AAEP session casts social media as core client communication tool

A new EquiManagement report from the 2025 AAEP Convention underscores how firmly social media has moved into the core communications toolkit for equine veterinary practices. In the session, Mike Pownall, DVM, MBA, said practices should approach social platforms with clear goals, audience targeting, platform-specific timing, and messaging that reflects brand values, rather than posting casually or reactively. He framed effective content around four functions — educate, entertain, engage, and evangelize — and said storytelling and video now carry outsized weight. (equimanagement.com)

The advice builds on years of discussion inside equine practice about where clients get information first. Earlier AAEP business coverage reported that many horse owners start with search engines and social platforms rather than a veterinarian, and that first exposure can shape beliefs even when the information is incomplete or wrong. That makes a practice’s website, social channels, and online presence part of the clinical communication environment, especially for preventive care, disease education, and expectation-setting. (equimanagement.com)

In the new coverage, Pownall said practices should think through desired outcomes, intended audience, timing, platform, and message before posting. He advised responding quickly to negative reviews with humility and sincerity, while remembering the broader audience is watching. He also argued that unpaid reach on major platforms is often limited, citing August 2025 usage figures showing broad consumer attention on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but warning that practices may see less than 10% organic reach without paid support. His conclusion: social media should be split between long-term brand building and specific initiatives tied to measurable practice goals. (equimanagement.com)

That strategic framing is consistent with broader industry guidance. A 2025 Zoetis worksheet on veterinary social media recommends keeping websites, social accounts, and reputation management aligned, checking moderation settings, posting regularly, sharing client-friendly educational resources, and watching trends through tools such as Google Alerts and AVMA updates. AVMA has also expanded cyberbullying and reputation-management resources for veterinarians, reporting in 2022 that 40% of surveyed members said they or someone they work with had experienced workplace cyberbullying. (zoetisus.com)

Expert and industry commentary around veterinary social media has increasingly focused on risk management as much as reach. AVMA coverage of reputation strategy has advised practices to answer legitimate complaints with competence, confidence, and compassion. WSAVA’s professional wellness guidelines go further, linking social media to cyberbullying, public shaming, and pressure from clients seeking free services online. Those guidelines cite AVMA and Banfield survey findings that negative client interactions are common and can affect mental wellbeing and retention. (avma.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, especially practice leaders, the takeaway is that social media policy now overlaps with client communication, misinformation response, staff wellbeing, and business operations. A good post can reinforce trust before a client ever calls the clinic. A bad comment thread, unanswered review, or unclear direct-message policy can do the opposite. In equine practice, where client education often happens across preventive care, chronic management, and urgent field situations, a disciplined social presence can help practices set expectations, direct pet parents to credible information, and reduce the vacuum where misinformation spreads. (equimanagement.com)

There’s also a practical resource question underneath the messaging advice. If organic reach is shrinking, as Pownall suggested, then social media becomes less of a free communications channel and more of a managed investment. That means veterinary teams may need clearer ownership of content calendars, comment moderation, escalation protocols, and metrics, along with guardrails for when client-specific issues should move off-platform into formal medical or service channels. This is partly an inference from the combined guidance, but it follows directly from the emphasis on measurement, moderation, and reputation protection in the available sources. (equimanagement.com)

What to watch: The next step is likely less about whether practices should use social media and more about how formally they manage it — through written policies, team training, paid amplification, and clearer boundaries between public education, customer service, and medical communication. Expect future AAEP and industry guidance to keep pushing practices toward more structured, defensible digital communication systems. (equimanagement.com)