Archive for the ‘Social Media Marketing’ Category

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Content – Treat It Like Royalty

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

Yawn—content is so boring, right? Why should we care about content? Throw a few words up on the page, call it good, and move on. Hold on! Not so fast. Content is the star player in any online marketing program. Key functions of content are:

  1. Search Engine Optimization Placement: Content plays a major role in how/where your website is placed on Google. In February 2011, Google made a change to its algorithm, emphasizing high-quality content as a key search engine optimization requirement. This change was called Panda. Bottom line—template content is out and original content is now “in.” (For tips about search engine optimization and content, please visit www.beyondindigopets.com/blog/.
  2. Education: As consumers, we know about cars, food products, cleaning products, and beer because of the amount of advertising we have seen on these subjects. However, we know minuscule amounts of information about veterinary health care and why we should pay for it. We just know as pet owners that we “sorta need it.” The job of content is to educate people about what the service is, why their pet needs it, and, frankly, why people should pay to have that service conducted.
  3. Engagement: If the content on your Internet marketing platforms is stale, boring, flat, and so on, then why should the consumer read it? The content needs to be written correctly in the proper style for the platform (website, Facebook, blogs, Twitter, Pinterest, eNewsletter, YouTube, newsletters, and so on) where it is placed, and it needs to ENGAGE the reader. If the content is not compelling, why should the consumer read it and, more importantly, why should they come back?

Placement for Engagement

Multiple times I have been asked: “Can I write the content once and copy and paste it across all my platforms?” No. Resist this urge to write material once, check the box, and just plaster it out there willy-nilly. You will lose your audience. Each platform has its own style and guidelines for the way content should be displayed, the length, and the tone of how it is delivered. Sure, the message across all the platforms can and should be the same, but the exact content in each place needs to be avoided. General guidelines are as follows:

  1. Online Review Areas: Everywhere people can leave you reviews online must be managed and monitored. The content on these pages needs to be accurate and updated on a regular basis. Once a review is left, then a thank you note needs to be given for positive reviews and an educational note placed for a crabby review. Each thank you/educational note needs to be unique to the post and should not be a standard reply.
  2. Website: Most veterinarian websites I see fall down on the job when explaining the services they offer and why people should use them. Website content needs to be 400 to 500 words per page, needs to educate the pet owner on what the hospital does and why they provide those services, and it needs to be optimized (coded) to be found in Google. The content style needs to be informative and educational in nature. Because protocols do not change every week in the hospital, do not expect to change content about what services you provide on a constant basis. Instead, a blog should be used for weekly educational updates. 
  3. Blog: Confusion reigns over what in the heck a blog is. Think of it as an online magazine that is educational in nature. Resist putting cute updates about the office pet on a blog (those type of updates go on Facebook/social media). Focus on short paragraphs, bullet points, and easy to understand educational topics that are timely. For example, in the spring a good topic would be flea, tick, and heartworm prevention.
  4. Social Media Platforms: A good framework for the tone and style of social media is a coffee shop. Conversations on social media areas are fun, chit chatty, ongoing conversations with a hint of education thrown in for flavor. Numerous times I have heard doctors say they wrote a beautiful article that is educational in nature and are disappointment nobody thought it was useful on Facebook. However, the picture of the office cat doing something cute went viral. The educational piece is great but needs to be placed on a blog. Correct placement is everything with content. (For tips on content for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+, check our blog each week during the month of May at www.beyondindigopets.com/blog/).

Monitor Its Success

Marketing needs to be monitored to make sure it is generating the results that are desired. Are people engaging with the content? Are they reading it? Is the post/page/tweet being passed to other people? To find out, monitor the statistics. Each platform mentioned above has its own statistics program that is included or can be added to determine the success of the created content. Monitoring, adjusting, and changing the content based on results is an ongoing process—but a necessary one.

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Posted in Blogging, Content, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Veterinary Marketing | Comments Off

Writing Effectively for Social Media Platforms

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Social Media ContentWriting for Facebook and Twitter is not the same as writing for your website or blog. If you are using the same writing style in all places you may notice that your engagement rates are not where you had hoped they would be. That’s because you’re not talking to people in the appropriate voice for the channel that you’re using.

