References
Social media as a tool for improving client communication
Abstract
Aim:
To gain an insight into why clients use social media to connect with their veterinary practice and what practices can do to make their social media sites as engaging as possible for their clients.
Method:
This study, carried out as a final year research project at the University of Bristol, used a questionnaire to approach pet owners on web forums. This was used to establish client opinions on social media use by veterinary practices and what clients require from their veterinary practice when using social media.
Results:
This study identified a set of clients who were generally positive towards social media use and were keen to interact with their veterinary practice using social media. These clients had a particular interest in practice news and a clear view of how they expected their practice to use social media. The data obtained from this study were used to recommend ways in which practices can develop their social media strategy to best suit clients' needs.
Over the last 2 years, social media has risen to be the most popular activity on the internet (Tassava, 2011a). Morton (2012) believes that social media allows a practice to ‘maintain a dialogue with clients on a wider scale than ever before’. This can be used to the advantage of a veterinary practice, because it enables the gathering of useful information and may also serve to increase client bonding at the same time (Beesley, 2010).
Warren (2012) states that the average number of ‘online conversations’ per month relating to pets and veterinarians is 256 000. It is vitally important that veterinary practices become a part of this conversation. According to Gavzer (2012) social media is a ‘pull’ medium, one where clients actively find and share content of interest to them. Gavzer concludes that the goal of using social media therefore, is to attract clients to read your message and encourage them to pass it on. Using this ‘conversation marketing’ (Beesley, 2010) trust can be built up with clients to increase bonding.
Register now to continue reading
Thank you for visiting The Veterinary Nurse and reading some of our peer-reviewed content for veterinary professionals. To continue reading this article, please register today.