With social media being one of the quickest ways to reach your target audience, most veterinary clinics are now harnessing the power of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and the like.
Here, we explore the benefits of expanding your social media presence even further through the power of influencer marketing. We will cover the importance of collaborating with the right influencer for your practice, how to find them and how to get started reaching a larger audience of pet owners in your target area.
What is influencer marketing for vets?
Unlike adverts, influencer marketing uses education-first content to invoke trust and showcase personal experiences via social media.
Vets can work with trusted pet owners, local creators, or animal professionals with a large online following to share their positive experience and outcomes for their pets.
Influencer marketing is mainly short-form video and social proof, like stories, to document a product or positive experience at the vets. It uses trusted influencers to give a good review of your practice to their followers.
Examples of what influencer marketing can look like
From pioneering new treatments to routine vaccination visits and pet health plans, influencer marketing can be led by the areas you wish to focus on or specialise in.
Potential ideas include:
- A dog trainer sharing vaccination advice
- A local pet owner documenting a puppy’s first check‑up
- A vet-approved micro influencer explaining dental care
- Pet owner showing the benefits of hydrotherapy or physiotherapy
- A vet-approved influencer explaining the difference between a routine sterilisation or laparoscopic spay
For more ideas, check out our 26 social media ideas for vets and learn how to develop a social media calendar for your veterinary practice.
Why use influencer marketing for your veterinary practice?
Word-of-mouth has now moved online, and the first place most look for recommendations is Google or social media.
With the UK being a nation of animal lovers, people do their research before deciding on who to trust with their beloved pet’s health.
Pet owners rely heavily on hearing other people’s experiences and recommendations when choosing products and services.
Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have become the key discovery channels for new pet owners, those looking for advice about their cat or dog and for information about preventative treatments like vaccinations, flea treatments, worming and neutering.
Reaching the right audience
Along with your practice having an active social media presence, you can reach further potential clients by working with micro-influencers. These content creators have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers, and have a niche audience in the market you are looking to target.
Due to having a smaller audience, they can connect with followers in a way that feels relatable, and in doing so, drive action.
A study found 74 per cent of consumers have bought a product because an influencer recommended, while a report by Nielsen found 71% of consumers trust influencer content.
Its research also discovered that consumers age 18 to 34 consider people-driven content to be more trustworthy than brand content or traditional forms of advertising. Â
Further research by Sprout Social also found one in four UK adults are influenced by content creator partnerships when making purchasing decisions, with that number exceeding 50 per cent for Gen Z.
How to build an influencer marketing plan for vets
When considering working with influencers, look at the bigger picture for your veterinary practice. What is it you hope to achieve and which service or services do you hope to promote?
Local pet owners may be interested in pet health plans and vaccinations, whereas elderly dog owners might be interested in physio or hydrotherapy.
Try to make partnerships long-term to build trust, like working with a new pet owner on a campaign covering pet plans – from vaccinations and neutering through to flea and worming treatments.
Building trust online
Keep your brand at the centre of the campaign, and ensure the influencer matches your values, putting animal welfare front and centre.
Followers know to expect brand partnerships, so make sure it’s clear you are working with an influencer to ensure credibility.
Tie working with influencers into your digital strategy, which is an essential marketing tool for business owners.
Instead of replacing SEO or PR, influencer marketing can support these channels, improving your overall ranking and building client trust online. This is delivered through:
- An increase in brand name searches as consumers seek to find out more about the practice and its services
- Positive experiences for new clients, which in turn leads to more Google reviews and profile activity
- A wider discussion and publicity around the practice that results in secondary backlinks and citations
- More visitors to your website results in improved engagement signals – like dwell time and the number of pages viewed. Positive engagement when interacting with content indirectly boosts SEO performance
Finding relevant influencers
Research local pet-owning micro-influencers with around 2,000 to 20,000 followers. Real pets mean audiences have higher trust, with your partnership featuring on a page with plenty of other local curated content.
Pet industry professionals
Local pet professionals like trainers, groomers, behaviourists, walkers and dog cafes or day care services are also likely to have a trusted following who are open to recommendations. It’s also worth researching nearby ‘petfluencers’ whose follower base is primarily pet owners.
Petfluencers
Research by Sprout Social found petfluencers accounts – ran by an owner about their pet –  average a five per cent engagement rate across social media platforms, higher than the average engagement rate of between one to three per cent for influencers.
Utilising brand ambassadors
Also consider using real clients with a social media following as brand ambassadors. Choose loyal pet owners to highlight ongoing care, whether for puppies starting their journey with the practice, or older dogs on a long-term treatment plan.
What does a successful influencer marketing campaign look like?
Influencer marketing is about building trust in your veterinary brand. The true measurement isn’t in likes, viral views and new followers, but in results for your business.
Measure success through results like increases in new enquiries along with calls and pets registered at your practice.
When it comes to seeing the outcome on social media, look into the engagement and number of saves.
It’s also important to consider the long-term impact of brand familiarity, establishing your practice as a trusted authority when someone gets a new pet or is considering changing vets. Â
Common influencer marketing mistakes vet practices should avoid
Now you’ve decided to pursue influencer marketing for your veterinary practice, make sure you make the most of your campaign by avoiding some of the below mistakes which can affect credibility and results:
- Choosing influencers purely on follower count – location and following is the most important criteria, to ensure your campaign is reaching its target market
- Not doing enough research – make sure any influencer you choose to work with aligns with your practice values and keep animal welfare front and centre
- Copy‑paste campaigns from retail brands – come up with something new and interesting that followers haven’t seen before
- Overly promotional content – followers like to feel content is ‘real’ and not an advert
- Ignoring compliance and disclosures – this can land you in hot water with regulators and potentially damange your practice’s reputation
- One‑off collaborations with no follow‑up – consistent posting helps build trust
Key takeaways
Ready to see the benefits working with an influencer can bring to your veterinary practice? Follow these tips as a starter for ten:
- Start small with just one local partner and track outcomes, not vanity metrics which do not generate results for your business
- Focus on ensuring content is educational and transparent, and reflects the values of your practice
- Finally, make sure influencer activity is integrated with your existing marketing and is part of a bigger plan to promote your practice and its services.
Support for your veterinary marketing
To collaborate with the perfect influencer and see results for your practice, it’s beneficial to work with an experienced agency that can guide you through the process and deliver impact.
R&Co Communications is a full-service agency, which covers everything from SEO and PR to social media marketing and finding the right influencers to make your veterinary marketing really stand out from the crowd.
Our talented team of experts live and breathe social media. They’re up to speed on content trends and recognise the best creators across all platforms, which enables us to deliver effective influencer marketing campaigns.Â
Get in touch now to find out more.
