Christina Sutu's breakout session at BlogPaws 2012: Social Media and Your Veterinary Hospital: What, Why and How?

1. SOCIAL MEDIA AND
YOUR VETERINARY
HOSPITAL:
WHAT, WHY AND HOW?
Christina Sutu
Social Media Manager
Encina Veterinary Hospital
Walnut Creek, California

2. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
 According to Wikipedia, social media is “an umbrella term
that defines the various activities that integrate technology,
social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures,
videos, and audio.”
 Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, blogging, LinkedIn

3. “In essence, social media is a tool to insert ourselves into the
conversation between current and would-be clients. In fact, depending on
how “viral” your exposure is, a person could be getting a personal
recommendation about us from a friend-of-a-friend who they don’t even
know! By placing our messages in this conversation, you can craft a
message that can support the conversation and develop a relationship
with someone who the practice has never met yet.”
Angela Linvill, MS
(Hospital Administrator of Encina Veterinary Hospital)
“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO
social media, the question is how well we
DO it.”
Eric Qualman of Socialnomics.com

4. MOST COMMON SOCIAL NETWORKS
 Facebook allows you to set up a customized “page”, which other
users can “like” to become fans. You can then share interesting
content, such as updates, pictures and videos with your followers
and engage in two-way communication.
 According to Social Media Today, in April 2010 an estimated 41.6% of the U.S. population
had a Facebook account.
 As of April 2012, Facebook has 901 million active users (PCMag.com)
 Twitter is another huge online network that can help to expand your
reach exponentially and should be a part of your veterinary
marketing plan. Users set up accounts from which they can
disseminate quick, helpful and interesting tidbits of
information. Each “tweet” is limited to 140 characters, so you have
to be creative.
 Over 140 million active users as of 2012 (Twitter Blog)
 340 million tweets are sent every day on average (Twitter Blog)
DVMelite.com

5. MOST COMMON SOCIAL NETWORKS
 Youtube YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in
February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. Youtube offers a wide
variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as
well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos. In November 2006,
YouTube, LLC was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion, and now operates as a subsidiary of
Google.
 Youtube is the 2nd most used/popular search engine in the world, only behind Google (Rocketmedia)
 Youtube is the third most visited website in the world (Rocketmedia)

7. VETERINARIANS IN SOCIAL MEDIA
 It’s a very small pond right now; veterinarians are not utilizing the tools
they have to become active and present in social media or online.
 A website gets your information out there but social media allows you to connect to
clients and potential clients
 Many feel a sign outside and a Yellow Pages ad should suffice when it
comes to advertising and building clientele – it no longer does!
 Gone are the days of looking up a business in a phone book; people are now relying on
the internet and friends to tell them where to go and why.
 78% of people trust recommendations (yelp, friends) versus only 14% trust traditional
advertising

8. According to a survey released by
Pew Interest, amount of users
checking in on social networks at
least once per day:
Facebook – 52%
Twitter – 23%
Myspace – 8%
LinkedIn – 6%
According to the 1995 AAHA Report
entitled A Study of the Companion
Animal Veterinary Services Market,
45% of pet owners considered the
recommendation by another
person as the most important
factor in selecting a
veterinarian.

9. WHY IS SOCIAL MEDIA IMPORTANT?
 Social media is how people search for services they need
 Social media allows you to connect with your clients which leads to
future/new clients
 Social media gets the name of your clinic out into the world wide web
more often which leads to more business
 Clients share your information with their friends and family easily through social media
 Clients don’t have a chance to forget about you in between exams
 Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are all FREE
 Become a trustworthy resource for pet owners

10. WHERE DO YOU FIT IN?
 As a veterinarian, it’s important to
build personal and trusting bonds
with your clients.
 Social media helps with that:
 Your clients can and will stay
connected with you through social
media, year around
 Your clients wont forget you or your
hospital because you will have a
constant presence
 Your clients will refer you to their
friends because of your personal
touch and it’s EASY to do so on
Social Media platforms

11. WHERE DO YOU FIT IN?
 Target age: 20-40
 Your future clients are already using social media; to keep up and be appealing, you
must be on the same playing field as them.
 As time goes on, technology improves. You must keep up with the
trends to remain relevant and attractive to clients and prospective clients
 Our Dr. Jill Christofferson has been in practice for 20 years and
maintains an excellent presence and bond with her clients through
Facebook
 Coming to the vet to see Jill isn’t scary or unpleasant; they feel like they are going to
see a friend and are at ease.

12. WHERE DO YOU START?
 Depending on your area, see which social networks are most popular with staff,
clients and other businesses.
 Select only 2-3 networks to become active in and a universal username for all
 You may select more to simply sign up and put something out there on that network,
but it becomes very difficult to manage so many networks while providing quality.
 Select a username that reflects your hospital that can be used on all venues
(encinavet)
 Let your clients know you are now on Social Media
 A sign in the lobby, email newsletters, stamp on invoices/statements
 If you’re interested in blogging, then do it!
 Blogspot.com = free easy to use blogging tool

13. WHERE TO START?
 Set up a posting plan
 Who will be posting?
 Do not have more than 2 people who will post; you don’t
want the style of information to vary too much
 Devote a calendar to social media and make a
schedule each month for things you would like to post.
 Week before the fourth of July, remind pet owners that this
is the number one holiday pets go missing, promote micro-
chipping
 Do not over post!
 You do NOT want to spam your followers; you will annoy
them and lose them
 Quality versus Quantity
 Decide how much time you want to dedicate
 Ask staff to keep an eye out for cases

