As a healthcare provider, you know that often your patients shy away or delay scheduling an appointment at your office because they are anxious, they believe that symptoms will go away on their own or they are just “too busy” and won’t take the time for a visit.
Ask yourself, "Are you doing the same with your social media presence?"
The benefits of having a social media presence for your practice are growing, with more than 65 percent of our population using at least one social media network in the United States.
By using social media, you can create your brand voice, increase your followers, encourage engagement and even reach an audience that will potentially get more patients in your door. And, one of the best benefits is that you can track your marketing efforts!
So, what should you be focusing on when it comes to your medical office's social media channels? We have the answer for you below!
Creating/Optimizing Your Social Media Channels
Before we dive in, I just want to give an important reminder to all healthcare professionals. While it is fun to post to social media, healthcare social media accounts are subject to rules and regulations, such as HIPAA compliance and FDA rules. And, before posting any patient photos, always have permission to do so first.
If you aren’t sure about these rules and regulations, it may be best to seek help from a lawyer or someone who is a compliance expert.
Now that we have that out of the way, we can officially get started!
If you're just getting started in the social media world, here are a couple of resources to help you create pages from scratch:
If it has been a while since you looked at your practice’s social platforms, we recommend starting from the beginning by making sure that you have optimized Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts.
When creating or optimizing your channels, take time to build your brand voice. This will help you gain credibility with your audience.
You want to think about what you are saying and recognize the tone of your posts. One of the biggest mistakes that business owners make is treating their business page the same as their personal page.
Creating Social Posts
For your medical office, posts should be educational, fun and, most importantly, professional! Remember, you want your audience to relate to your posts, but you still need to make sure your content is professional.
We suggest highlighting staff birthdays, success stories, photos of team building activities, the office decorated for special occasions, fun facts about your industry and if any, events and promotions.
Before you just start posting randomly, make sure you have a strategy in place! Using a content calendar can help you plan your posts on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
To attract followers and encourage engagement, these listings should, at a minimum, include your business name, hours, address, a short business description and photos of you and around the office. It’s important to include photos of your team, too!
To help you grow your audience, we recommend asking your patients to follow you on social media. It can even be in the form of a sign hanging in your waiting area that may say “Don’t forget to check in with our scheduling coordinator and follow us on Facebook!”
This will help you gain followers who are interested in your brand and will more likely engage with your platforms as well as reach the right people.
Keep in mind, you don’t want to be the business that posts too little, too much or not at all.
If you aren’t sure about how much posting is appropriate or if you just don’t have the time because you are seeing patients, we recommend asking for help from a digital marketing agency.
An agency can build an effective strategy and engage on posts so that your followers feel valued and heard.
Boosting Posts
When possible, it also doesn’t hurt to boost your Facebook posts by adding a dollar amount to the post. This marketing tactic can increase the number of people that see your content.
But, before you boost, ask yourself if the post is worthy of exposure. This post should have a photo, have a clear call to action and have appropriate content.
If the person you reach is interested, they will click to learn more, which may result in a potential new patient.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, you want to make sure that your time and investment is helping.
By using tracking tools available to you from each social media platform, this will help you recognize your success and nonsuccess by seeing what is working or what isn’t working so you can then make necessary changes.
We know that accomplishing a successful social media strategy isn’t easy, but when you do take on the challenge, you and your medical practice will see that it is well worth the time and the money investment!
If you aren't sure where to start with social media strategy, our team at RevLocal would love to help! Learn all about our social media plan here or request a demo with one of our marketing experts today.