These days, engaging in healthcare social media marketing isn’t an option. Many of your competitors are already out there – along with members of your target audience.
Consider these facts: nearly 70% of doctors use social media for business, according to the Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society. Meanwhile, the National Center for Biotechnology Information reports 41% of healthcare consumers use social media to choose providers.
So if you’re new to healthcare social media marketing, here are some tips to help you get started, or level up your current program.
Tap into the vast numbers of potential patients
According to Digital Information World, research shows people spend an average of 142 minutes per day on social networking and messaging platforms. Meanwhile, Statista reports the five top platforms used by business to consumer (B2C) marketing professionals are:
- YouTube
In 2021, Facebook remains the most frequented social platform, Sprout Social notes, with an influx of baby boomers who generally have more money to spend. And its size makes it a logical place to advertise. Meanwhile, Hootsuite says Facebook currently has over 2.74 billion users, and it’s experienced a 12% increase year-over-year.
(Just in case you were wondering, younger people haven’t abandoned it.)
Now, are you ready to reach out to the untold number of potential patients on Facebook, promote your services, and introduce your brand to a whole new audience? Let’s get started!
Set your healthcare social media marketing goals
No marketing plan succeeds without goal setting. In the B2C space, social media marketing typically concentrates on community engagement and awareness. Engagement is how often social content is liked, commented upon, and shared; while Brand awareness is the level of consumer familiarity with a product or service.
To start, you may set the following quarterly, monthly and weekly goals for your healthcare social media marketing effort:
- Posts receiving the most likes, comments, and shares
- Number of website visitors coming from your social feeds
- Percentage of website traffic driven by social media
In order to capture these metrics, many small business owners turn to Google Analytics. There is no cost to use the basic service. Here’s a Google Analytics Academy video walking beginners through its setup and use.
Once you have some data, you will be able to determine which platforms and content are raising awareness of your brand. You’ll also see how well you are engaging prospective patients, and generating leads.
Provide helpful healthcare information
We’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. Practitioners need to make their websites as attractive and user-friendly as possible. In fact, it’s critical to healthcare social media marketing success.
Visitors who click over from social media to your homepage should immediately get a sense of who you are and what you have to offer. They must also be able to locate the information they need. Otherwise, they won’t stick around.
Use social media posts to link to any or all of the following content on your website:
- Informational brochure about a procedure
- Video introducing yourself and your practice
- Brief bios and pictures of practitioners and staff
- Email signup form (for updates and newsletters)
Pay attention to patient privacy
One of the most effective tools in your healthcare social media marketing toolkit is before and after patient photos. Incorporating video or written testimonials from happy patients is another powerful marketing strategy. Both provide strong visual proof you’re the go-to provider in your specialty.
That said, a practice owner should never use a patient’s image or words in their marketing without the patient’s permission.
As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains, you need to protect their health information per HIPAA guidelines. HIPAA differentiates marketing communications from communications not meant to sell the practitioner’s services.
LeadingResponse can help
We hope you found this introduction to social media helpful. We’ll be following up soon with another blog offering more tips and tactics you can put to use right away.
Our marketing consultants are experts in healthcare social media marketing to promote all types of practices. Learn more about how we can help you boost awareness of your brand among prospective and existing patients and grow your practice.