I was extremely disheartened to be sitting in an audience, while attending CE at NAVC 2012, only to hear a speaker tell us that managing social media is a 40 hours per week job. What!?! Even in my earliest stages of learning what social media was all about, I never spent my entire work week strictly on social media.

I suppose you could allow social media to suck up that much of your time, but truly there’s no reason to allow this to happen. I’m an extremely busy person, working full-time managing two veterinary practices, a dog training facility, an employee childcare facility, consulting with other practices, and speaking nationally two or three times each month. Despite all that, I can confidently say that I am an effective social media manager who spends 4-6 hours a week on social media for multiple platforms, businesses, and organizations. Oh….and I have a personal life, too!

When you are in the beginning stages of your social media efforts, there is a learning curve. You need to spend more time learning how the different platforms function, how to interact with people, and how to generate good content. You can expect the first six months to take approximately 12-15 hours each week. Once you get things flowing, with all your notification alerts in place, and a calendar to plan out posts and topics at least two months in advance, you should easily be able to streamline your time spent to a much more efficient 4-6 hours each week. The quality of your interactions should not suffer if you are taking the time to listen to your clients and interact with them (talk to them) within the platforms you have chosen. For more information about how to manage your time, pick up a copy of my book, Social Media for Veterinary Professionals. You can even download a copy from the iTunes store now!

If someone tries to convince you that social media should consume a person’s full time work week, then I say that person doesn’t fully grasp the concepts of being social in today’s world. In the rarest of situations where you have a 20+ DVM practice that is open 24/7, you might need a full time dedicated social media manager, who also handles all of your practice’s marketing strategy, including events, your practice’s newsletter, etc. But in most cases, where you have a two or three doctor practice, you can expect to spend 4-6 hours a week working on your social media efforts. Social media is a tool that is going to help your practice succeed today and in the future by connecting you to your clients. It’s a communication tool that you can effectively manage, freeing you up to care for your patients, which is why we’re all here in the first place.

• General overview of the NAVC
• The complete scientific program, which allows you to build your own program schedule gives you control over creating a custom program schedule for each day of the conference.
• A speaker list that is completely searchable by name, with photos and biographies.
• An exhibitor list that is completely searchable by name, giving you a complete index of vendors with one-touch connectivity to their websites and a map location of where to find them in the exhibit halls.
• Maps of each exhibit hall and program rooms for both the Gaylord and the Marriott.
• Social media connectivity allows users of the app to post to their Twitter or Facebook feeds directly from the app.
• A news feed pulls all Twitter posts with the #navc to the app for a convenient one-stop view of who’s posting what, live from the conference.
• Surveys for each session are built into the app, giving you the power to submit your feedback for sessions in a more convenient manner.
• Extras include FAQs about the conference center, recommendations for places to eat, information about the hotels, and an on-call button that puts you in direct contact with an NAVC staff volunteer if you have a problem.
• Your user portal gives you access to the digital proceedings and your session attendance records, which are tracked digitally.
• An attendee list, which is searchable by last name. If you gave permission to publish your email address, the app allows you to connect directly with other conference attendees.
• Messages can be sent to you from the NAVC through the app.

My goal has been to streamline my “baggage” throughout the day. I have been able to carry just my iPad for taking notes and my smartphone with the app to keep me on schedule and guide me through the day. The app does tend to crash on occasion, but overall I have been very pleased with its functionality. My hope is to see this option available at other major conferences, as I see real value in this tool.

Today, I received an email from Chris that I found inspiring at this time of year and it simply planted three little words in my subconscious. His message was, find three words that you can connect with in the coming year—-three words that sum up how you will focus in the coming year. After about half an hour of thought and coming back to the email a few times, I chose my three words: Balance, Believe, Celebrate.

Balance

This is something I’ve been aware of and working on in the past six months. As my book, Social Media for Veterinary Professionals has taken off, my work-life balance seems to have gotten a little off-kilter. Some months are great with maybe one week of travel, while others have consumed most of my time in traveling from one coast to another, with little time at home. In July, I really started focusing on getting more balance in my life, limiting my travel schedule to one or two trips a month (don’t ask me about April 2012, though! It got a little ahead of me).

