Spring Into April With These Awesome Ideas For Your Clinic’s Social Media
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Laura Bush
- Marketing, Social Media
Laura Bush
Officially moving into Spring puts some pep in my step and a song in my heart! If you are like me, this time of renewal really kick-starts creativity and helps to drive you towards accomplishing great things! April is slammed packed with tons of great opportunities to educate, entertain, and engage with your clients through social media, so here is what is coming up:
Start April off with a preventative reminder! If you plan to tie in April Fools, remember to keep it lighthearted, and easy to understand to not cause confusion among pet owners!
Pooper Scooper Week (April 1st – 7th), is a personal favorite of mine! This is a great time to make a punny infographic highlighting all of the reasons pet owners need to make sure they are scooping the poop! Be sure to include ecological reasons, health reasons, and social etiquette. Depending on your audience, you could have some fun with a request for followers to share a photo of their pet’s “pooping face”!
Hug Your Dog Day is on April 10th! While not always their favorite activity, most dogs will tolerate our weird human behaviors like giving a little hug. Today would be an awesome day to feature your team giving all of your canine patients a little hug or high-five today!
Celebrate Shelter Pets Day on April 10th is an awesome opportunity to ask your clients to share their shelter pet stories! Those who choose to adopt their pets tend to be very passionate about the adoption route, and will be eager to tell the story of their pet and shout out the shelter or rescue that hooked them up with their best buddy! If you have a rescue or shelter you work with, or simply want to do a little promotion for your local shelter, feature some adoptable pets in your stories!
Wish your clients a “Hoppy Easter!” on April 17th! If you see rabbits, Easter would be a great time to feature them! If you don’t, a pair of bunny ears on a headband could be a fun way to celebrate with patients leading up to Easter, or feature some recent patients will bunny ears added in post-production through Canva (This could also be fun for featuring those photos shared of pets with their “pooping face” by adding bunny ears to them!)
Earth Day is on April 22nd and is often a time when people take time to stop and think about how they could treat our planet better. Our pets and their products have quite an impact on the planet and as we contemplate our own carbon footprints, show owners how they can help with their pets’ carbon pawprint! Even small acts like always picking up the poop to protect soil health and water quality, to opting for a recycled material bed next time Fluffy needs hers replaced, there are plenty of great options to consider!
Pet Parents Day is April 24th! Typically, we are celebrating pets on social media, but today it is all about those wonderful PAWrents! Your clients are #1 Pet Parents because they choose your clinic for their furry babies. Today is an excellent day to ask pet parents to share their FURmily photos!
Almost every cat owner has been woken up in the middle of the night as their cat hacks up a hairball that hits the floor with that awful splat. Because it is a problem that most cat owners have experienced, Hairball Awareness Day on April 29th is a good time to talk about how to help mitigate hairballs, how many are a cause for concern, and why they occur!
You and your team are real-life superheroes, and you should take any and every opportunity to celebrate the amazing sacrifices you have made to care for animals! World Veterinary Day on April 30th is the perfect opportunity to celebrate! Make a list of questions like “Why did you choose the veterinary field?” and “What do you love the most about working with animals?” and have members of your staff answer those questions to feature on stories! Client’s love knowing that you are just passionate about their pet’s health as they are!
There are lots of monthly observances to sprinkle into your calendar! Here are my suggestions:
Heartworm Awareness Month: Clients know that heartworm protection is essential, but do they actually understand how it’s transmitted, the symptoms, the repercussions of untreated heartworm, and the treatment process? Helping clients to better understand the disease can lead to better compliance! Try your hand at making an informational video, or compile some frequently asked heartworm questions that you get in the clinic and address them.
Pet First Aid Month: Make a series about providing standard first aid. Pick some common situations like split or cut too short nails, small scrapes or cuts, cracked paw pads, or limping and how pet owners should proceed. You can take this a step further by talking about what to do if a pet has a seizure, what to include in a pet first aid kit, choking situations, mouth-snout resuscitation, chest compressions, etc.
Prevent Lyme Disease in Dogs Month: If you live in an area with high cases of Lyme, give your clients more information about your recommendations for Lyme prevention. Talk about risk factors like lifestyle (hi hello yes, it’s me- Rosie is an avid hiker and camper in Minnesota so we go with the vaccine!) You can also talk about tick removal, local tick identification, and what procedures you recommend for clients when they find a tick on their pet! One of my favorite resources is the Companion Animal Parasite Council’s interactive map! Share it with your clients to show them what Lyme (and Heartworm!) statistics look like in your area.
There is A LOT to cover in the month of April! If you’re feeling stressed about creating and finding resources for the month, we hope you will consider our Monthly Social Media Package. You don’t have to be a VHA member to take advantage of this awesome deal, and the feedback we have received from those who purchased last month has been amazing. One clinic even reported an over 90% increase in engagement on their Facebook page! I put a lot of care, consideration, and thought into creating this package and I know you and your clients will love it as much as I do.
On the menu for this month is:
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