5 veterinary digital marketing trends to keep in mind for 2025

February 5, 2025

If you’re ready to supercharge your digital marketing strategy throughout 2025, here are some top tips, tricks and trends to keep in mind.

  1. Hyper-personalised content

We recently conducted a Communications Survey, which revealed that more than 84% of the 2,023 respondents named Facebook as one of the social media platforms they engage with regularly. WhatsApp (64.90%), YouTube (29.96%) and Instagram (24.91%) were the next most popular social platforms, with Threads (1.93%) and Snapchat (3.51%) proving to be the least-used amongst our respondents.

We then asked our respondents whether they followed their veterinary practice on any social media platforms and once again, with 43.70% Facebook came out on top. In fact, Facebook was significantly ahead of the pack here, as WhatsApp and Instagram came in second and third place with just 5.78% and 4.84% respectively.

Notably, 39.5% of respondents noted that they don’t follow their veterinary practice on social media at all. The most common reason for this is that it simply never occurred to them to use social media as a way to keep up with their vet, which probably wouldn’t be the case if they were being provided with personalised, highly relevant content.

A further 4.30% noted that they didn’t want to be pressured by their vet, so it’s clear here that there’s a balance to be achieved when it comes to using social media as a way to connect in a meaningful and respectful way with your audience of owners.

One of the most effective ways to ensure your digital marketing strategy is shaped to provide optimal value to your pet owners is to focus on creating personalised emails, targeted social media ads and pet-specific reminders for things like flea treatments and vaccinations. This will enable you to stand out online and position yourself as a team of veterinary professionals who understand precisely what your clients need from you.

2. Video content for education and engagement

We’ve seen a wider trend for pet owners turning to social media for support and advice, with the RSPCA noting a rise of 3% between 2023 and 2024 [1].

This offers an opportunity for you to create content that answers the queries pet owners are already searching for online. Many social platforms support short-form video content, including YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and there are many different topics that you could cover in a succinct and engaging manner, including pet nutrition and grooming. The key here is to focus on engaging pet owners in a way that feels relatable and to deliver information in a format that is easy to digest.

3. Enhanced messaging tools

It’s hugely important that your clients are able to contact your practice in a way that is easy and convenient for them, so now is the ideal time to think about whether you’re offering enough messaging tools. Our Communications Survey revealed that phone and email remain extremely popular methods of communication, however increasing numbers of people would also find it valuable to be able to contact their vet via text and WhatsApp.

You may find that your clients have similar preferences, however you may also find that they would like other communication options such as a live chat feature on your website that allows them to obtain instant answers to their queries.

When reviewing your practice’s communication strategy, it is vital to ensure that you have the capacity to properly support additional messaging tools in order to maintain good response times and client satisfaction.

Our survey respondents stated that when asking a question via a social platform, they would expect to receive a response within 24 hours, however, (and thankfully!) only 5.65% would expect to receive an answer within a few minutes.

Conversely, clients clearly wouldn’t be happy to sit on the phone for long periods of time waiting for their call to be answered, which is why understanding how you should prioritise different communication channels is key.

4. Focus on pet health education

While no one wants to be lectured when they’re browsing social media, there is certainly an appetite for trustworthy digital content that is designed to equip pet owners with the skills and knowledge to properly care for their animals. In fact, RSPCA research has found that 22% of 18-34 year olds [2] are already turning to social media for advice.

Our Communications Survey revealed that almost 65% of respondents thought it was very important for veterinary practices to share content based on risk awareness on their social channels. Additionally, more than 50% thought it was very important for practices to share educational content.

Focusing on the creation of educational campaigns based around preventative care often resonate on social media and there are many different topics to cover here, including grooming to maintain a healthy coat, nutrition for healthy weight management, and tips to support the mental well-being of pets through the use of brain toys and play.

When putting together this type of content strategy, it’s also important to look at the types of content your audience prefers to engage with, which should inform how you share your valuable information. Again there are many options other than social media posts to consider here, including hosting interactive webinars, publishing online blogs, or sharing downloadable resources.

5. AI-driven search and generative AI

Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and AI-driven search engines are significantly transforming the ways in which pet owners are seeking veterinary advice. For this reason, it is important to audit your website and identify optimisation opportunities that will enable you to maintain your visibility in search results.

Experts have tested a number of strategies for optimising content for AI search [3], including incorporating more keywords and technical terminology. Interestingly, the strategies that yielded the most beneficial outcomes were citing sources and incorporating both statistics and quotations, as well as ensuring that content is articulate and easy to understand.

Keeping this shift towards AI in mind is a real opportunity for you to establish yourself and your practice as an authoritative and trustworthy voice that pet owners can turn to for advice and support whenever it’s required.

Resources:

 

[1] https://www.rspca.org.uk/en/whatwedo/latest/kindnessindex/annual/report2024#:~:text=More%20people%20are%20turning%20to%20social%20media%20for%20advice%20and,(22%25%20vs%207%25)

[2] https://www.rspca.org.uk/en/whatwedo/latest/kindnessindex/annual/report2024#:~:text=More%20people%20are%20turning%20to%20social%20media%20for%20advice%20and,(22%25%20vs%207%25)

[3] https://www.searchenginejournal.com/researchers-show-how-to-rank-in-ai-search/504260/

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