How To Social Media

Welcome to Halow Consulting's Social Media

Workshop  HOW TO guide for Twitter, Linked In,

Google + and Facebook

Pennsylvania attendees listing in on the Keynote address by Brenda Tassava

We look forward to you attending the Social Media Workshop at Oradell Animal Hospital on August 16th.  To review ticket information, click here

For those of you planning on coming to the Keystone Conference, workshop information can be found here.

How To Twitter

* Go to http://www.twitter.com

* In the box that says ‘New to Twitter? Sign up’, type in your full name (please use your real name!), your email address, and a password. As with all the other profiles you have created, you are creating your own personal

profile so you can learn the etiquette of Twitter before you start using it professionally for your practice. With that in mind, use an email address that you ‘own’, and not your work email for this particular account.

* The next screen will verify your information before proceeding. Twitter will let you know if your chosen user name is available and will offer alternative suggestions in green, midway down the screen. Read the Twitter

terms of service before clicking ‘Create my account’

* The next screen takes you to The Twitter Teacher. The Twitter Teacher will walk you through the next several steps, including suggesting people you might follow. To follow a suggested user, simply click the ³Follow² button

listed next to their user name. You can also search for people to follow, by typing names into the search box. Here are several veterinary professionals, practices and organizations that you can follow on Twitter: Halowconsult, Oradell, Broad Ripple Animal, Northstar Vets, etc.

* The next screen takes you to categories. This will help you follow people who are interested in the same things that interest you. Type in categories like: veterinary, animals, your location, social media, etc. Choose 5 more

people, based on categories to follow, then click ‘next’.

* The next screen prompts you to find contacts you already know on Twitter by way of allowing Twitter to access your email contact list. If you wish, you can skip this step by clicking ‘Skip this step’ on the bottom left-hand

side.

* In the next screen, you need to upload a photo as your profile photo. DO NOT skip this step----it is a faux pas to leave you profile photo as the default ‘egg’! After you upload a photo, fill in the ‘Bio’ box with a description of yourself in 160 characters of less. Example: ‘Veterinary

practice manager from Indianapolis who writes about social media and makes art in her free time’. Click ‘save’.

* You are done! Twitter will send you a verification email. When you receive it, click through the link they provide you and your account will be active!

* Here¹s your first tweet to send out: #Halowconsult I’m loving this workshop!

Brie Messier instructs a small work group on Facebook

How to LinkedIn

It’s time to create your Linked In profile. The biggest difference here is that where Facebook is very focused on your personal likes and interests, Linked In is focused on your professional likes, interests and experiences.

Why should you have a Linked In profile? Look at Linked In as a tool that works very well for search engine optimization, as well as for professional networking. You might not necessarily use Linked In for your practice, but at the very least every one of your practice’s veterinarians should have a completed and up-to-date Linked In profile. When clients search for them by name, it helps to have something you have complete control over, that is highly professional come up high in the search engines, and that’s what Linked In can do for you. If you are a practice manager, you can use Linked In to manage your professional networks---think of it as a virtual rolodex. You can also join professional groups on Linked In, keeping yourself up-to-date on the latest conversations and news within the veterinary industry.

Let’s get started:

·      Go to http://www.linkedin.com

·      Click the “Join LinkedIn” button

·      Fill in your first name, last name, email address, and create your password. Again, please use a personal email address, NOT your work email as this can change should you leave your practice.

·      Click the “Join LinkedIn” button

·      On the next screen, Linked In will ask some basic demographic information including where you live and what your current job title and company are---fill your profile in as completely as possible. Then click “Create my profile”

·      Linked In will direct you to start looking for your connections via your email address. You can allow the site to access your email address book or you can skip this step---go with whatever you are most comfortable in doing.

·      You will then receive a confirmation email. Once you open this email, click on the confirmation link.

·      Your next step will be to complete your profile. In the toolbar, across the top of the home page, hover over the “Profile” link and click on “edit profile”. Here, you will complete statements about your educational background, your business experiences, and any awards you might have won. Think of it as an online resume or CV as you complete each field. Linked In will walk you through each step. One of the most important things to do is upload a professional looking photo of yourself! People want to see who they are connecting with on Linked In and all other social media platforms.