Writing for Facebook

Facebook no longer imposes a character limit on their status updates, at least not one that anyone is ever likely to hit, but that doesn’t mean you should start using your status updates as your new blog space. The most engaging Facebook posts are under 80 characters – that’s even shorter than uber-limited 140-characters that Twitter allows you! Does this mean you have to keep your posts to 80 characters or less? No, of course not. But it does serve as a reminder as to what people are looking for on Facebook.

First and foremost, people are looking for “you” on Facebook. They want to know that the pages they’re interacting with are run by real people with real personalities. Work hard to avoid being overly stuffy or formal. Facebook is a fun, informal, and conversational platform, and that’s how people expect you to act. That’s not to say you should be unprofessional, but it is possible to be professional and fun at the same time.

So what should you be writing on Facebook? A good start is asking questions to spark dialogue. Posts that contain questions generate twice as many comments as posts that do not.

Along the same lines as question posts are Fill in the Blanks. Both types of updates are asking your followers to provide information. The first is by directly asking for it. The second is more playful. You might post, “I can’t believe my dog ate my ______” and then sit back and see what your fans come up with.

When creating a standard status update it’s best to keep it to no more than 4 lines, and 1-2 is better. People will be seeing your updates in the news feed on their home pages more often than they’ll see them on your Timeline. It’s helpful to keep them short enough that people will be able to see the entire update without having to click the “more” link to reveal the whole thing.

Be sure to stay positive whenever possible as well. Phrase your updates in a way that will make them “like”-able. There is no dislike button yet, so even if people agree with what you’re saying, they will likely not intereact with the post if it is written in a more negative tone.

Finally, keep in mind that not all of your content needs to be unique. Include links to photos, articles, and videos that your fans might want to share with their friends. If you see a photo or video that you think is funny, or an article that you think is interesting, chances are your fans will feel the same way about it. Share it on your page and give them the chance to do the same.

Writing for Twitter

Twitter has become the place for sharing links to great content. But, what you share on Twitter is not just about the value of the content that you’re sharing, but whether or not your tweets are getting noticed in the first place. So what gets a tweet noticed? A really great headline.

There is an old rule about headlines called the 80/20 rule. This rule says that 8 out of 10 people will read a headline, but only 2 out of 10 will actually go on to read the content that the headline is describing. This rule applies to traditional headline environments like newspapers, magazines, and web pages. Once you move to email inboxes and Twitter feeds, the numbers get even worse due to the amount of competing headlines and the nature of the environment.

So how do you make sure your headlines are getting noticed and your content is getting clicked on? A good way to make sure your headlines offer a compelling reward to those who click them is by using the 4U approach which is taught in the American Writers & Artists accelerated copywriting  program.

  1. Be USEFUL to the reader
  2. Provide the reader with a sense of URGENCY
  3. Convey the idea that the content is UNIQUE
  4. Do the above in an ULTRA-SPECIFIC way

It’s also important to ensure that your headlines are as short as possible. This is not only because of Twitter’s 140-character limit, but also because you want to leave room for people to retweet your content with their own comments.

To learn more come to our webinar Social Media Content IS Different: What to Know.

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Posted in Digital Marketing, Facebook, Social Media Marketing | Comments Off

Facebook Timeline for Business Pages: What does it mean for your brand?

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

TimelineFacebook is making a major change to brand pages with the introduction of Timeline for Pages. The new layout is available immediately to all businesses with Pages on Facebook, but there is no need to rush in just yet. You have some time to preview and make edits to your Timeline to make sure you get it looking just right before you publish. Then on March 30, all brand pages will automatically be published as Timelines.

On its surface, Timeline is a new, more image-centered look. But one of the best features is that it allows you to backfill your Timeline with earlier events, so you can easily tell the story of your business online. It’s like a virtual online scrapbook for your business.

Five changes to look for:

  1. Your page will look very different. Your cover image will be front and center, like a billboard for your business. It’s a great place for promotions, or to tie in your website. If you don’t add one, you’ll just have a blank space, so take advantage of this new opportunity.
  2. Profile pictures dimensions will change to be smaller and perfectly square. Make sure yours looks great.
  3. You can “pin” a post to the top of the timeline which allows you to highlight a special event, a coupon or a contest.
  4. Custom landing pages will disappear and everyone will be directed to your wall. This may change the way you market your page.
  5. Your fans can contact you directly. Now people can contact you privately using messages rather than having to post on your wall. Notifications about new messages will appear right in your admin panel.

