With over 74% of people using the internet engaging in social media, it’s more important now than ever before to make sure your practice is keeping up with your internet presence. Often, we hear from certain specialties that feel their demographic doesn’t utilize most features of online marketing, and that they don’t need to invest. However, the assumption that certain healthcare specialties aren’t “fun” to market is something that plagues the industry, and couldn’t be any further from the truth.
Whether you are beginning your online marketing campaign now or you’re just trying to build on it, it’s important to focus on the fundamentals of branding. Sure, your SEO Specialist can help get you to page one on Google, but why would someone searching want to pick YOU over anyone else?
Use Social Media to Broaden Your Reach
More than anything, social media can help you become engaging, regardless of what your specialty may be. Nearly 35% of US users post about their friends and family’s health experiences on social media, so the chances that someone is talking about your specialty is fairly high.
Start Local, Then Branch Out
Most people take the social media approach of throwing a ton of posts out there and seeing what sticks, but this can end up delaying your campaign’s success. Instead, focus first on getting your patients and employees to like and share your page, then begin to expand. Social media is practically word of mouth on steroids, so if you begin the chatter and use those closest to you to spread the word, you’ll begin to pick up reach. Plus, people like to see what others are talking about, so a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend on Facebook might end up becoming your next patient!
Use Engaging Content and Media to Pique Interest
If you’re just posting links back to your site on your social media profiles, you’re hurting more than you’re helping. Are those videos that go viral online always pushing for sales? The answer is usually no, and that’s where engagement comes in! Promote what’s happening in your office by showing photos of your staff, or take the extra ten minutes to create a custom graphic for an upcoming event or special on Facebook. Something new and shiny in someone’s timeline will stop them in their tracks and help your social media reach. If you don’t have events or specials, utilize infographics or shares from other well-known pages. They’ve already build up engagement (which you can tell because you found them online), so you know it’s working. Remember, it’s not always about working hard, it’s working smart!
Quizzes and Polls Get Conversation Flowing
I think we all can admit that we’ve taken a quiz on Buzzfeed a few times in our lives, or found ourselves trying to figure out what character from our favorite TV show we’d be via a Facebook share. You too can make this sort of engagement happen within the healthcare space! Utilizing HIPAA compliant quizzes that offer scoring techniques is an easy way to have fun and get engagement while also generating leads. Think of a few topics, or ask your marketing representative what’s popular, and off to the races you go!
Use Reviews to Your Advantage
With 42% of individuals viewing health information on social media looking at health-related consumer reviews, it’s no doubt that this is a crucial step in the decision making process for patients. If you’re not focusing on your reviews, you’re missing out on a huge part of your engaging online marketing campaign.
Respond, Regardless of the Review
Time and time again, practices will let their reviews just build up and sit there. One of the easiest way to get your engagement flowing is to respond to the reviews, both positive and negative. If you have a HIPAA compliant marketing firm working for you, they will assist in letting you know the proper action to take for response. Negative responses do require a different type of tone, but ultimately those who are reading your reviews are just looking to see how you handle situations. Do not be combative or defensive, but rather let them know that you are going to work on a resolution. If the review is positive, then have fun! Searchers love to see a practice invested in their patients’ feedback.
Seek out High Quality Reviews
All reviews are important, but those that contain relevant keywords for your practice can help build up your presence even more. Plus engaging reviews often are a little more involved and tell a story without releasing confidential patient information. You know your practice the best, so don’t be afraid to ask your great patients for reviews. Engaging them in a conversation and then following up with “would you mind leaving a review about your experience with our practice?” will help the patient feel important to your practice as a whole!
Overall, the stigma behind healthcare marketing being boring can be pushed aside. While it does require a bit of research and a great deal of monitoring, having the right marketing team on your side can make that easy.
Contact Practis today to learn more about how you can take your online marketing campaign to the next level!