As an added twist to finding balance, I also moved my art studio to a commercial location down the street from my home. Getting my artistic work space out of my home was crucial to carving out time for myself. My spare bedroom was bursting at the seams with supplies and equipment, with not a single 2-foot space to work at when I had the time. Now, I have 450-square-feet of paradise at Encaustication! The key in the coming year for me will be balance.

Believe

This word speaks to my heart because in the past ten years I have found myself evolving from a glass-half-empty person into a glass-half-full person. I believe this is a direct result of moving myself and my family to Indiana and embracing an environment that I found to be full of positive energy. This is where I work each and every day—Broad Ripple Animal Clinic and Wellness Center! We’ve all been rocked by the economy, the state of our government, and world events in the past five years. I need to keep my positive energy flowing, because others are counting on me to lead. Therefore, I need to believe that the world is not ending, the sky is not falling, and people will wake up and find their humanity once again. I believe in making a difference. Do you?

Celebrate

The coming year brings many reasons to celebrate for me and my family. My only child will turn 18, she will graduate high school, and she will begin her college education! As the mother of an only child, I need to remember these are moments to celebrate, despite that knot in my stomach at the thought of my little one reaching these milestones and leaving my nest. I also need to look forward to all the great things to come in our lives at home, and at the practice and always remember to celebrate the little things in life. We all have so much to be thankful for—our health, our families, our careers. Business might be off for some, but I always look at that as an opportunity! Let’s re-set, lay down some goals, work hard and then we can celebrate when we make a difference.

What are your three words?

What’s all this crazy architectural talk about pillars, you ask? Look at the success of your veterinary practice from an architectural standpoint. A strong foundation is created when you have a cohesive, complimentary owner-manager team. This foundation is the base for all future growth, but without pillars the walls and roof will be weak. In this analogy, the walls are your team and the roof is the amount of production the team can handle. Without pillars, your walls may crumple under the weight of the roof. You need pillars for stability and growth!

A pillar is a team member who has willingly given 100% of themselves to the success of the practice. Pillars are your natural leaders, your big picture thinkers, and innovators. They are the people who see problems and want to fix them, rather than wait for someone else to notice. They are the people who take pride in your practice and come to work everyday, treating it as if it were their own.

In The Innovator’s Toolkit: 50+ Techniques for Predictable and Sustainable Organic Growth (Silverstein, Samuel, and DeCarlo), the authors say, “organic growth takes a lot more than ideas. It takes galvanizing leadership and a sustainable growth engine. It takes deep understanding of key concepts and a robust managerial process. It also takes a groundswell of employees who can skillfully apply all the necessary techniques and tools of innovation…”. Those employees are your potential pillars!

It’s very easy to create new pillars in your practice by paying attention to, and tapping into the natural talents of your team members. I learned long ago that shaping people to fit a particular job description doesn’t necessarily work. I actually tend to rewrite job descriptions around people’s talents, and fill the gaps by balancing them out with people who have completely different strengths. One of my all-time favorite management books, First, Break All the Rules (Buckingham and Coffman) explains these concepts more in-depth than I ever could in a blog post.

Now that you have practice pillars, how does one go about strengthening them? Start by making sure you are providing them with a solid foundation—do you make yourself available for coaching and support? Are you providing them with continuing education opportunities? Do they have all the tools they need in order to do their very best? Do they have close friends at work? These are all things that will strengthen your pillars, and in the long run will grow your practice year after year. Rather than focusing strictly on spreadsheets and numbers, be sure to incorporate your pillars into your growth plan. The more you put into them, the more your practice will reap in return.

What are my thoughts on Facebook for veterinary practices after doubling our audience? Quality beats quantity every time, and we must all remember that we are merely “leasing” space on Facebook.

While I am very proud to have passed the 2,000 “likes” mark, I know that it is simply a number. When it comes to social media, you can’t always look at the bare bones numbers. The more important value is the quality of the interactions you are seeing when you use the tool that is Facebook. Are your posts generating “chatter”? Do you ask relevant questions that spark comments and conversations within your practice’s online community? Do your clients use your page to thank you and your staff, or to post photos of their pets? If you can answer YES! to these questions, then you are seeing a return on your social media efforts.

