Why being reactive to national news pays for vets
Animal owners are passionate about their pets – so when a news story about pet welfare breaks in national media it generates interest and concern. Such events are an opportunity for vets to join the story as a reassuring local voice and, by reacting fast, individual practices come across as relevant and on the ball.
There have been two examples so far in 2016:
January: BVA warns dog owners not to throw sticks for their pets
September: One in three dogs in the UK found with ticks
In both cases Connected Vet identified the stories as opportunities for our vets as both had significance for a population collectively owning 8.5 million dogs. Within a few hours of the reports, our vets had a news story on their website and their clients were notified of our vets’ stories by social media and later email.
The news stories we crafted offered clients…
- Essential tips, from their vet, for dealing with the animal welfare issues
- A strong call to action to visit the practice for practical help
- Downloadable step-by-step guides
- FAQs
The results
Outputs:
- Each of our vet practices appears proactive and responsive, with news published within 12-24 hours of the national story breaking.
- Increases in social media engagement, attracting peaks of shares, likes and peer tags.
- Further promotion of issues and solutions via the CV email newsletters.
Outcomes:
- Many of our vets had around 50 page views within the first 12 hours.
- 10% of users downloaded the step-by-step guide within the first 12 hours.
- Clients engaged with the post on social media, producing an average of 400 views per vet per post.
- There was an anecdotal increase in client visits to our vets.