Social Media
WCVM Writing Tools Workshop for Research Summer Students
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Social Media | WCVM
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Western College of Veterinary Medicine
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Twitter: @WCVMToday, @EHRFHorseHealth, @VetTopics
Facebook: WCVM alumni, WCVM prevet students,
WCVM Today, One Health Leadership Experience.
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Flickr: WCVMToday
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YouTube: TheWCVM
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Podcasting
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Dr. Melodie Chan (WCVM ’02)
Genetics Business Lead and
Manager, Veterinary Services,
Cattle Division, Zoetis Canada
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Regular Twitter user
(@LilCowDoc)
melodie.chan@zoetis.com
Social Media | Dr. Creelman
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Dr. Cody Creelman (WCVM ’11)
Veterinary Animal Health Services
(VAHS), Airdrie, Alberta
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Regular Twitter user
(@VetPracticeVAHS,
@CodyCreelman)
vahs.net | CodyC@vahs.net
www.facebook.com/VeterinaryAgri
HealthServices
Social Media | Dr. Chan
General rule of thumb:
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Facebook: For people you know.
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Twitter: For people you would like to know.
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LinkedIn: For people you work with.
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Pinterest: For people who like the same things.
Social Media | Dr. Chan
Food animal production: Twitter delivers fast and easy to
read information.
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Equine: Large number of horse people are females (ages 45-55).
Facebook is the best platform.
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Small animal: Twitter and Facebook
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Research/academics: Twitter
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Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Q. Why are you involved with social media?
Proactive in getting the right information out based on science
and fact.
Be part of the conversation, be a trusted information source.
Provide people with the facts so they can think critically. They may not
agree with the science, but at least they have access to it.
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Great way to understand what our audience is thinking.
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Challenges veterinarians to continually improve status quo.
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Q. Why are you involved with social media? (cont’d)
Maintain/improve consumer confidence — food production,
animal husbandry practices.
Urban/rural divide, fear of the unknown contributing to
miscommunication, misunderstanding.
“The more we can be transparent and increase our approachability,
the more we can contribute to understanding where our food comes
from.”
Social Media | Dr. Creelman
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Q. Why are you involved with social media?
Effective means of advertising: Social media is still new among
producers, but chance favours early adopters.
Advocacy for agriculture industry: Openness, transparency, education
to combat misinformation.
Customer service: Efficient means of client education. More
interaction with owners, manager and employees of farms that
we deal with.
Social Media | Dr. Creelman
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Q. Why are you involved with social media? (cont’d)
Student awareness: Connections for fourth-year rotations,
externships, job opportunities.
Personal education: Improving our knowledge base.
Community: “Through social media, a new form of comradery has
developed.”
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Q. Why do you take time to be involved with social media?
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Twitter: Availability of information at your fingertips.
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“Tweeporters”: Tweeting information from conferences —
return the favour.
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Contributing to the larger “Twittersphere” community.
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People appreciate the effort: “thank yous” from followers.
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Q. How does social media benefit your job/practice?
As Zoetis technical services veterinarian: bringing information to the
industry (vets, producers, industry).
As private practitioner: Well positioned to provide fact-based
information relating to animal agriculture.
Applicable information: not information read off a fact sheet.
Helps establish credibility within agriculture community as a reliable
information source.
Keeps internal audience informed. Gives Zoetis a human voice.
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Q. Any examples of linking with key people through social
media?
“Virtual” meetings with veterinarians, producers and others in
agriculture industry: Expanding network of contacts.
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New acquaintances: Looks them up on Twitter.
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Fun to look for “Tweeps” at conferences and meetings.
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Reciprocal relationships: I help you, you help me.
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Use Twitter to ask collective group of people for information.
Social Media | Dr. Creelman
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Q. Any examples of linking with key people through social
media?
VAHS: becoming well known across veterinary/agriculture
communities that are connected to social media.
Producer groups and media: Contacted VAHS for articles,
involvement in stories, conferences.
Helps to market VAHS’ services to potential clients, creates more
followers, draws more people to VAHS site.
Web site analytics: Local, global visitors interested in what we do.
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Q. What works?
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Twitter handle: Pick one that’s concise and easy to remember.
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Describe yourself well in your profile.
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Keep tweet length to 120 characters or less (to allow for RTs
and comments).
Tweeting photos: Good way to draw in people.
Tweet links to relevant articles that are easy to read on mobile
devices.
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Q. What works?
Write stand-alone messages that don’t require followers to read
several tweets in a row for context.
Ask questions and respond to tweets to engage others.
If you start a tweet with “@____,” only people who follow both you
and the other person will see your tweet.
#FF: Follow Fridays. Great way to promote people to follow or to
thank people who have helped you over the week.
Occasional personal tweet: Makes yourself appear human.
Social Media | Dr. Creelman
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Q. What works?
Content is KING: Without fresh content, you slip into oblivion.
“If you are not going to commit, then don’t even bother. If you aren’t
going to bother, then you will be left behind.
Be creative, innovative, curious and not afraid to fail.
“Yes, I think I sound stupid when I hear my own voice talking about a
certain disease or case or what have you, but I have committed to
promoting my business, so I have to try.”
Social Media | Dr. Chan
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Dr. Chan’s final words of advice:
You control how much information you share — both personally and
professionally. If you don’t want to share it, don’t!
Once you put your tweet out there, you can’t take it back. Maintain
professionalism with any social media communications that you
engage in.
Social Media | Questions?