Why am I calling Facebook a tool? I want you to remember that you are simply leasing a little bit of space on the Facebook platform. It is not the end-all, be-all saving grace that is going to grow your practice all by itself—it’s a tool in your online toolbox. This virtual toolbox should contain many tools including:

• First and foremost, a solid website that is relevant and fresh and can be easily found through online search
• A content-rich blog that is attached to your website, and updated regularly
• Your Facebook business page
• Your practice’s Twitter profile
• A YouTube channel for your practice
• LinkedIn profiles for each of your practice’s veterinarians
• Your practice’s Google Places page has been claimed by You and has been completed in its entirety

The speaking venue happened to be the Oceanografic aquarium; the largest aquarium in Europe and just one component of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) in Valencia. My daughter, who happens to be an “aquarium-freak”, began begging to go with me when she found out about the invitation. Luckily, we were able to make it work and the three of us (my husband, daughter and myself) headed off to Spain without much more than very rudimentary Spanish phrases to rely upon. Our most frequently used phrase ended up being: “Anglais, por favore?”

Despite our language issues, we had a fabulous time visiting the City of Arts and Sciences. It’s a beautiful complex built in what used to be an old riverbed. We spent the few days leading up to my presentation wandering through the complex, enjoying all the modern architecture and taking in the venues. The night before I had to speak, I had a bigger panic attack than usual—-would my audience be able to understand me? How would my ideas translate to another culture? I think I tossed and turned all night!

When I arrived at the Oceanographic the next morning, my host Jaime Diaz from Pfizer Salud Animal, escorted me to the auditorium—a 400-seat tiered bowl with a giant aquarium behind the stage—absolutely breath-taking! He immediately set my mind at ease when he let me know there were live translators in booths working behind-the-scenes, translating each speaker from French to Spanish, English to Spanish, and Spanish to English into headsets worn by the attendees. I love technology! And since Spain ranks 7th in the world in social network usage, despite being the 27th largest country in the world, my topic was well-received by the audience of 80+ Spanish Practice Owners. My only regret is not having been able to take more time off to visit the beautiful country of Spain, while I was there—maybe next time. I would like to once again thank Jaime Diaz and Pfizer Salud Animal for inviting me as a speaker to their event! It was an experience I will always remember.

The first time it happened to me, I felt so betrayed. I was a “promoted-from-within” manager and I felt I was in touch with my peers and I believed I was going to change the world for them…..turning all those injustices around. I was going to be the champion from within the ranks! I think we all go into it with that same thought in mind, and then suddenly we find ourselves alone….shut out. Instead of people talking to us, they seem to be talking ABOUT us….we’ve gone to the “dark side” in their eyes.

Over the years, I have lost many supervisors to the sound of silence. Despite being talented leaders, they struggled with the loss of their peer group. They no longer had “fun” at work because their buddies treated them differently once they took that promotion. Over time, I have come to recognize that building a strong peer group for my managers was extremely important. In a smaller practice, this might be difficult to do, but maybe the sound of silence isn’t quite as deafening as it is in a larger practice.

Today, I have a team of managers who are called Directors in our practice. There are six of them from various departments: human resources, lead Technicians, client services, inventory, etc. They have one another to depend upon when the sound of silence becomes too overwhelming. They can ask one another….”am I missing something?” or “what’s going on?” when they hear that hush fall upon them.

As the Hospital Administrator, I’m part of that group….but not really. I experience the sound of silence with them at times. Thankfully, the VHMA has created a peer group for me. The reality is that as practice owners and practice managers, we are typically very isolated within our own practices. We have to find our peer groups outside the walls we come to everyday. Have you found YOUR peer group, and does it relieve the sound of silence for you?

Thankfully, I was able to rebook with an alternate airlines and arrived at the hotel at 1:00am….yippee! Four hours of sleep later, I kicked off the VetTrack with a brief “Social Media and Web Primer”. My biggest challenge? Fitting several hours worth of material into 55 minutes!  I was followed by Dr. Jessica Vogelsang of Pawcurious. A veterinary blogger for more than two years, “Dr. V” shared her thoughts on blogging, including topics to avoid….which she labeled as “chum”.

Bill Schroeder, from InTouch Practice Communications rounded out the morning with a discussion about identifying the most beneficial social media channels for your veterinary practice. Bill “tells it how it is” and steers veterinary practices towards focusing on local search engine optimization, rather than elaborate, expensive, national SEO campaigns. He says “forget about being first on Google; set your sights on owning the entire first page”. Reminding us that our greatest source for new business is always our existing client base, he reminded us that social media is a great way to tap into this resource. And guess what folks…..I’m NOT the only one coaching people to cut and slash their yellow pages advertising! Bill’s “big 5″ social media channels: Facebook, YouTube, Blogging, Twitter and LinkedIn.

