Quick & Simple Vet Social Media Marketing Tactics

With an increase in competition in online marketing, you’ll need to be strategic about finding new and creative ways to distinguish your veterinary practice online. Social media can do just that, because it allows your practice to strengthen existing client relationships while also reaching new pet owners. It also gives you a chance to show off your veterinary expertise in a different environment, while still being a part of the conversations that are happening on social media.

If you want to help your busy veterinary practice stand out on social media, then keep reading to find out how you can use veterinary social media marketing strategies to save you time and grow your reach with your followers.

Tactic 1: Share Behind-the-Scenes Look at Your Veterinary Practice

Sharing snippets from your day is a great way to give followers a behind-the-scenes look at your veterinary clinic. From checking in to the front office for weigh-ins to routine checkups in the exam room, there are lots of moments to take a quick picture or video and post it on your social media channels. 

Normally, most pet owners are delighted for their furry friend to be featured on social media and sometimes they’ll share the post to their social media accounts. Talk about free promotion! If you do decide to take pictures of your client’s pets for social media, be sure to get approval first. Some veterinary practices incorporate this permission request as part of the intake record. 

Bonus Tip: Use Instagram Stories or Facebook live as a way to share some parts of your veterinary day.

Tactic 2: Be Newsworthy! Reshare Authoritative Veterinary Posts

It’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest news in veterinary care. Resharing reliable and trusted sources can help establish your credibility as a veterinary professional and further educate your followers. 

Here’s a list of veterinary associations you should follow on Facebook: 

• American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) posts the latest veterinary news on animal health and welfare, plus find shareable veterinary content for your own social media pages.

• American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) posts educational tips on client communication, resources to effectively manage your practice, health, and safety tips for pet owners.

• American Pet Products Association  (APPA) posts pet safety tips, seasonal pet, and reptile products, educational first-aid plans for pets, and more. 

• The Animal Medical Center  (AMC) posts are created for veterinary professionals and pet owners. They provide educational resources, share pet stories, and educate pet owners on a variety of topics. 

Tactic 3: Share Life Hacks for Pet Owners 

As a veterinarian, we are sure you have picked up techniques and tricks that make caring for animals easier. From putting a ball in your pet’s food bowl if he or she eats too quickly to creating homemade dog pill pockets, your clients trust your pet care advice – so share it!

Tactic 4: Post Your Discounts & Offers

If you sell pet products at your practice then use social media to promote your products and make additional revenue. Use holidays and end of seasons to attract current clients and new ones to purchase products or get discounts on vaccinations, checkups, dental care, pet grooming, and more. 

Bonus Tip: Ask your followers to share your discounts and offers on their social media accounts too to help other pet owners save big. 

Tactic 5: Create Veterinary Video Content

Videos are arguably the most popular type of content across Facebook. With your mobile device, you can shoot videos of a pet getting groomed, a staff member being funny, introducing a new team member, answering pet care questions, and more. 

When you share videos that are authentic and engaging your followers are more likely to interact, like, and share with other pet owners. Check out this example from Fraser Valley Animal Hospital here, where they introduce clients and potential clients to their clinic cats.

Tactic 6: Send Pet Alerts 

While social media is a great source of marketing your veterinary practice, it can also be used to send alerts to your followers on potential hazards to their pets. For instance, if you see that a brand of pet food has been recalled, let your followers know and ask them to share your post.

If you see a lost pet sign in your local area, post it on your social media pages and tell your followers to share it, and when the owner is reunited with its pet, be sure to post a “back home” update.

Tactic 7: Poll Your Vet Followers

Asking questions is a simple way to connect and engage with your followers. Start a poll for your followers to respond and interact with. Try asking yes or no questions. Here are some fun polls you can ask your followers on Facebook and Instagram. 

• Are you a dog person or a cat person? 🐈🐕 
• Will you be dressing up your pet for Halloween? 🎃
• When you leave the house do you tell your pet you’ll be back soon? 🏠 
• Have you thrown a birthday party for your pet? 🎂

There are endless possibilities for the questions you can ask pet owners. You’ll get lots of reactions and learn more about your followers. 

Tactic 8: Participate and Post-Pet-Related Charities 

How many times have you logged in to your social media accounts and saw a conversation or even a news story about a GoFundMe for a pet in need? It is always a good idea to contribute to pet-related charities, but you can also give back to your workplace community. Use social media to ask your followers to participate in helping you raise funds for an animal charity. This will raise awareness and generate likes and conversations while supporting a good cause.

Tactic 9: Hold Contest & Giveaways 

Everyone likes to win prizes, and free stuff—so holding competitions and offering freebies is a good veterinary social media marketing strategy for keeping your followers active on social media. Contests and giveaways are also a fantastic way to show gratitude for your followers’ support and boost your social media engagement. 

Tactic 10: Post Visually Appealing Veterinary Visuals

Social media is driven by visuals because without them, followers lose interest. Keep your followers engaged on social media using videos, graphics, GIFs, memes, and more. Deciding which images to post mainly depends on the platform you’re using.

An infographic may work well on Facebook and Twitter, but not so much on Instagram. Perhaps with slight adjustments. Here are some suggestions:

• Behind-the-scenes photos of your veterinary office, staff members 
• Descriptions and images of day-to-day practices as a veterinary 
• Highlight weekly and monthly team members 
• Memes and GIFs of cute funny pets
• Live stream of community events

Take Advantage of Our Free Veterinary Social Media Kit 

We understand you’re busy and may not be able to apply all these tactics to your veterinary social media marketing strategy. That is why we’d like to help you get started for free. We update our social media kit every month with images and captions you can use on your social media pages. Simply download our social media kit to get access to veterinary social posts.

Do you follow VetMatrix on Facebook? We share veterinary content as well as useful marketing tips just for you!