Join Beyond Indigo’s Social Media Specialist, Melanie Burger, for our customer-only webinar on Friday, March 16, 2012. You will learn the ins and outs of the new Timeline layout including all of these new features and many more. The transition to Timeline doesn’t have to be painful. Let us help you through it.

No time for your Timeline?

Let us do the work for you! For only $299, we’ll make sure your Timeline looks great. We’ll adjust your logos, create a great cover photo and make sure all of your tabs and custom features are in place for the switch. Already a Beyond Indigo customer? Bonus! We’ll do yours for $199. Contact Melissa Neff at melissa@beyondindigo.com or 877-244-9322 x 100 for more information.

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Posted in Digital Marketing, Facebook, Marketing, Social media, Social Media Marketing, Veterinary Marketing | Comments Off

Social Media Pitfalls to Avoid

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Like us on FacebookMany people don’t start a social media campaign for their business because they don’t even know what NOT to do. We are here to help. As long as some of these basic rules are followed, you should be “safe” to venture out into the world of social media.

  1.  Don’t ignore your fans. If you’ve set up a Facebook page, Twitter, or Google+, be sure to check it daily so that you can respond to any fan questions or comments that may have been left there.
  2.  Keep the negative. If someone says something negative, don’t delete it. Doing so will sometimes prompt the person to come back onto your page and complain about it, which never looks good to other fans. It is possible to “hide” posts rather than deleting them, which is preferable but should still be used sparingly.
  3.  Don’t panic. Remember that the majority of the people who are on your page are fans because they like you. Most of them have already formed their own opinions of you based on their own personal interactions, and a stranger’s negative comment on your Facebook page will not likely be enough to sway them.
  4. Use negative interactions as an opportunity. Keep in mind that if someone has something negative to say about you, they will say it. By having a Facebook page, you’re providing them with a way to say it directly to you, in an area where you can listen and respond, rather than somewhere else where you may never even know about it.
  5.  Don’t feel like you need to be perfect. If you or a member of your staff messed up, apologize. People are human and they make mistakes. A sincere apology can diffuse a bad situation pretty quickly. If no one messed up but the customer is upset anyway, you can still apologize for the situation, but then offer your side of the story.
  6.  Keep content focused on the business. With this being an election year, it is important to keep the content of your social media focused on the topics that relate to veterinary medicine—and not politics and religion. Discussing content that is not related to your Facebook page can confuse people and turn them away from reading future posts.
  7. Seek professional help. When creating your social media marketing, if an overwhelming feeling descends, it is time to throw up the white flag and call in professional help. Seek out a company to either create your platforms or manage them—or both. If you just need a little help, check into online classes to teach you or your team the basics of social media.

Having your business on a social media platform used to be a fun thing to do for your practice. Today, it is a must have. How your business is found in search engines and where people are searching and engaging are now intertwined with social media. Make a commitment to yourself to get started. Give us a call, we can help!

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Posted in Digital Marketing, Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Social media, Social Media Marketing, Veterinary Marketing | Comments Off

5 Reasons Why Facebook is NOT a Replacement for Your Website

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Facebook or Website?We’ve heard several clients ask us in recent months, “Why do I even need a website anymore? Can’t I just use my Facebook page?” While this may seem like a logical thought on the surface, when you dig down into what this will mean for your business’s online presence you’ll realize that Facebook alone is not enough.

First, let’s take a look at why some people may think that a Facebook-only approach is the way to go:

  • Facebook does have more than 845 million active users as of this month. By putting your page within the realm of this monster of a network, it follows that you may be more likely to gain some traffic, which will then build on itself as people ‘like’ your page.
  • It’s also very true that Facebook is a great place to start building your identity if you need to have something up and running while you’re website is in the works. Having an identity on Facebook as well as Twitter, Google+, and any of the other Social Media sites that are out there today does increase the SEO of your website and will help people to find your business. Though ‘OF YOUR WEBSITE’ is really the operative phrase there. If you don’t have a website, then your business could be on the cutting edge of all of the Social Media sites and still not see any SEO benefit.
  • Facebook pages are also much easier to maintain than a website. Clicking the ‘edit page’ button on your page will allow you to change anything and everything that you could want to change. Everything is presented as WYSIWYG, or ‘What You See Is What You Get,’ so there is no confusing code to contend with. It’s simple.

