Our roles in practice are busy enough, so when you get handed access to the practice socials - what the heck do you do!?! 

Well, the first thing you should NOT do is panic! Let’s break it down for you and make creating content for your practice social media channels so easy.

Why is Marketing Important?

Now, I know you aren’t fluent in marketing jargon, and I don't want you to get bogged down with it. However, it is important to understand a few things about digital marketing, specifically the use of social media and the benefit it can have for your veterinary practice.  

For any business, social media platforms are the best way to advertise its services. Years ago, it would have been in the Yellow Pages, the local newspaper, etc. 

Now, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others in this area have become the most common way businesses market their services. 

But one question still remains, why social media? 

The Power of Social Media 

Because I know you are a knowledgeable bean who appreciates stats, here are some numbers to get your cogs turning:

• There were 66.33 million internet users in the United Kingdom at the start of 2024 (Kemp, 2024) 

• The UK was home to 56.20 million social media users in January 2024, equating to 82.8% of the total population - (Kemp, 2024) 

These figures might seem extremely overwhelming, but it’s important to be informed. This allows you to create the best plan possible, which makes it easy for you to keep showing up. 

With these stats in mind, let’s take a look at building a simple toolkit you can use for your veterinary practice social media. 

Pick your Poison (I mean platform) 

The most common platform you will find veterinary practices on will be Facebook through a Business Page or even a Facebook group. 

Other platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, can be used. Picking a platform will depend on multiple factors, including your target audience, the type of content you find easiest to create, and the results you want to see from social media use. 

Each platform has use cases and preferred content types, e.g. TikTok is based on short-form video (video clips less than 60 seconds). If you have inherited your practice social media and have limited experience with recording and editing videos, I recommend avoiding this type of content until you build your confidence. 

If you are more familiar with a particular platform, you are more likely to feel confident in the content you create and enjoy it more! 

Plan for Success 

When things are busy, one of the things that we can all fall back on is a plan. Whether that be cleaning matrices to make sure things aren’t missed—kit diagrams for new staff members' packing kits. 

The same principles can be applied to creating social media content. Whilst it does not have to be as detailed as SOPs for clinic (if you don’t want it to be), think of it as a bible or guide that you can follow and fall back on in times of high stress, limited time (basically most shifts), or for others to follow in your absence. 

#1 Time Audit 

I know this sounds super boring and something you would want to skip, but I promise that it will help you so much in the long run if you do it. 

I must admit I do not like the word "audit." It feels stuffy and eye-roll-inducing, but essentially, you are evaluating and calculating how much time it takes you to complete a set of tasks so you know, on average, how long it takes from coming up with ideas to scheduling/publishing a post. 

Having this information is excellent for when you have limited time and can only get small windows to complete x number of tasks. Or even if you know in advance that you have limited time coming up (staff leave, increased workload), you know how much time you need to complete everything.

That said, there will be times when you cannot do anything—this is okay! Make a promise to yourself that you won’t beat yourself up if you aren’t able to create any content. 

You can do this digitally with software like Toggl track or with the good old-fashioned pen and paper; it’s better to overestimate than undersell your time. 

#2 Batch your Tasks 

Whilst there might be times when you need to work one post at a time, the best way to stay efficient is to do something called batch-creating your content. This is basically where you group the same amount of tasks together and do them at the same time; this can look like:

• Researching content ideas 

  • Collecting information 

  • Looking for inspiration 

  • Finding quotes 

• Outlining posts 

  • Collating information researched 

  • Summarising posts 

  • Getting ideas down on paper 

• Creating graphics 

  • Using software like Canva 

• Creating Video content 

  • Scripting 

  • Recording 

  • Editing 

  • Thumbnail/Cover design 

  • Exporting and Scheduling

• Writing Captions 

  • Adding detail to posts 

  • Hashtags 

• Scheduling content 

#3 Create a Schedule 

Now that you know what you have to do on a weekly basis and how much time it takes you to complete these tasks, you can work out when you can get your content started! 

If you are able to get things done in one day that’s great - but you can also focus on one task at a time depending on how much content you want to try and produce in advance. 

You could spread your tasks over the week or get your planning done in one day and then create content the rest of the week, or spread your research over the week and then create content and write captions in a day. 

It is all down to personal preference and what you find the most enjoyable there is not a one size fits all strategy that works for everyone. 

Another thing that is SUPER important and not to forget is that you might have this perfect plan in place but remember that it may not always go the way you want it to - you also have to advocate for yourself and make sure that when you do have the opportunity to work on content that you protect that time and set boundaries to give you that time to focus. 

Research has shown that it can take up to 23 minutes to refocus your mind on a task if you are distracted which can accumulate and reduce your amount of time you have to create content. 

BONUS - Automation is your Friend! 

With the constant changes and demands required of us as creators, there is software and programs that can help save you time. An example of this would be scheduling software, which allows you to not only schedule posts in advance to save you posting them manually each time—but often, these software will also collate data and analytic metrics to help you track the success of your posts published. 

It may not just be the softwares that help you automate your process but also using content templates that you have created in the past that you can reuse and change slightly can help you in saving time as well. 

Progress over Perfection 

As with any skills you develop in life, you are never going to be perfect at something from the get go. 

When you started working in veterinary you did not have the same level of knowledge, confidence and skills as you do today - the same thing goes for being a content creator. 

You are not going to get it right away, you are going to create stuff that you aren’t 100% happy with but you need to keep showing up and posting the content anyway. Otherwise you are never going to learn! 

P.S. If you enjoyed this post and want to find a tribe of other creators waiting to cheer you on and support you in your journey - you can join my free facebook group the Veterinary Creator Network today! 

References: 

Kemp, S. (2024) Digital 2024: The United Kingdom - DataReportal – global digital insights, DataReportal. Available at: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-united-kingdom#:~:text=The%20state%20of%20digital%20in%20the%20United%20Kingdom%20in%202024&text=There%20were%2066.33%20million%20internet,percent%20of%20the%20total%20population.