5 Signs It's Time to Outsource Your Veterinary Social Media Management

For veterinary practice owners, leveraging the power of social media is not just about showcasing your cutest patients or sharing what your staff are up to in the office this week – it's a strategic move to attract new clients, engage existing ones, and foster education and connection in the local community. However, managing social media effectively requires time, expertise, and a deep understanding not only of the veterinary industry but also of individual platform best practices, trends, and algorithm functions.

The technical knowledge and expertise needed to run a veterinary social media account effectively can be a major challenge for most veterinarians, especially if they're looking to grow their practice and tap into new audience markets. In cases like this, bringing in an outside team of experts to manage your social media activities can be incredibly beneficial for not only enhancing a practice's online presence, but also giving practice owners back the time they need to do their actual job – providing exceptional animal care.

How Does Outsourcing Social Media Management Work?

Outsourced social media management involves hiring external experts or agencies to handle the planning, execution, and monitoring of your social media activities. This can be a game-changer for veterinary practice owners who are looking to enhance their online presence but lack the time, expertise, or resources to manage it effectively themselves.

One of the most appealing aspects of outsourcing your social media management is that it allows you to focus on what you do best – providing top-notch veterinary care – while experts handle the digital storytelling and engagement on your behalf. While you'll be a key collaborator, often providing approvals on posts and sharing insights from what you're seeing in your exam rooms, you'll be able to step away from the nitty-gritty details of social content creation and trust that your profiles are safe in the hands of trusted experts.

Outsourcing your social media management is a big decision, and it may not be the right move for every individual practice. If you're thinking about outsourcing your veterinary social media management, you'll want to consider your:

• Budget
• Goals
• Immediate Needs
• Ability to Collaborate

In addition to these considerations, there are also a few common signs that indicate that your practice could greatly benefit from a little additional help and expertise when it comes to social strategy, publishing, and analytics. Let's dive into each of these and determine if it's time for your practice to consider working with a team of veterinary social media marketers.

5 Signs Outsourcing Social Media May Be Right For Your Practice

1. You Have Limited Time

Let's start with the most common hurdle veterinarians face when running their own social media profiles: lack of time. Being a veterinary practice owner is more than a full-time job. When you're seeing patients, marketing your practice, managing staff, and handling finances by yourself, chances are you're in an "always on" state and thinking about your practice even when you're technically off the clock.  

When you're hyperfocused on giving patients quality care and making sure your staff is well supported, what you're going to post on Facebook or Instagram this week is probably the last thing on your mind. This lack of time can hinder your ability to consistently create and share engaging content across all of your social media channels, ultimately hurting your online social presence.

The algorithms on popular social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter favor creators who are able to post high-quality, original content multiple times per week, so consistency is key when it comes to social media success. Irregular posting and sporadic engagement with your audience can lead to a decline in your online visibility and decrease the percentage of your followers who are actually seeing your posts. If you find yourself struggling to maintain a regular posting schedule or responding promptly to comments and messages, it's a clear sign that your social media management needs a boost.

Outsourcing to a team of professionals specializing in veterinary social media can ensure a consistent and engaging online presence. Outside teams will analyze your audience, practice values, and branding to develop a comprehensive content calendar, schedule posts strategically at times when your audience is most active, and some teams will even offer services for community management, where they'll interact with your audience in real-time, enhancing your practice's visibility and credibility. When you're in need of more time and resources to devote to your practice, outsourcing social media management becomes a smart investment.

2. You Aren’t Too Tech or Social Media Savvy

There's a distinct difference in the skills needed to perform veterinary surgery and the skills needed to film and edit TikToks, and it's okay to admit that one of those isn't your strong suit. Best practices and algorithm preferences on social media platforms are constantly evolving, and it takes quite a bit of research and social listening to understand how these changes affect the veterinary industry and how they translate into quality social posts. 

As a veterinarian, you likely have high digital literacy skills, meaning you're able to "identify and use technology confidently, creatively and critically to meet the demands and challenges of life, learning, and work in a digital society," according to research from Deakin University. However, being tech savvy isn't quite the same and could limit your effectiveness when it comes to staying on top of the latest trends on Instagram Reels or how businesses are sharing information on Reddit. 

By working with an outside team, you can tap into experience and social listening skills to stay on top of whatever trends and news your audience actually wants to see on their social dashboards.  

3. Your Audience Isn’t Growing or Engaging

One of the main reasons veterinarians engage in organic social media marketing is to increase their brand visibility and awareness within their local community of pet owners. With this goal in mind, follower growth is more often than not a top priority and key performance indicator (KPI). 

However, continuously growing your follower count and overall social audience isn't as easy as just setting up a profile and posting every now and again. A stagnant or slow growth rate in your social media followers could indicate that your current approach to posting content and engaging with your audience needs a refresh or even a total overhaul. Outsourcing social media management to experts who understand the nuances of both veterinary marketing and social media marketing can help accelerate this growth by tapping into online trends and utilizing targeted strategies, like hashtag optimization or collaboration with local influencers. 

4. You Don’t Have a Comprehensive Strategy

Great veterinary social media content is a lot more involved than just sharing cute pet pictures every few weeks (although, don't underestimate the power of adorable animals!). Strategically planned content is essential to engage your audience, educate pet owners, and showcase your expertise in veterinary care. Your social media strategy should be deeply intertwined with every other aspect of your digital marketing efforts, and your social profiles create the perfect opportunity to enhance or promote other marketing campaigns or initiatives. For example, if you're investing the time to publish veterinary blogs on your website, you're likely reaping SEO benefits, but you could be missing out on a ton of web traffic if you're not sharing those same blogs and their insights on social media. 

If your social media posts lack a cohesive strategy or fail to convey your practice's unique selling points, it's time to consider outsourcing to a team that can better help you articulate what makes your practice exceptional and convey those points through copy, graphics, and videos.

Veterinary social media experts can develop content that aligns with your practice's goals, whether it's promoting preventative care, sharing success stories, or highlighting community involvement. They can employ comprehensive strategies that ensure all of your digital marketing efforts are working in tandem to accomplish the goals that matter most for your unique practice. 

5. Analytics Aren’t Your Strong-Suit

While many practice owners think of social media management ending after you've hit "publish" and have posts live on your profile, there's actually a lot more work to be done behind the scenes in each platform's analytics suite. Regularly monitoring performance and analyzing data to refine strategies and determine future experimentation and testing is the backbone of effective social media management. If you find yourself overlooking analytics or struggling to understand the metrics that matter or even how to navigate analytics platforms, it's a clear indication that your social media efforts could benefit from professional oversight.

Outsourcing your social media management to a team experienced in veterinary marketing ensures that your online activities are closely monitored and that results and analytics are heavily considered and incorporated into your social strategy moving forward. Third-party experts can interpret analytics, identify trends, and adjust strategies accordingly, maximizing the impact of your social media presence and giving you the greatest ROI in terms of both time and money. 

Get Complete Social Media Management with GeniusVets

Recognizing the signs that it's time to outsource your social media management is the first step toward unlocking the full potential of your online presence. By investing in professional support, veterinary practice owners can reclaim their time, elevate their content strategy, and connect with their community on a deeper level. So, if you're ready to take your veterinary social media game to the next level, consider outsourcing – because a well-managed online presence is the purr-fect prescription for success in today's digital age.

Ready to get started? Schedule a Consultation today to see how the GeniusVets team can lead you to social media success.