Are you at a standstill with your medical practice's social media platforms? Are you new to social media and want to leverage it to grow your medical practice? Are you looking to get new patients/clients through social media?
Social media is slowly becoming the main source of information these days, especially with the influence of the Millennial and their drive toward a healthy, productive, and balanced work and personal life, and Gen Z taking social media and technology to the extreme by implementing it in everyday life. This is why it's so important to "hop on the bandwagon" - making sure your practice is relevant is the key to successful social media campaigns. The likelihood of finding a new medical practice via social media has increased over the years, and practices around the country are more consistently seeing their referral source as a social media outlet.
When you leverage social media to grow your medical practice:
- Your patients have high-level, easy-to-access customer service right through the social media platform.
- You provide your patients with a level of transparency into your practice, your brand, and your vision - and you get to share it with them whenever you post/interact.
- You get the opportunity to represent your practice the way you want to be perceived.
- You afford the opportunity to show your practice's expertise, and how current and timely you are with your information, methods, skill sets, and practices.
- You get to showcase why you are better than your competitors.
- You can highlight your brand through brand ambassadors if it aligns with your medical practice's budget and direction.
- You have the opportunity to positively impact your patients consistently by engaging them outside of the doctor's office.
- You are able to connect with others who are not (yet/) patients and start conversations with them on a platform they're comfortable with.
- You are likely to increase not only foot traffic to your practice, but increase website and social media platform traffic.
- You save big on marketing because social media is cost-effective and can be self-managed.
Here are some tips and tricks for growing your business through the use of these social media platforms:
Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, and Twitter
Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, and Twitter may be different platforms, but you will find that you will share the same content across all of them. Whether you want to keep your followers educated about one of your specializations through your posts and story, or letting one of your employees take over your practice's account(s/) for the day to draw in followers, you can find creative ways to grow your audience, which in turn can result in growing your clientele.
When it comes to using these platforms:
- Make sure every post has an intention. Your medical practice needs to be mindful of how you communicate with your audience.
- Send the message that your medical practice is professional and comfortable.
- Write posts that are relatable, funny, information, out-of-box, and/or unique.
- Create a content calendar to track what you will post when.
- Optimize your profiles with descriptive content and SEO keywords.
- On Facebook, make sure your followers can leave reviews.
- Create community and event pages and accounts, based on your medical practice's social and event schedule. And keep it up to date!
- Create groups to target specific patient demographics, without violating HIPAA, of course.
- Be strategic with group, event, and account names. You want your consumers to be able to find you easily through search methods.
For example, if you have a Family Medical Practice named Smith & Smith, you want to add "Family Practice" or "Family Medical" or "Medical Practice" or "Family Medical Practice" to your name or descriptor, so you're easy to find. By leaving those details out, you risk non-searchability. - Be consistent with adding to your stories and pages. Stories, whether on Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat are effective ways for mass consumption and interest. By adding to your story, you are engaging your clientele regularly while always staying "on their mind".
- Vanity metrics do not mean anything. What matters is the number of patients you have obtained and retained, not the number of likes on your post.
- Use the platform as a form of customer serviceonline help.
Companies with Pinterest accounts has become a common marketing practice and has expanded over the years. Medical Practices that leverage Pinterest can contribute to not only their community but to all Pinterest users. Consider posting the following posts:
- Posts for each of your social media platform posts.
- Posts for each of your website's blog posts.
- Posts for each YouTube video created.
- Posts for each job posting on your website, LinkedIn, and other job search engines.
- Post for any articles created specifically for Pinterest.
- Posts for any marketing content created for your medical practice.
- Posts for any educational courses or webinars you have conducted that have been made public.
- Posts of ideas to start a conversation.
Remember, like most social media sites, the visual aspect of your posts is extremely important. Create "cover photos" that draw in your patients with color, personality, and design.
YouTube
YouTube has over a billion active users and reaches more 18- to 49-year-olds than any cable network in the United States. 33% of online activity is watching videos, and the average YouTube visitor spends just under two hours per month consuming information.
When creating content for your medical practice, you have many options to connect with different types of viewers/(potential/) clients:
- Create a video about your practice and highlight all of your offerings and expertise.
- Create a video of client testimonials. Word of mouth is still the most reliable version of marketing.
- Create a video to educate your viewers. Create useful healthcare content. Make videos with tips and tricks associated with your practice's offerings.
- Turn blog posts into videos for a more interactive experience.
- Create a video highlighting your practice's latest techniques, your recent medical device reviews, and/or newly purchased technology.
Once you create YouTube content, don't forget to post it across all of your social media platforms. Typically, the process of creating and releasing a video is:
- Create the video.
- Upload your video to YouTube.
- Create your video title, descriptors, and closed captions.
- Add your medical practice's website and social media links to the website and in the YouTube description.
- Post your video to all of your social media platforms.
Looking to Invest in Your Practice's Social Media?
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