·        Once you have your profile looking the way you want it to, start searching for people you know. Begin by looking for the “People” search box in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Enter the following names to get started: Bash Halow, Brenda Tassava, Phillip Barnes and Brie Messier. If you don’t already know us, you will very soon! When you find our profiles, click the “connect button”. You will need to select how you know each person you are hoping to connect with on Linked In. You can choose either: colleague, classmate, we’ve done business together, friend, other, or that you don’t personally know this person. Selecting “Friend” is the most straight-forward way to connect with people you haven’t gone to school with, or worked with directly.

·      Linked In will generate an automated message saying “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” You can edit this message, personalizing it as you wish.

·      Next, you could look for a few professional groups to join. If you are a member of the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA), you could search for a join this group. Other groups you might consider joining are: Marketing in Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Hospital Marketers, and/or Veterinary Professionals.  Your instructors, Brenda Tassava, Brie Messier, Phillip Barnes and Bash Halow are all on Linked In.  Search for their names within the Linked In website and reach out to them.

Phillip Barnes teaches Twitter

How to Google +

Let’s get started:

Go to http://plus.google.com

In the dark grey box in the upper right of the screen, sign in with your Google account or go to step 3 to create an account. 

Just below the red ‘Sign in’ button, click on the blue words to ‘Create an account’ 

Complete the online form, choosing your username, and creating a password. Complete the demographic information and read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy before clicking through to the ‘next step’ 

Add a profile photo in the next screen so that your friends recognize you. 

Click the blue button that says ‘Continue to Google’ 

Google+ will prompt you to find people on Google+ you already know by allowing them access to your email address book. You can do this if you are comfortable with this, or you can skip this step. 

The next screen will help you find people you already know. Type in: Bash Halow, Brenda Tassava, Brie Messier and Phillip Barnes to add us to your circles. This screen also explains what ‘circles are on Google+’. Try to find at least 10 

people you know to add to your circles. 

If you are struggling to find people you know, you can click on the blue highlighted words that say ‘discover new people’ and Google+ will offer suggestions 

Click ‘Continue’ 

Adding additional profile information on this final screen will help others find you on Google+ 

Congratulations! You now have a Google+ profile. Get familiar with this platform by exploring the landing page, checking out ‘Hangouts’, ‘What’s Hot’, and reading through the feed on your home page.

This group takes time out for a delicious lunch from our sponsor Best Pet Rx!

How to Facebook

Play around with a personal facebook page for several weeks before attempting to create a business page, as you need to learn the ins and outs of etiquette, etc within each social media platform. By becoming "friends" with people you know, liking a few pages, and interacting with others, you will feel much more comfortable when it comes time to become the administrator of your practice's business page. You should attempt to log-in and do "something" at least one to two times each day for the next two weeks, before taking any steps towards creating a business page."


1. Go to www.facebook.com



2. Fill-in the blanks under "Sign Up, It's free and always will be."


3. Use your real first and last name


4. Use an email address that you "own", not one that has been assigned to you at work. If you leave that position or company, you will lose access to your personal page. Use a personal email address that you have control over, even if you move. A gmail address is ideal, but not necessary. Use an address that you routinely use for personal email correspondence.


5.Create a password. It's always "best practice" to use at least 8 characters, using both numbers and letters for your password. You can and should change your password on a regular basis to prevent hacking of your accounts. This is good advice for all you online activity, not just Facebook!


6. Provide the requested demographic information (sex and date of birth)


7. Read the Terms and Data Use Policy. You can click on these words/phrases just above the green "Sign Up" button to read them in their entirety.

8. Click the green "Sign Up" button.You now have a Facebook account! Your next steps should be to upload a digital photo of yourself, so others can find and recognize your smiling face. The remainder of the information you choose to enter and display on your page/wall/timeline is entirely up to you and your comfort level.

What should you do once your account is created?


1. You can search for people you know and send them "friend requests"

2. You can interact with people once they accept your friend requests


3. You can like pages specific to the veterinary industry and begin following them and the information they generate on their business/organization pages such as: AAHA, AVMA, VHMA, Halow Consulting and your local management group's page, if they have one.


4.  Log-in at least one to two times a day to read your "news feed". This is your home page on Facebook and will feature the latest updates from your friends and the pages you choose to "like" on Facebook.

