Social media is a powerful tool to build awareness, humanize your brand, engage your key audiences, and boost your reputation. In fact, what was once “word of mouth” has become “world of mouth” thanks to social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Your patients are already engaged in social media, sharing and discussing their health care experiences. In fact, it is often the first place someone will turn for a referral or recommendation:
- Infographics Archive reports that 60% of social media users are most likely to trust social media posts and activity by doctors over any other group.
- According to Healthcare Finance News, 40% of people polled said information found on social media affects their selection of a physician.
- More than 40% of consumers say that information found via social media affects the way they deal with their health according to Mediabistro. This is your opportunity to lead and position your practice as a resource by creating and sharing educational content about health-related issues that can also counteract misleading information.
- MedTechMedia reports that 31% of healthcare professionals use social media for professional networking.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself to see if your practice’s social media efforts are hitting the mark:
Does your practice have social media accounts?
The most used include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Be sure to also consider establishing Google Business listings for your practice locations. This helps people searching the web to find you.
If you have social media accounts, when was your last post?
An inactive account is just as bad as no account at all. Aim to post at least twice a month, preferably once a week. Social media takes time to build and gain traction. Consistency is key. Posts can include links to your blog articles, recognition of major holidays or health observances, photos of your physicians speaking at medical meetings/events, fun team or spirit days in the office (i.e, Halloween, favorite sports team, etc.), physician or staff milestones, or photos of your physicians or team volunteering in the community. You can also share posts from other sources that are relevant to your practice or where your physicians or staff are mentioned or recognized. This is just a partial list of suggestions — involve your staff and brainstorm other ideas.
Do you have followers?
Make sure your physicians, staff, patients, referral sources, vendors and friends of the practice all know about your social media accounts and encourage them to “like” or “follow” them. They can be a great resource for sharing your content and building your audience.
Are you responsive?
If someone comments on your post or leaves a review of your practice, do you respond in a timely manner? You should. The power of social media is engagement.
Are you providing value?
Deliver quality content that speaks to your audience. Monitor which posts elicit the greatest engagement and focus on delivering more of that type of content.
Is your content visual?
Enhance your posts with photos or video whenever possible. These add impact and help attract interest.
Here are a couple of practices that do a great job with their social media efforts:
https://www.facebook.com/TexasRetinaAssociates/
https://www.facebook.com/JewettOrtho/
Feel free to contact us if you want to learn more about how Medical Marketing Inc. can help improve your practice’s social media.