This afternoon promises to be an interactive panel discussion with myself, Jason Merrihew from AAHA, and Dr. Lorie Huston. Unfortunately, I will miss tomorrow’s full day with Bill Schroeder, thanks to my United flight fiasco…..unless Irene hits the Virginia area twelve hours earlier than expected, and my new flight gets delayed. Hurricanes and social media, and I’m on the road again!

In the years that Coleen and her stepson, Brian operated Pet Angel locally, we felt we had someone to count on in every situation that was presented to us, from a pet loss perspective. Our clients were so appreciative of their ability and willingness to come whenever and wherever they were needed. Coleen spent countless hours on the phone listening to our clients, offering them a shoulder to lean on, and then listening some more. We were so sad when she was no longer an integral part of Pet Angel, but Coleen had seen that she was needed on a completely different level…..supporting and teaching pet professionals about pet loss, the grief process, and how to better prepare our clients…..our pet parents, for the inevitable.

I have just finished reading Coleen’s new book, “Pet Parents: A Journey Through Unconditional Love and Grief” (ISBN 978-1-4620-3548-9, published by iUniverse, July 2011), and it wasn’t without shedding a few tears of my own. Coleen has written a book that not only shares the stories of many pet parents as they grieve the loss of their furry babies, but it provides guidance and resources that are much-needed in the veterinary industry. She dropped an autographed copy by my office, with a handwritten note last week.

Coleen offers a unique perspective, in that she is an experienced funeral home professional from the human industry who has taken her knowledge and expertise, combined it with her personal experiences as a pet parent, and found a way to support our industry like no one has in the past. I distinctly remember the moment I stopped wanting to become an RVT: it was the first time I had to assist with a euthanasia and as soon as the client started crying, so did I. I felt helpless! Here I was, the team member who was supposed to be supportive and professional through the grief process, but I couldn’t even speak for being such a blubbering mess! I turned to pursuing a career as a Practice Manager from that point forward, seeking a better way to prepare and train team members for the harsh realities of pet loss.

“Pet Parents” will become a part of our internal training program, as it offers a wealth of information and support to dedicated team members who suffer the emotional roller coaster of assisting in a euthanasia, then needing to immediately shift gears for a puppy appointment. Chapters 13, 14, and 15 are incredibly valuable resources offering ways to help clients plan for pet loss packed with sample questions and forms to use in your veterinary practice. Chapter 16 offers a complete index of additional resources you and your team will find helpful.

If you don’t know Coleen, you might feel like you do after reading this book. I want to thank Coleen for her contribution to helping us become better care providers for our pet parents.

While I understand the concern, I feel it’s counterproductive for the practice team to feel they can’t “like” their own practice’s page for fear of being stalked by clients! There are several ways to deal with this issue before it ever arises:

1. Privacy Settings: first and foremost, you must make sure you have your privacy settings set to your own comfort level. There’ no reason your settings should be open to the whole world to view, when you have the power to keep your wall, photos, etc. private and viewable by only your approved friends.
2. Act Like an Adult: just because you “can” post or say anything you want to online, that doesn’t mean you should. My rule of thumb is to never post or say anything in the social media forum that I wouldn’t want my daughter or mother to read. By operating within these personal parameters, I feel comfortable that I’m not putting things “out there” that may come back to haunt me.
3. Respond with Tact: if you decide that you won’t be accepting “friend requests” from clients or even fellow team members, you can handle it with tact, minimizing “hurt feelings”. You can simply respond that you only use Facebook to stay in touch with family. Most clients understand and respect this response without feeling they’ve been shut out.
4. Create a Professional Profile: many veterinarians, and even team members have found that creating a separate Facebook profile, using their business email eliminates the need to deny friend requests from clients. They actually welcome them! This may take a little more time, logging in to separate accounts, but many veterinarians have found this to be a great solution to the client/friend boundary. Many veterinarians have also found this to be a great way to interact with their clients, communicating with them in their desired method. Rather than playing phone tag to discuss laboratory results, a direct message via Facebook has made things easier for both the client and the veterinarian, in today’s busy world.