Help Your Clinic Bloom With Social Media This May!
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Laura Bush
- Marketing, Social Media
Laura Bush
If you are like most clinics and are too busy to have a cup of coffee, let alone create or source relevant content for your social media channels, our premade social media package might be a good fit for you! This content is PURRfect for small animal practices that are looking to post relevant content regularly and throw in some personalized posts as well like photos of your adorable patients. Not a VHA member? No worries! Just enter SS-VHA in the account number section.
On the menu for this month is:
18 Pieces of Content (including a larger infographic style piece!) that span the gamut from educational to entertaining and engaging. You can even add your logo to make them your own!
18 Captions pre-crafted to make posting a breeze – it can literally be as simple as copy and paste!
11 Canva Templates to easily drag and drop to share photos from inside your clinic to add a personalized touch
1 Video for Facebook and/or Instagram Stories
and a collection of tutorials to assist you in getting the most out of your package!
We use Microsoft OneDrive for large file transfers, and a link will be emailed to you within 24 hours. If you are experiencing any issues with purchasing or receiving your content, send us an email! Your purchase will give you access to my support and assistance in making this month your best month yet on social media!
If you are interested in creating your own content, keep scrolling for some helpful ideas!
Don’t forget to send out a preventative reminder on May 1st!
Specially-Abled Pets Day is May 3rd and the perfect time to tell a story! Chances are you have more than one wheelie dog, triPAWD, or other specially-abled pet that is living life to the fullest and THRIVING! Reach out to their owner and ask if you can feature their pet and their incredible story. Get some of their favorite photos of their pet and tell the story about their condition and how you help them. This kind of story brings awareness to pets with differences and knowing that we can help them live long and fulfilling lives makes these stories just feel SO GOOD!
May the 4th Be with You on Star Wars Day! I don’t know about you, but I am a HUGE fantasy nerd, so this one is just for giggles! Here are some of my favorite ideas for the day:
Cinco De Mayo is a fantastic opportunity to talk about breeds that hail from Mexico! Do you have a Xoloitzcuintli that visits? If not, you are bound to have tons of Chihuahuas! I love the fun facts and great information that the AKC provides about these two festive breeds!
The most common anxiety-inducing situations are the 3 S’s! Separation, sound, and strangers! Dog Anxiety Awareness week runs May 1-7th and is a great opportunity to highlight anxiety in dogs. I love the idea of talking about the signs in a regular post and sending anyone who is interested in learning more to your stories to check out information on combating anxiety!
Celebrate Mom’s of all types on Mother’s Day, May 8th! Human children? Check. Dog Mom? Check. Kitty Mommy? Check! If you have a mom vet or tech that your clients frequently connect with, and they are comfortable with an online presence, consider featuring a FURmily photo of them with their human kids and children with fur and four legs!
The role of pets in the lives of their owners is changing. It’s common for people to consider themselves PAWrents to their pets, so celebrate all the Dog Momma’s out there on May 14th, National Dog Mom’s Day! Stay relevant and aware and recognize that Dog Moms aren’t just women-anyone who loves and cares for their pooch as part of their family qualifies for this noble title! This is a great opportunity to call for “Ussies” or photos of Dog Moms and their pooch!
National Rescue Dog Day is May 20th! Adoption by the numbers are (drumroll please) 62% of dogs! That’s right, according to APPA National Pet Owners Survey by the American Pet Products Association, and the U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the majority of pet dogs were either adopted from a shelter or rescue group, taken in directly as a stray, or acquired from a friend or relative. With any observance having to do with adoption or rescue, I highly recommend reaching out to a local rescue group to work collaboratively in sharing information and adoptable pets!
It is coming to a walk in the park near you- HEAT! Heat Awareness Day is on May 27th and if it isn’t already hot as heck where you are, it likely will be soon. It’s a great time to talk about the signs and symptoms of heatstroke! Save whatever you make in Canva because heat will be an issue you’ll want to touch on again throughout the summer!
If your clients are anything like me, their dog is definitely included in the Memorial Day festivities on May 30th! Ask clients to share photos of their pet enjoying Memorial Day weekend and be sure to give some safety reminders a little bit beforehand. My favorite ones to remember are:
There are lots of monthly observances to sprinkle into your calendar! Here are my suggestions:
Pet Month: I mean, we celebrate pet month every month, but consider a series this month that highlights the benefits of pet ownership!
Foster Care Month: Do you have a foster-based rescue near you or one you work with? Talk to pet owners about the realities of foster care and help them get involved in this amazing line of volunteer work!
Chip Your Pets Month: Let’s scream it from the rooftop “CHIP YOUR PET!” I love the idea of telling or sharing a lost pet reunited with their owner thanks to a chip kind of story. Remind clients “it’s hip to chip!”, show them how easy a microchip is placed, and break down the real cost and process of registering and anything else you feel they should know about microchips!
Asthma and Allergies Month: Pet owners can get confused about what allergies and asthma actually look like in pets! If you have an itchy boy or wheezy gal that can help demonstrate allergies and asthma- show them off (with owner approval, of course!) to help other clients recognize what allergies and asthma look like in real life!
To Blog or not to blog, that is the question!
Blogging is a great tool to get more information out there to help pet owners learn about various topics. It is also a great tool to help get your website to pop up higher on the list when prospective clients google “Veterinarians near me”. While Search Engine Optimization (or SEO for short) is complex and based on many different variables, it never hurts to help your website get hits through blogging about topics pet owners are hungry to learn more about.
My colleague Chris recently took a peek at some of the google searches driving traffic to one of his clients’ websites. The most common searches leading people to the website were questions about pet health- in particular, questions about poop and what is normal vs. abnormal (think google searches like “yellow dog poop” or “clear jelly in dog poop”). A great place to start with blogging seems to be poo! Be sure when writing blogs to consider the terminologies that clients would use and keep the language simple!
You can find additional topic ideas here in the monthly blog (pick your favorite above and elaborate!) or take note of real questions or concerns brought up by your clients during appointments. Don’t have time for blogging? We can write original content curated especially for your clinic, drop me a line if you would like to talk about it!
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Toll-Free: 800-392-0446
Phone: 651-451-6669
customerservice@veterinaryha.org
