Though numbers are growing, veterinary surgeons are still generally reluctant to embrace the social media phenomenon that is twitter. For those that do, there are certainly mistakes to be avoided if you wish to enjoy social media success.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is an Internet based social-networking site that allows you to create a personal profile and broadcast messages (posts) of 140 characters (or less) to the wider Internet world. In short it is a communications tool that is being used by more and more families, friends and businesses to stay in touch with people who matter.
When someone ‘follows’ me or I want to follow someone, I always look at their post history (called timeline) to see if they are worth my attention. There are a few types of tweet that, if someone publishes too much of, are a clear turnoff and I don’t follow them.
If your twitter followers have stalled then it’s worth checking if you are doing any of these things and potentially damaging your following.
Tweet Styles
Rather like a twitcher goes bird spotting, I’ve been ‘tweet-spotting’ to see what works and what doesn’t. So here’s a review of five styles of tweets found commonly on twitter, and why it will help your tweeting success if you use them sparingly.
Style 1: The Inane Brain
What: Posts about inner thoughts or stuff that is happening in your life that are just plain dull.
Example: ‘What a lovely day it is…think I’ll have cornflakes. YUM!’
My thoughts: Why would anyone actually care…even if you were someone I was interested in I wouldn’t care.
Effect if overused: You’ll appear to be a very, very dull person to follow, so guess what, no-one will.
Style 2: The Robo-Retweeter
What: This monotonous copycat only ever re-tweets other people’s messages.
Example: ‘RT @dave_nicol – read about dogs and cool stuff here http://13213xggh.ly’
My thoughts: I find Robo-Retweeters quite irritating and stop following them quickly as they clog up my timeline with too much junk.
That said, the ability to sparingly repost someone else’s content is great, I’ve read many useful articles I’d never have found without it. Plus retweeting someone else’s comment is a great way to compliment them – it says you liked their contribution and makes it more likely you’ll be able to build a relationship with them.
Just avoid being a Robo-Retweeter – you’ll just look like a giant, unoriginal signpost.
Style 3: The Happy Clapper
What: The only tweets are happy or uplifting quotes from famous people.
Example: ‘The greatest oak was once a little nut who held its ground’
My thoughts: Too much happy-clapper gives me reflux. Seriously, it does look a little like you take way too many happy pills. The odd inspirational quote can be very uplifting, but when you’ve got nothing else to say the effect (ironically) is you look quite unhappy. Not a great public ‘look’ for your veterinary business if you ask me.
Style 4: The Salesman
What: Promotional tweets about your company’s ‘great’ products or services.
Example: ‘Our awesome vaccines are only $25 today. Get in quick!’
My thoughts: There is no greater faux pas in social media than to constantly talk about your company’s ‘cool stuff’. Most people’s BS radar is highly tuned and will smell self-promoting statements a mile off.
The idea is to get other people to spread the word about your services and products for you, whether it is online or offline. And the trick to getting them to do this is really nothing new – be amazing at what you do! Then you’ll get people tweeting, face booking and telling all their friends at the dog-park about you, no problems.
Style 5: The Reply-Merchant
What: People who only seem to post replies to messages from others (that you can’t see).
Example: @nonsensetweeter - Hey that’s great, see you at 8pm. 
My thoughts: When people start messaging you on twitter it’s good form to reply. You are, after all, trying to build relationships. Genuine, honest conversations are what allow you do this.
However there is something narcissistically rewarding about people interacting with you on twitter, it makes you look and feel popular. Which is exactly the problem, because when you fall into the trap of publishing too many one-sided replies then your timeline can start to look like a weird, disjointed code. Utterly meaningless to the majority of people.
Just think how annoying is it to only hear one side of a conversation?
Though there are reasons to have open conversations on twitter, do so sparingly. It is often better to use the private Direct Message function (which only posts to the intended recipient) and keep these conversations behind closed doors. This might be a good idea for privacy reasons as well.
In Summary
There is no doubt that twitter is a versatile tool that allows businesses to have a more human interaction with existing and potential customers. The challenge, as more and more veterinary clinics wake up to this opportunity, is to keep our online conversations as interesting and relevant to our audience as those we have offline.
It is wise to mix up the various styles and don’t be afraid to inject a large dose of personality. In this way, practices engaging with their customers using social media can expect to enjoy significantly improved client relationships.
Blatant and Utterly Unrepentant Plug
If you want to learn much more about how to use twitter and all other forms of digital marketing to boost your veterinary practice then you can read a copy of my eBook, The Yellow Pages Are Dead – Marketing your veterinary clinic in the digital age, directly from my website here (International). Or you can grab a copy for your Kindle from amazon.com (US readers) or amazon.co.uk (UK).