5. Create new status updates to let your friends know what you are doing, or what you are thinking


6. Repeat steps 3-6 often, to increase your comfort level with Facebook.

Veterinary Technicians put dog in trash can!!!

Tammy Vreelan and Robyn Geis, veterinary technicians at Sayrebrook Veterinary put this loveable dog Hammi in a TRASH CAN!!!!  Why wasn't Animal Control called?  Why were they able to keep their jobs???

Hammi is in a trash can because the sides prevent Hammi from lying down.  Hammi suffers from megaesophagus and just finished dinner.  Remaining upright until all the food ‘goes down the pipe’ so to speak is the remedy for this condition.  Megaesophagus can be diagnosed by your veterinary (as it was by the great crew at Sayrebrook Veterinary), but it took the enterprising minds of these techs to think of using a trash can/ laundry hamper as a surefire method of keeping Hammi upright. ( Oh, and don’t worry…this can is NEVER used for trash.)

What you are reading above is a recent post placed on Facebook.  The post captivates your attention, teaches you a little bit about veterinary medicine, introduced you personally to the fine team at Sayrebrook Veterinary and educates you about their kindness and ingenuity…but it does it in a friendly, colloquial manner.  Of the many things you will hear or read about  today, you will remember the picture, Hammi, the techs, and Sayrebrook Veterinary.  As of July 21, 2012 this message has reached  500 individuals who are very likely to talk about Sayrebrook.  Best of all it cost nothing, publicly distinguishes Sayrebrook’s team members, and is fun to produce

Brenda Tassava, Brie Messier and Phillip Barnes are three veterinary professionals who have mastered how to produce Social Media pieces like this and beyond.  They do it on a daily basis for their practices and have tripled their reach or better.  Their hospitals are at the very top of information searches and their business’ growth is up…all the while reducing their advertising budget…in Brenda’s case by as much as 20 thousand dollars a year!

These three, along with Halow Consulting, have put together a workshop for our veterinary peers aimed at getting even the most reluctant veterinary practice managers and owners understanding Social Media and using it specifically to increase traffic to their website and through their door.  This lecture’s objectives can be prioritized accordingly:

1.  Make it user friendly

2.  Make sure the attendees walk out knowing what their next step is and how to do it.

3.  Make it interesting and make it fun.

For more information on the lecture, the speakers and the locations of the lecture click here.  I can’t urge you enough to attend.  Of the many continuing education events available to you this year, none is more sharply focused on how to specifically help you succeed.

A Sense of Belonging

Of the many marketing tools at our fingertips, the very best are the kind that reach into the community and inculcate you and your team as part of that family.  The message isn’t about purchasing something, discounts, or value; it’s about your place as a denizen of the town and your pride in being a part of it.

In New York City, where I spend a good deal of time, the problem isn’t a desire to be a part of a community; it’s a struggle to find a community!  Sure, we have sections of the town that historically have had a flavor, a sense of scaleable size, Murray Hill, Turtle Bay, the Upper East Side, Chelsea, come to mind, but anymore, NYC and Lord knows how much of the America’s sense of community has been paved over and replaced with a generic identity.  Secure an inroad into a community?  What community?

Which might be a great opportunity for you and your practice. I’m flipping through the twenty-five pages of the local newspaper here in my other world…it’s the opposite of New York City…a little town called Wyalusing in part of Pennsylvania called the Endless Mountains.  If New York City is the place to go for haute cuisine and glam, this is the town for neighborly help when selecting the right shotgun or securing that used Dodge pickup you’ve been meaning to buy. This place is rife with community inroads because it is abundantly just that: community.  Page five features a picture of six kids from the high school that sewed pillowcases for children with cancer.  Page three is a ‘way we were’ photo of the town’s citizens 68 years ago.  Page one is a detailed expose on the goings-on at this year’s Quilt Festival.  None of these events made the national news, but they did an amazing job at lighting up my face when I read about them and the businesses smart enough to sponsor (and in some case create the event), captured my attention.

Those of you who’ve attended our the Social Media Workshop with the infectiously likeable Brenda Tassava,Brie Messier and Phillip Barnes know that the secret to a successful social media marketing plan is an honest connection with one’s audience.  Its the site administrator’s ability to create content that embraces its ‘like’ base, says hello and most importantly belongs.

