Do you write a veterinary blog (or would like to) but no one seems to read it?
Congratulations! You’ve written a blog post (or maybe more than one) and now you can sit back and wait for the views, comments and questions to come flooding in. And maybe if you’ve chosen a great title, the content is particularly popular and the planets are correctly aligned then just maybe that’s exactly what might happen. Or maybe not….
Build it and they will come?
Unfortunately, for most blog posts it’s not a case of ‘build it and they will come’. Most of the time, your intended audience is not going to know your brilliant blog post has been published, let alone read it. Somehow you need to need to let people know your post exists before any of the other magic can happen – which is where social media can be a big help.
Vetanswers publishes a lot of blog posts (over 500 so far) and over time I’ve set up a process to help all of our posts get seen and read by as many members of our Community as possible.
Images are essential
Before you think about sharing your blog post online you’ll need to ensure it includes at least one image. Blog posts with an image are far more likely to be clicked on when shared on social media and are also far more likely to be shared with others. If you have trouble finding the right images to suit your posts you might find this Vetanswers Blog Post useful: My favourite Free Stock Photo Websites.
What can make your life easier?
One thing to consider is that different social media platforms require different sized images to look best which is where one of my favourite tools can help to make your life easier.
Canva is a graphic design tool website that is brilliant for non-graphic designers and I regularly use it to design or brand the images I use in the Vetanswers blog posts. One of the features available in the Canva for Work paid plan allows you to ‘magically resize your design’ and even offers a list of social media accounts for you to select. The list isn’t exhaustive but it’s a good start. Once you have resized your images to suit the various social media platforms you’ll need to tweak your design slightly but it’s still easier than starting from scratch each time! This feature is not available in the free Canva account but you can click here if you’d like to sign up for the ‘Canva for Work Trial’ (no affiliate program for me unfortunately!).
Scheduling your posts
I regularly schedule posts across all of Vetanswers’ social media accounts as it allows me to choose the best time for the posts to appear and best of all I can plan and set them up in advance.
One more thing before I start.
As Vetanswers is an online community, we’re active on quite a few social media platforms. Partly because that’s the nature of an online community and also because it allows me to try them all but I’m not suggesting that you should be on all of the platforms I use.
What platforms should you be on?
The best social media platforms for your business depend on where your clients are. And the best way to find out where your clients are is to ask them! How to ask them where they spend their time online is probably a good topic for another blog post but if you’re a veterinary practice then you should definitely have a Facebook Business Page and Instagram Business Page as a minimum.
If you’re a veterinary supplier you might also want to include a LinkedIn Business Page.
Sharing your veterinary blog posts
When I write a blog post it’s initially published on the Vetanswers Blog and then shared on the following platforms:
- Vetanswers weekly ‘Veterinary Community Connection eNews’ (if you’d like to receive our free and extremely awesome eNews in your inbox every Friday morning, subscribe via the box on the right-hand side of this page)
- Vetanswers Facebook Page
- Twitter
- Pinterest: Veterinary Blog Posts and Resources
- Vetanswers LinkedIn Company Page
- Instagram: Vetanswers Community
Yep – it takes me a while to set this up every week – especially if I’ve published a couple of blog posts but I do have a system to keep track of everything.
As I share a LOT of information on a variety of social media pages, I generally choose a day and a time that I’ll share a specific blog post across all social media. I’ve also found posting around 5pm to 6pm Tuesday to Friday works best for Vetanswers Blog Posts but you’ll need to refer to your social media statistics to work out the best times for you e.g. Facebook Page Insights
Don’t have a blog but would really like to start somewhere?
If you’ve got this far but you’re thinking “Hmm I’d really like to start writing a blog post but don’t have the time to look into setting one up” or you just have no idea where to start – no problems! You could always start by writing something for Vetanswers to publish. It could be aimed at our veterinary community – blog posts written by those that work in veterinary practices are always popular. Or you could write something aimed at your clients and then once it’s published you can then share the link online.
Either way – it’s a start!
You can click here to find out more on our ‘Guidelines for Guest Bloggers’ page or you can click here to email me directly if you would like to know more.
Any questions or comments? Add them to the Comments section.