So Facebook is good, right? Absolutely! Facebook is a wonderful tool to have in your online marketing toolbox. However, making it your only tool is a really bad idea. Why? Keep reading…

  1. We’ve already mentioned SEO, but I want to expand on what was said a little bit. It is true that your Facebook page may turn up in some search results, but only if a user is searching for your business name. If you are the type of business that relies on keyword searches to find new clients, and as a veterinarian you are, then you will likely not be found without a website. Why? Because on your website you control what search terms and keywords will help people to find your page. Your website content can (and should!) be written with search engines in mind. Your Facebook page, on the other hand, can not be as easily optimized. Your search results are at the mercy of Facebook.
  2. Functionality is another problem with Facebook. Sure, Facebook will allow you to add tabs, photos, and video to your page. You can post content to your wall, or use the Notes app to create a mini-blog within Facebook. The drawback is that Facebook decides how all of these things will be displayed once you’ve posted them. You have very little control over the look and feel of your page. Yes, you can design 3rd party tabs to install onto your page to help reflect your brand, but those tabs all need to meet Facebook’s requirements. And if, as it has recently with FBML Tabs, Facebook decides to no longer support a format that you’ve installed on your page, you will lose all of work that you put into it.
  3. Now let’s talk about analytics. You can add Google Analytics to your website and get a wealth of information about the visitors to your site. How many visits have you gotten? What page has the most views? What links get clicked the most? Which pages tend to lead people into your online store to make purchases? Age, gender, location, what browser they’re using, what search term they used to find you, how long they stayed on each page… The list goes on and on. Facebook has a similar offering with its Insights tool, which has generally improved in recent months, however it is still nowhere near as robust as the options that you have to track site traffic and conversion rates on your own website.
  4. On to paid advertising. Your website provides your customers and potential customers a place to learn all about you without being distracted by paid advertisements. And if you do choose to allow advertisements on your website, you also get to choose who will be allowed to place their name and logo on your site. That same choice is not available to you with Facebook. On your Facebook page your information will be sharing the screen with paid advertisements selected by Facebook. And because of the way Facebook ads can be targeted to people with certain interests in a certain geographic area, chances are good that your page may be sharing space with your competitors’ advertisements. This would never happen on your own website.
  5. Last of all, remember that Facebook is still just Facebook. It is a Social Networking site that happens to be the largest in the world right now. But the same could have been said about Friendster and MySpace at one point in time. Oddly enough, we do not hear many clients asking whether or not it makes sense to replace their website with a MySpace profile. There are more and more social media sites being introduced all the time, and the chances of Facebook staying on top forever are pretty slim.

So should you steer clear of Facebook for your business? Absolutely not. Again, it’s a fantastic tool for your online marketing toolbox. It’s a great way to help find and engage with your customers and potential customers online. The point of Facebook, as is true with all social media sites, is to help share content that you’ve created and are hosting on your own website.

On your website you have total control of your content. You can decide when, where, and how it is being displayed. You can optimize it for whatever search terms you decide are best. And when you have great content, you can share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and on any other site where you have a presence to ensure that it reaches the maximum number of people possible, and steers them back to your website. Because your website is where the party is. Social Media just provides people with an invitation to come over and join in.

If you’d like help with your online presence, contact us for a free consultation.

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Building Your Online Marketing Empire

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

Great Dane with LaptopTen years ago, people perceived brands differently. We relied on businesses to supply us with information, and we accepted what they told us. Now, we have choices and can perform our own research before making purchasing decisions. This means that online research dictates how we perceive different companies.

We now use multiple “touchpoints” when making purchases. A touchpoint is a place where people go to research information. Many pet owners start with Google, online reviews, corporate websites, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. When strung together, these touchpoints form a “marketing circle.” At Beyond Indigo, we strive to keep pet owners in your marketing circle. All aspects of your marketing circle should be consistent. This means that one person should be in charge of your brand and your content. Many people can implement your message, but one person should oversee it.

Google now focuses on local search for businesses, which offers a complete snapshot with online reviews, Google+, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, and blog comments. Facebook and Twitter aid brand recognition and consumer engagement. A new study by aytm.com found that people prefer brand updates via Facebook and Twitter instead of email. It also found that 58% of Facebook users have liked a brand, 42% of people have mentioned a brand in a status update, and 41% have shared a brand link, story, or video.

