How We Helped Create an Influencer
Introduction
Pavol Valášek has long been one of Slovakia’s top veterinarians and is also one of the most progressive-thinking members of his profession. Yet despite being a well-known figure among veterinarians and pet owners alike, he was almost invisible online. Fixing that was New School Communications’ job.
Today he has more than 8,000 followers, whom we’re successfully converting into customers of his clinic too.
What Approach Did We Take?
Step 1 – Unique Content
Dr. Valášek is a leading authority in his field. He has worked abroad, runs a top-tier clinic, regularly publishes in prestigious journals, and lectures in Slovakia and abroad. Unlike most “influencers,” he actually has something to say.
Step 2 – Precisely Identified Target Groups
The next step was identifying the target groups the content might appeal to.
The first group was the professional community and fellow veterinarians. Dr. Valášek is an active member of the Slovak Chamber of Veterinary Surgeons and regularly publishes in their professional journal.
For this specific target group, we focused on social media and used data to identify which platforms they use, how they behave on them, and what they’re looking for there.
The second group was pet owners. This group is fairly large online and can be split into several sub-types – cat lovers and dog lovers, for instance. The available social media data also revealed other specific groups that we found interesting to target. You’d never believe how many people keep pet rabbits at home.
Step 3 – A Well-Chosen Content Platform
Once you’ve produced content, especially expert content, you need somewhere to put it. The standard choice would be your own website, but in the first round we skipped that more demanding option and instead chose to place it on a third-party platform – a blog on Deník N.
The decision was based on data analysis showing that both target groups had a positive affinity for this outlet and considered it one of their preferred sources. What’s more, besides simple administration, this choice also benefits from the editorial team actively curating blog content. They regularly feature quality content among their picks of the best blogs, and sometimes even put it on the homepage alongside editorial content.
On the blog, we take a systematic approach with various formats, for example the “Ask Your Vet” article series, which, thanks in part to keywords and search engines, keeps performing well long-term.
Step 4 – A Social Media Profile
The data analysis again showed that our first choice should be Facebook. It’s still the dominant social network for the expert target group of veterinarians, and it also delivers the strongest reach numbers among pet owners.
Facebook is therefore currently our main channel for distributing content, and using a public page has also allowed us to target it precisely. We regularly show expert posts to Dr. Valášek’s fellow veterinary professionals, and for those we’re not afraid to use more technical language and images that aren’t always for the faint of heart – yet they work very well within this community.
For the pet-owner target group, it’s naturally more about appealing visuals and advice. Even so, we’re not afraid to raise more controversial topics that spark passionate discussion in this community, such as whether bones are a suitable food for dogs.
Despite the sensitivity of the topics, we regularly join the discussions, whether with advice or an expert opinion, and thanks in part to Dr. Valášek’s dedication, his profile has quickly become a kind of unofficial advice hotline. We’re also helped enormously by the large amount of positive feedback on the doctor’s actual work.
In just over three months since launch, the profile gained more than 8,000 followers, and in June alone it reached over 12,000 interactions. This surprised us, especially since we’re working with a minimal budget for paid content promotion, and most of the reach and interactions come from organic distribution. The next step will be Instagram, which is an equally great platform for this type of content.
Step 5 – Media and Business Synergies
Even though the great numbers and rapid growth of Dr. Valášek’s profile surprised even us a little, the primary goal of the whole effort was never likes and followers. Success on social media also created synergy with media interest in Dr. Valášek – a good example being his appearance on Markíza’s Teleráno.
The main goal, however, was to contribute to the business numbers of VetPoint, the clinic the doctor runs. From the start, we’ve carefully branded the clinic as part of the content we offer, gradually converting demand for veterinary care into actual customers of the clinic.
Here again, we rely on data from our communication, which we use for targeted campaigns featuring specific offers from the clinic.
So how do you create an influencer? Offer unique content, and use data to systematically get it in front of the right target groups.
But the real key to success is always the personality behind it – in this case, Dr. Valášek. He’s the perfect example of what an ideal influencer should look like: a great expert who has something to say, and whose content genuinely helps people solve their problems.
