Social media is changing the way we communicate, live our lives, and the way we do business.

One vet practice in Airdrie, Alberta is a prime example of how social media can be used to interact with clients whether they are in the corrals or out in the pasture.

Vetrinarian Agri-Health Services’ Dr. Cody Creelman is the one leading the charge using a multitude of tools to stay connected.

“So each client has their own personal preference.   Some clients prefer to phone and leave a voicemail, some prefer to text, now that I have opened up these different platforms for them to communicate some of them choose to communicate with me via twitter, some want to send me a snap, some want to send me a voice message,” says Creelman. “They can pick their personal preference on how they want to communicate and it has really left an open ended dialogue with a lot of them.  So, we can just talk on a daily basis; say snap-chat for example they can easily send me pictures and video of something they have a video on and I can respond.  They know I am going to be paying attention to that because of the immediacy is so key with snap-chat.  So now I can respond back to them because if I don’t just like I would if they got back to me with an email or something like that.”

Creelman says it took him a bit to win over his partners at the vet practice that this is the future.

“It has done so many things and I don’t think my partners at first really understood what I was trying to do they’re of an older generation, which is fine, and it is a little difficult for them to wrap their heads around but just that alone they’ve really seen what I can do and they made the comment that it has helped put the practice on the map and let people know who we are and what we do from that perspective.

He says that has deepened the connection between them and their clients.

“It has really helped with client relationship and communication because people get to know us at a deeper level because in the past we have really only gotten to know our clients when we were on-farm and now we can tell our story at any time and that has been a really big help as well.  It has really created a really  in-depth relationship.”

He says social media is giving everyone in the ag industry a chance to tell their story.

“I just really encourage everyone in the animal agriculture industry to take hold and tell it for themselves because if we don’t tell our story somebody else is going to tell it for us.  So we need empower ourselves by being comfortable in telling our story and whether that be the good, bad or ugly we just have to tell it all.”