Remember that your brand’s reputation is crucial to gaining and keeping clients. It’s an investment that takes time, effort, and money — but it pays off handsomely. The first step is taking an inventory of your online brand reputation. We’re here to help. For a free personalized consultation, visit beyondindigopets.com/contact.

Upcoming Free Webinars

Facebook Alone Is Not Enough

February 22, 2012: 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. CST

Even if you have an active Facebook page that engages regularly with fans, you still need an interactive website. This free 30-minute webinar will discuss what works for your business on Facebook, what should be on your website, and how to cope with changes in the social media landscape.

Online Reviews

February 29, 2012: 12:00 to 12:30 p.m. CST

Now more than ever, people rely on online reviews to make all sorts of purchasing decisions. Join this session to learn everything you need to know about creating, generating, and maximizing online reviews. We’ll also cover how and where people review your practice, how the “review cycle” works, and how to improve your overall review rating.

Visit www.beyondindigopets.com/webinars to sign up.

Connect With Us

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/beyondindigopets, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/beyondpets, and visit our blog at beyondindigopets.com/blog to stay current with veterinary marketing trends.

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Your Brand, Your Reputation

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

How Do Pet Owners View Your Business?

Computer with Brand StampBusiness owners tend to become overwhelmed with managing their brand. Typically, the first question is where to start? To help with what to look for when doing a quick review of your online brand, I have created a checklist. First, sit down at a computer and grab a pad of paper and pen to go through this exercise. It might help to have a person who is an outside observer walk through this process with you to give a different perspective.

  1. Do a search for your town, state, and the word “veterinarian.” Is your business listed on the first page of Google? Do you have reviews? What do they say about you? Remember, 70% of people use online reviews when making a purchasing decision. If you have more negative reviews then positive ones, would you want to use your business services based on this information? Neither do the people who are researching you.Are other reviews placed with other review services? You can see by either scrolling your mouse to the right of your listing, triggering a fuller listing of your business to pop up, or by doing a search in Google for the name of your business with the word “review” after it, such as “ABC Veterinary Hospital, Anytown, State, Reviews.” What pops up? Typically, there are multiple places people are leaving online reviews about your business. Remember, you cannot turn these review places off! The only option is to take control of these sites by encouraging happy customers to post reviews and engaging with the ones who do post via responses to reviews.Can people also click on this search engine/review results in Google or elsewhere and go to your website? Or does it go nowhere? If the click cannot take people through to your business website, then your marketing circle has a big disconnect and people will most likely pursue another search result.
  2. If you can click through to your website, is the correct logo showing? Can you read the name of your business? Are the animals in the logo the species you see at the hospital? When was the last time your logo was updated? What does it say about your business? Current? Out of date? Fun? Serious? Is this what you want people to glean from your logo when they view it?
  3. What about your website? Does it look out of date? Are social media icons listed that enable people to leap to the next point in your marketing circle? What about a blog? Sign up for a newsletter? YouTube videos? What about your services? To see an example of the newest model of website design integrated with social media, look at www.animalmedical.net. How does your website compare to this one?
  4. Finally, Facebook and Twitter should be accessible from the business website and from each other, and the website should link back to both. These crosslinks help complete the marketing circle. For an example of how this would look on Facebook, please visit www.facebook.com/NapervilleAnimalHospital. Questions to ask about these platforms are:
    • Does your business have a Facebook page? If so, who are the admins for the page? The owner of the business should be one of them.
    • Has the Facebook page been used to its full potential, meaning graphics, links to other pieces of the marketing circle, and pictures added?
    • On Twitter, has a custom background been added?
    • Has the Twitter account been slaved to the Facebook page—at least to start if there are not enough resources in the hospital to manage both platforms?
    • Has a marketing plan been created that focuses on a single message from the hospital brand per month? If so, is one person in charge of this message or are many going in different directions?

How did your business fare? Any disconnects? Please let us know how we can assist in making your marketing circle stronger and connected. For a free consultation, please visit http://www.beyondindigopets.com/contact/.

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Posted in Digital Marketing, Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Search, Search Engine Optimization, Social media, Social Media Marketing, Uncategorized, Veterinary Marketing | Comments Off

Five ways to engage your clients through Social Media

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

If you’re thinking about using social media networks like Facebook or Twitter to reach our to your clients, but haven’t known where to start, here are 5 easy ways to start building your presence:

  1. Decide to start

    For your social media efforts to have a real impact on your business, you need to be committed to them. Simply setting up a Facebook page and then forgetting about it will not help you to develop a better relationship with your clients. You need to commit to being present and engaging with your followers. This is what will keep them coming back, and telling their friends.