You're Part of the Solution

I spent 6 hours this past week talking to veterinary technicians at the CVC in Washington. If you’ve never been, you should treat yourself.  It’s a polished show.  It’s a one of those one-two punch experiences where you realize that in addition to talking about care, service and attention to detail; they’re actually demonstrating how it’s done.  The presenters too offer more than you’d otherwise expect.  Spanning the country…well the globe now that I think of it…they seem handpicked for brains, experience and unmatched exuberance for their topics.   Though caffeine (and delicious food btw) is handy…lining the hallways…at a corner stand, you forget you need it.  The speakers provide that much of a kick all on their own.

But enough gushing, the real reason I’m telling you this is that my topics were not about veterinary nursing.  I was asked to do material for vet techs interested in management and the issues we were addressing were not pleasant: anger in the workplace, micromanagement, disastrous management habits, and the like.  The topics spurred a lot of commentary from the audience, both during and in-between lectures.  I was moved to hear some of the problems that those in attendance were experiencing at their practices back home.   Despite the fact that our industry is chock-a-block with capable, well- intended and highly ethical professionals, too many are working day after day in practices besought with discord, foul ups, contention, hazing…it’s truly astonishing some of the stories you hear.

It’s not a reflection on our capabilities, so much as a fall out from a long list of goals and expectations we’ve heaped upon ourselves.  Think for a second what nearly every one of our practices is trying to be:

A veterinary care center for a diversity of species

A one-stop shop for surgery, pain management, orthopedics, rehab and well care

A laboratory

A pharmacy

A hospital

A kennel

A pet food and supply retail store

A grief center

A switchboard

An education facility

A community advocacy group

A rescue organization and shelter

An animal training ground.

That’s the short list.  I’m sure you could add a couple of bullets on your own (feel free), but probably just as critical we are trying to do it with little to no business management education, insufficient training for paraprofessionals, AND we’re trying to do it in a high-stakes, life-and-death setting.

Working collectively and synergistically is not intuitive.  On the most rudimentary level, people work in teams to get a ball through a hoop, four bases run, or a baton speedily passed around a track field.  In order to accomplish that, they spend weeks, if not months practicing.  Additionally, no individual on those teams stands by and watches passively. In order to succeed, everyone embraces their responsibilities and ‘owns’ the problem.  Even watching from the sidelines is anything but passive.  It is constant observation, cheering and a strong desire to jump in and help.  Imagine now how much work and leadership our efforts need.

If I didn’t see you at these management lectures, I want to see you at future ones.  For the sake of your commitment to the well being of animals and the humans in their lives, those of us in veterinary medicine must contribute to veterinary medical management.  It’s simply too challenging to do it without your help.  Simply put, your participation is essential to our success.

The good news is that your journey towards helping all of us succeed at our slightly-nutty, but wholly heartfelt and worthwhile list of practice goals will enrich your life.  For no leader is ever born great, but made so after years of whittling away at their own personal shortcomings.  In their quest to find solutions, they discover how they contribute to the problem.  Be a part of a solution that will make you a better person and our practices great centers for care.

(Interested in becoming a leader?  The VHMA is an excellent source of continuing education and peer support.)

We Want YOU!!!

I’m doing a couple of management lectures at the upcoming CVC in Washington, DC.  I’m picturing the room.  The last time I did a management lecture to a bunch of technicians, there were eight people in the room.   A lively, interested group, but still there were just 8 bodies in one big room with lots of chairs to spare.

Many veterinary technicians don’t believe that their roles and leadership/management mix.  Their role is patient/client care and that’s where their responsibilities end.  Many are thrilled with the border.

But truth be told, licensed veterinary technicians (just like associate veterinarians ) will be asked to lead not just once, but many times during their career and it’s a responsibility they should embrace.

Working collectively under one roof, dovetailing the efforts of say 8-60…in some case 100-200… veterinary-health-care professionals into one collective, successful effort at great patient and client care is extremely challenging.  We fail at delivering the kind of consistent, mistake-free service we hope to provide, not because members of our team our uninterested, but because a lack of organization and leadership have all of us well-intended people at cross purposes and getting in each other’s way.

