with Facebook being the main platform of choice. And it appears to be worth the effort: In an opinion poll of vetpol.co.uk members, asking “Is Facebook working for you?”, 70% said yes, though 52% of respondents found the degree of success difficult to quantify. However, I am aware of a practice now getting most of their new clients via Facebook whilst achieving turnover growth of 15%; not bad for an established business coming out of a period of deep economic recession!

So the message is clear: Social media is an excellent tool for vet practices to connect and engage with animal owners, whilst creating opportunities to drive new business though your doors.

Vets are uniquely positioned amongst professionals in terms of client trust and your ability to provide them with a never-ending supply of information and stories of paramount interest to them: Content with which you can attract people to you online, engage with them and develop meaningful relationships…some of which lead to the provision of new advocates and clients for your business. Social media provides you with the vehicle to do this effectively and it can give a good return on investment.

If you haven’t one in place, work with your team to produce a social media strategy for your business and invest time and effort in developing your SM presence. Social media marketing has been described as “marketing with a magnet”….do it well and people really will be attracted to you and your practice. Social media is good for business!

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