  2. Build your network with people you already know first

    It can be daunting to think about how to gain new “likes” on a page that currently doesn’t have any. The best way to start is by reaching out to people you already know. If you have clients who you know are on Facebook, send them an invitation to like your page.If you can’t find anyone online, ask them in person. Marketing your Facebook page outside of Facebook is a great way to get people interested. Put up a counter sign or a poster, add your Facebook URL to your business cards and clients’ invoices, put a “like us” box on your website. Promote yourself!

  3. Be real

    Don’t be afraid to let your Facebook page have a personality. Talk to your followers the way you would talk to your friends (while still keeping it professional, obviously).  People follow brands on Facebook because they want to interact with the people behind the brand. They want to make a connection with you. If you make your page too sterile, they’ll stop coming back.Answer client questions, share funny pictures and videos, give advice, inform clients of events or specials. But most important, don’t be afraid to have fun!

  4. Recognize and reward

    People love recognition. When your followers start participating on your wall, be sure to reward them for their activity. It can be as simple as replying to a post, or you can take it as far as offering them a gift certificate or discount to thank them for their activity, depending on the level of participation involved.

  5. Monitor

    Facebook offers “Insights” to help you keep an eye on how your page is growing. You should be monitoring this once a week or so to get information such as the average age of your followers, the ratio of men to woman, and, most importantly, the reach and virality of your page posts. This metric will help you understand which of your posts are the most popular with your followers, so you can adjust future posting habits to include more of that post type.

These are the basics for building a solid social media foundation on Facebook. Keep in mind, there are other social media channels to explore, such as YouTube, Twitter, and Google+. While you don’t need to be on all of these networks all the time, it’s important to know that they exist, and do provide additional opportunities for you to reach people.

For more information register for our free webinar, Five Ways to Reach Your Clients on Facebook & Twitter. If you’d like help in setting up or managing your Social Media presence, please contact Melissa Neff at 877-244-9322 ext 100 or melissa@beyondindigo.com.

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3 Simple Rules for Internet Marketing

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

The old saying goes that if you build it, they will come. We’ve found that saying doesn’t apply to online marketing. When it comes to the Internet, not only do you have to build it, you have to be sure it is built correctly. What’s more, you have to market it!

Here are a few simple rules that will help you on your way to online marketing success:

1. Content is King.

This phrase has been said so often that it’s become cliché, but that’s only because it’s so true! Just like you can count on your dog to actually sniff that fire hydrant, you can count on users to visit websites that have good and interesting content. Nowadays we are swimming in data; the key is to make sure the data your offering to your users is more interesting and compelling than that of your competitors. This is what will keep them coming back.

2. Consistency = Comfort.

We already know that your content needs to be compelling. Another key in online marketing is making sure your content is consistent. Think of McDonald’s. Whether or not you eat there, you know exactly what they offer and what you can expect from them as a brand. This is the type of consistency we as consumers have been trained to respond to. We trust brands that offer us consistency, and we’re more likely to buy from the brands that we trust.

3. Multiple Platforms Reach Multiple People.

Your clients are spending their time in a lot of different places these days, so it no longer makes sense to place a yellow page ad and think that they’ll come to find you. You need to go and find them in the places where they already are, namely: Facebook. We know it can be a little daunting if you’re not familiar with social media, but when you consider that 93% of adult Americans are on Facebook, it becomes a no-brainer. Your customers are there, and they expect you to be too. Don’t let fear of the unknown prevent your business from reaching potential new clients.

We are here to help you succeed! Call our Sales and Marketing Manager, Melissa Neff at 877.244.9322 x100, or send her an email.

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Facebook Changes: What’s New and How Will it Affect Your Veterinary Practice?

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

As you’ve probably noticed, Facebook is looking a little different these days. Last week the social media giant made some major changes that has web users talking up a storm. So what are the changes that were made, and how will they affect you and your business? Let’s take a look.