Leadership is not just telling people what to do and it’s not being the bad guy.  It’s keeping your eye on the goals and moving a group of individuals towards those goals.  The most successful leaders don’t make enemies in the process, but end up making people feel great about their efforts and encourage individuals to learn and stretch.  They give them an opportunity to top their past accomplishments.

Successful leaders have also spent time being self reflective, because accomplishing the above is a tall, tall order.  You can’t do it unless you’ve reviewed your own behavior and idiosyncrasies to discover what aspects of your own personality might be thwarting the group’s efforts.  Successful leaders work as much on themselves as they do on their group’s goals.

Successful leaders can chart progress not just in their practice’s goals, but in their life’s goals as well, because successful leadership skills bleed into one’s personal life.  Finances improve, relationships improve, old habits get trod down, better and new beginnings awake. 

Yes, there are spreadsheets involved.  Unfortunately you may have to bring a calculator and it’s very likely that you’ll have to remember an employment law or two, but if I’m at the head of the class, I promise you a good time.  And if you embark on the journey by yourself, for whatever reason miss this year’s CVC,  then you can always spot Debbie Hill or Brian Conrad or any of the other fine CVPMs out there at another conference who will be able to give you a helping hand with flourish.   I look forward to meeting all of you at the end of the week!

(Can’t attend the CVC?…check out other upcoming lectures by Halow Consulting)

The Social Media Workshop Express

I’m sitting with Brenda Tassava, CVPM and author of Social Media for the Veterinary Professional, having coffee, reflecting on three whirl wind days of education in Social Media.

For those of you that did not attend, this workshop was an intensive learning session. Our speakers, Brenda, Phillip Barnes and Brie Messier, both of North Star VETS gave all students a thorough immersion into the world of Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Blogging.

The BAVMA group listening to Brenda Tassava's Key Note Speech

Aliza Dubois, Phillip Barnes, Brie Messier and Dr. Jen Tsung

Dr Sally Haddock of St. Mark's Veterinary listens in

Each session was part of a partnership with a State’s practice management association.  In New York we coupled with the Big Apple Veterinary Managers Association a group that boast some 60 interested members, though it is still under one year old.  We met at Pace University’s modern Small Business Development Center, next to the quickly rising Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan.  In New Jersey, we were at Northstar VETS, a truly remarkable veterinary facility and winner of the 2012 Veterinary Economic Best Referral/Emergency Practice Award.  Here we collaborated with the New Jersey Veterinary Hospital Managers Association, a group  I started some 4 years ago and which has grown robustly since.  Some 160 practice managers in the State of New Jersey are now associated with this dynamic organization and attend its quarterly state-wide meetings.

Lee Coudrai of Winslow Animal Hospital, Dan McCann of Marne and Lisa Brezecki all the way from Pa and Newtown Veterinary!

Jerry Rouvrais of Middletown Veterinary and Candi Pisano of  Seagirt

Lastly, we dropped by the Ron and Carlos Hodges’ practice, Valley Central Veterinary Referral in Whitehall, Pa.  Anyone who has not had the pleasure of meeting these two gifted and caring veterinarians needs to make a pilgrimage soon.  They both embody sincere, loving care of animals and a great, happy regard for all of their clients.  They, along with their tireless Administrator, Allyson Tolliver, are a paradigm of what all of us strive to be in this profession.

The good folks of Bloomsburg and Whitehaven Veterinary enjoy coffee before the start of the lecture

Charlene Wandzilak and Christine Britton of the PVMA take notes and listen in

The discussion Brenda and I share is about the education we provided, about the success of each round table, about the prospects of doing another class… but mostly it is about the joy we had in learning this material with all of the attendees…the fun they had…the laughs…the total satisfaction of working with each other to figure something out, making friends along the way and turning a day of work, into an extremely fun (albeit exhausting!) productive day of education.

Charlene Wandzilak, executive director of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, was on hand to discuss the new non-dvm membership category of their prestigious organization.  During the lunch break, all of us hung out with Charlene and talked about her ‘sky’s the limit’ vision for the PVMA…no longer just an association of doctors, but of all veterinary team members… doctors, technicians, client care reps, assistants, kennel attendees and groomers… eager to lift the entire profession to higher and higher levels.  Here’s to all of you who pushed us a little closer to Charlene’s vision.  Here’s hoping that you and Halow Consulting can make many more of these great opportunities happen soon.  Thank you NYC, NJ and PA for a great three days!  You’re Tweet…(sorry)

Is there an easy way to get to Success from Wyalusing?

