Category: Veterinary Marketing Tips

Sometimes seeing an example of the power of social media is the best way to understand its importance to your veterinary hospital, your clients, and your patients.

Take the story of this lost Pointer that was found in Las Vegas, Nevada. The dog, who is blind and hard of hearing, was found disoriented in the middle of an intersection. Luckily, a local pet owner managed to safely remove the dog and care for her while the search for the owners began.

The thoughtful pet owner posted a picture of the lost dog on one of our client’s facebook pages, a decision that would ultimately pay off! Over 300 shares and 30 comments later, the dog’s owner was found! There was a great response from community members who spread the information or simply expressed their support for everyone trying to bring the lost dog home.

And at the end of the day, a lost dog was reunited with her family! The post reached over 17, 000 people.

This is a perfect example of how social media can affect your clinic and your clients in a direct, real way. The unique way that information can be dispersed by social media enhances your client’s experience with their veterinarian by opening up the lines of communication like never before.

The applications go far beyond lost pets, think about the new ways in which client education is completely changed! Social media is a tool that can strengthen communities and bring people together over a common idea. That is something that all veterinary clinics can use not only to improve their business, but to provide better service to their clients.

Click here to view the original post about the lost dog who was brought home by a veterinary hospital harnessing the power of social media, or call us today at 1-800-605-6987 to learn more about how Doctor Multimedia can help improve your social media pages.

Most veterinarians I know are not very fond of the review website Yelp because of its bizarre filter that often favors displaying negative reviews over positive ones.

Now a federal appeals court has ruled that Yelp can lower or raise the rating of a business depending on whether it advertises with the company. This was in response to a lawsuit filed by small businesses claiming Yelp used the tactic to try to extort ads from them.

Yelp has denied doing that but the court ruled that even if Yelp did manipulate reviews, the practice would be legal.

“The business owners may deem the posting or order of user reviews as a threat of economic harm, but it is not unlawful for Yelp to post and sequence the reviews,” Judge Marsha Berzon wrote for the three-judge panel. “As Yelp has the right to charge for legitimate advertising services, the threat of economic harm that Yelp leveraged is, at most, hard bargaining.”

When I first heard of the ruling I was appalled for our clients but at least this ruling makes the playing field clearer.

So should your veterinary hospital advertise on Yelp? There is no blanket answer to that question because that has to be evaluated on a clinic to clinic basis. How active your clients are on Yelp, local competition and overall Yelp rating are all factors to be considered. Analyzing how the Yelp review algorithm filters your clinic online is also essential in determining whether your clinic should advertise with Yelp.

And that’s where Doctor Multimedia comes in. Call us today at 1-800-605-6987 or email aj@doctormultimedia.com and let us help you determine if Yelp could be beneficial to your clinics marketing strategy.