Facebook News TickerThe change that seems to have garnered the most attention after its launch is the news ticker. This ticker is designed to show you everything that is happening with your friends on Facebook in real-time. One positive behind this change is that it allows Facebook to get all of the game and application notifications, which most users don’t particularly care about, off of your news feed. It also allows you to see more of your friends’ activity as it’s happening which increases engagement on posts that you may have otherwise missed. And lastly, the ticker remains visible no matter where you go on Facebook, so you won’t miss anything that’s happening in your news feed while you’re visiting a Page that you’ve liked or clicking through your cousin’s latest photo album.

As with all of the changes that Facebook has made in the past, introducing ticker has brought up a number of privacy concerns.  It is important to note: YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS HAVE NOT CHANGED! You may notice now that when a friend of yours comments on their friend’s status update, you have access to also comment on that update, whether you are a friend to their friend or not. Many people are upset to see people who are not their direct friends commenting on their activity but what they don’t realize is that these friends of friends have always had access to do this based on their privacy settings. If you are one of these people you can fix the problem by changing your privacy settings to “friends only.”

The Subscribe ButtonYou may have also noticed that you can now subscribe to people’s updates rather than sending them a friend request. The subscribe button is great for those who want to connect with lots of people, but don’t necessarily want to let the whole world in at the “friend” level. Now you can choose to enable the subscribe button. Users who choose to subscribe to your profile will see all updates that you post at the public level. Updates that you’ve set to friends only or friends of friends will not be seen by your subscribers.

The subscribe button can also be used to limit what you are seeing from people who are already in your friends list. By clicking the subscribe button you can let Facebook know whether or not you would like to see updates from that person pertaining to life events, status updates, photos, games, comments and likes, music and videos, and other activity. You can select as many or as few as you want, which means you can still see your Aunt Martha’s status updates and photos, but you no longer have to be notified every time she plants a new vegetable in Farmville.

Smart ListsAnother new feature we’re seeing are the smart lists that Facebook has created. If you look in the left column of your Facebook homepage you’ll see a listing of various groups of people arranged into the appropriately titled, “Lists.” These lists arrange your friends into groups based on various information that they’ve entered in their profiles. So if you went to Notre Dame and listed that in your profile, you will now see a smart list titled “Notre Dame” that will include anyone else who you’re connected to who also listed Notre Dame on their profile.

Lists that create themselves include school networks, businesses that you’ve worked at, and people who are in your same geographical location. Facebook has also set up lists for Close Friends and Acquaintances but unlike the smart lists, these will not automatically create themselves. You will have to manually add people to these lists because, as Facebook noted, you know better than they do who your closest friends are.

The final list that I want to mention is the Restricted list. This is another list that will need to be manually updated by you, but it will be well worth the effort! Adding people to this list will set them on the same level as your subscribers; they will only be able see updates that you’ve set to be visible to the public. This comes in handy when you receive a friend request from someone who you would rather not share all of your personal information, such as a new client who you don’t know particularly well. Ignoring the friend request could become uncomfortable since you see this person regularly through the course of doing business, but adding them as a friend could become equally uncomfortable. Now you can add them as a friend and then move them to your restricted list. They will not be able to tell that you’ve restricted their access to your profile and you won’t have to answer questions about why you wouldn’t approve their friend request. Win!

Facebook TimelineThe biggest and most exciting of the changes is the one that has not actually rolled out yet. Timeline is the new way that Facebook will organize and display your historical data and is set to launch in beta later this week. With this change your profile will become a virtual scrapbook. Every thing you’ve done so far on Facebook will be sorted on a timeline by year and you can then add or delete entries to make things look the way you want them to.

Again, for those concerned with privacy, the information that is being presented in the Timeline view is nothing that is not already available on your profile. Facebook is simply making it easier for you to access this older data.

So how will all of these changes affect your business’s Facebook page? For the most part they won’t! While we will likely see the new Timeline look and feel applied to Pages in the near future, for now they will retain the same look and feel that they’ve had all along. Users will still go to and like your page the same way, and your updates will still show up in the news feeds of people who have liked you. The only real difference now is that there will be more competing data around your updates because of the larger number of things being shared through the ticker and through third party applications. It may be easier for your updates to become lost.

As always, the best way to keep your posts visible to fans is to optimize them for the news feed. Put simply, that means to be sure you are writing posts that are engaging, that your fans respond to, and that you are posting them on a regular basis. Pages that are only posting once a week are much more likely to get lost in the shuffle than those who post updates daily.

Please comment below if you have any questions on the new Facebook changes, or just to tell us what you think!

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