14. ONCE YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR
HOSPITAL’S PAGE ON FACEBOOK
 Let clients know
 Email clients, stamp/print on invoices, handout,
sign in lobby, on website
 Find local and veterinary related pages to like
 AHAA, organizations, pet supply stores, specialty veterinary hospitals, emergency veterinary
hospitals, rescue organizations, companies of products you carry
 You will be able to comment on their pages as your veterinary hospital which will get your name
out to their followers
 Ask clients to send you pictures of their pets for an album on Facebook
 People love to share their pets; this will give them the ability to share your post of their pets
picture with their friends on Facebook which leads to more exposure for you

15. ONCE YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR
HOSPITAL'S PAGE ON TWITTER
 Let clients know
 Email clients, stamp/print on
invoices, sign in lobby, on
website
 Sync your Facebook and
Twitter page
 When you post on Facebook, it
will automatically post on Twitter
 Find pages on Twitter to
follow
 Local businesses, pet related,
clients
 Tweet and Connect!

16. ONCE YOU HAVE CREATED YOUR
HOSPITAL'S PAGE ON YOUTUBE
 Let clients know
 Email clients, stamp/print on invoices, sign in lobby, on
website, handout
 Include links to “How To” videos on take home
instructions
 How to cut your pet’s nails, how to tell if your pet is
dehydrated, how to administer sub-q fluids, how to brush
your pet’s teeth, what to include in a pet emergency
kit, how to clean a pet’s wound
 Create a video of a tour of your hospital
 Highlight an employee each month
 Each time you post a video, share it on Facebook!
 Your Facebook can be synced to automatically post each
update to Twitter so your information can go
EVERYWHERE!

17. WHAT TYPE OF STUFF SHOULD YOU
POST ABOUT?
 Success stories and complex, puzzling cases
 Patient photos, thank you cards, testimonials
 Milestones for the hospital and staff
 Weddings, anniversaries, new babies, new pets
 Changes to the hospital
 Policies, remodeling, new staff members, new hours, new products
 Information
 Recalls, specials, sales, events (yours and other local businesses), seasonal pet
dangers, tips for pet owners, adoptions available, emergency hospital, how to
 Contests
 Ask representatives of the products you carry to give you free stuff (products,
coupons, water bottles, tee-shirts etc.)

19. WHAT TYPE OF STUFF SHOULD YOU
NOT POST ABOUT?
 Cases with an unhappy ending
 Posting about a patient without the client
authorizing it can lead to troubles
 Create a simple authorization form for clients to
sign allowing you to use the first name of their pet
and pictures of their pets for social media
 Diagnosing or giving personal veterinary advice
 If someone posts on your wall describing a condition, answer them in a manner that
acknowledges their concerns and suggest they see a veterinarian for the best care
 “Wow John, I can see why you’re concerned for Rover! My best advice would be to schedule
an appointment with Dr. Smith, that way Rover can get the best care possible.”
 Anything negative!

20. HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS/ROI
 Create coupons for each
Facebook and Twitter
which are easy to track in
your practice software
with a specific product
code
 Ask new clients how they
found you and make sure
Facebook, Twitter,
Google/search engine,
YouTube and any other
social media you may
use are listed as options

21. ENCINA VETERINARY HOSPITAL
SUCCESS STORIES
 Icebear the cat  March of 2011, one of our interns took possession
presented to us in of a German Shepherd who had been hit by a car
early summer of
 Through posting about it on Facebook, it got out to
2011 for 2 foxtails
our 300+ fans and 21 shares.
that penetrated to his
lungs.  We raised over
$1,500 for Sammy’s
 We blogged about
care, spread story to
him, his interesting
local blogs, and
case and happy
generated positive
ending!
buzz about us and
 In July of 2011, a found a future home
man called from New for Sammy!
Mexico, scheduled
an
appointment and drove for 8+ hours for an
endoscopy with our team after reading our
blog on Icebear.

22. HOW CAN YOU WORK WITH PET
BLOGGERS AND OTHER INTERNET
MARKETING PERSONNEL?
 Helpareporter.com
 Myblogguest.com
 Clients who are influential
in your community
 Local rescues

23.  Create a business profile on Facebook and Twitter
 Your company logo is your picture and avatar
 If you are a consultant, use a professional headshot
 Don’t mix personal and business profiles
 Start social networking with peers
 Experiment with social media tools
 Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogging, Youtube, Twitter, FLICKR
 Twitter Daily
 Learn from the experts
 Study, research the peers sites
 Enroll in free webinars
 Determine how your success will be measured
 Do not spend too much time online; set schedules
 Embrace customer review social sites such as Yelp
 Consider using Groupon
 Ask each visitor and customer how they heard about your business
 Remember it may take 6 months or more to get results

24. Christina Sutu
Social Media Manager
acsutu@encinavet.com
Encina Veterinary Hospital
East Bay Veterinary Specialists & Emergency
Walnut Creek, California
www.encinavet.com
www.facebook.com/encinavet
www.twitter.com/encinavet
www.youtube.com/encinavet
www.encinavet.com/blog