Is it me?  Did I buy the wrong map?  I’m looking at the cover now.  It says ‘Success.  Scenic and interstate throughways with a driver’s guide to vacation spots, parks and rest areas’.  Hold on, I’m going to check the publication date…over here on the back…nope, 2010 publication date.  That’s got to be current enough.   Let’s reassess my position on the map.  I’m in Wyalusing, Pa. That’s G34.  G34…okay there’s G; there’s 34.  Yep! I’m on the map!  Now let’s just take a look and see if there’s any way out of here to the city of Success that isn’t a pain in the neck.   Here’s a route from my town to Success that will take me through Meaningful Relationship and the town of Fitness, but see no, that part of the road to Meaningful Relationship is practically a sheer-faced wall.   What if I were to go from here, through Fitness and take this back road to Self Awareness?…no, that looks like it’s closed down due to an overflow from Drinking Springs.  I guess if I want to get to Success, I’m going to have to take the long route that runs me past Night School, travels south to Patience, Pa. and then wraps its way up the long, icy, mountainous range of Repeated Failure.  I’m just so not in the mood for a trip up to Repeated Failure.  You ever see the potholes on that road?  Makes you wonder where your tax dollars go, I’ll tell you that.

Of course the other problem with a journey to Success is the cost of gas to get there.  It seems like the needle is always on E and every time you pull over for a refuel, its a couple more cents a gallon and a dirty bathroom. 

I’m trying to think of the last time I made it out of here and got over to Success.  I want to say it was way-more than a year ago.  I wanted to stay, but you know, it’s expensive as hell to stay there and that’s if you can find a room at all.  But the first thing I always do when I get to Success is take a stroll down that bustling boulevard they got.   I love the old-timey feel of it:  the original gas lamps, the stately Victorian homes.  Who are these people that live in these homes?!  And have you ever been there for Christmas?  I think its so cute how all the streets are decked with real pine garlands and all white lights.  Seems like every front yard has a perfect snowman with a carrot for a nose and real coal eyes.  A top hat!  A scarf blowing in the expectant, December air.  There’s also a diner I like to go to that’s frequented by a bunch of writers and artists and a couple of the town’s big shots.  Everybody knows everybody they should know in the town of Success and whenever I get there, I imagine what it would be like to live there full-time and mingle with these almost-celebrities.  At the diner…you can Google it…it’s called the Blue Bird Diner.  I know that seems cloying, but it’s actually quite unassuming.  That is till you get inside and you immediately know that you’re in a diner in a town called Success.  It has the right guests, it has the right wait staff (I mean they’re waiters and waitresses for god sakes, and even they just belong, you know?  How do they always get their hair to fall just so in front of their eyes?  Oh to be one of them, leaning on the breakfast counter and remarking on each other’s tattoos).  It even has the right menu.  Everything has a cilantro this in it or a lime-chipotle that.  You won’t see your plate garnished with a slice of orange and sprig of parsley here.  Each plate comes dressed with an enormous, fresh, California strawberry carved into the shape of a swimming swan. Order the coffee, and honestly, you wish you never had to leave.

Anyway, it’s bright today, so, map in hand, I’m going to load up the truck and see if I can’t get myself over there again.  I’m going to take the dog, a big bottle of water, a sandwich and my camera.  And if I get there, I’m going to spend the night…you know if their hotel isn’t sold out…and I’m going to buy a paper and see if there’s anything in the classifieds about an apartment to rent. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but you know if it turns out its a room in one of those Victorians on the boulevard…oh my god, that would be so great!

I haven’t any idea how I’ll support myself once I’m there.  You know that’s the thing about Success…it’s not the most affordable place to retire to.  I guess what I’m hoping is that just interacting with those folks for a day or two, just walking down those streets, that I’ll capture enough of the essence of the joint to tide me over past my inevitable return to solitary and ordinary, Wyalusing.  Of course, I don’t think anything would be better than living there full time, but for the present, I’m going to try to get there today and just see what happens.