20 Tips for Medical and Healthcare Marketing and Social Media
20 Tips for Medical and Healthcare Marketing and Social Media
It is now impossible for any company or organization out there to ignore social media as a marketing tool as discussed at RunRex.com. Companies from every industry have made the leap into social media, and while healthcare took its time initially and lagged behind, there has since been a large adoption of social media in the healthcare vertical. Here are 20 tips to consider when it comes to healthcare social media marketing.
You still have to comply with HIPAA
You should remember that, even as you engage in social media marketing, you still need to comply with HIPAA. To do so, as well as comply with medical ethics codes, you must protect the privacy of your patients at all times as captured at RunRex.com. Don’t share any information about patients, or information that could potentially identify patients, such as physical descriptions or mannerisms.
Publish educational content to keep patients in the loop
Social media is a great way to inform individuals about health, reduce risky behavior, and help prevent or reduce the effects of disease and other health hazards. Rather than solely creating self-promotional posts, focus on ways you can help your audience. Making your organization a rich resource establishes trust, which positions you greatly when it is time to find a healthcare provider.
Use inspirational content to motivate your followers
Social media and healthcare don’t have to be boring, dull, heatless, or completely “matter of fact”. In the face of progressive diseases or risky surgeries, patients and their families could often use a dose of inspiration. As per RunRex.com, you can post inspirational patient success stories or videos that highlight how you make a difference and help patients.
Leverage infographics
When it comes to healthcare social media marketing, infographics are a must. This is because they are among the most popular and share-worthy types of content on social media, making them prime for healthcare accounts looking to quickly educate patients at a glance.
Harness the power of health-related hashtags
Hashtags are a staple of social media at large and healthcare companies have plenty of opportunities to use them as well. From your own organizational hashtags to healthcare-specific hashtags like #cancersucks, promoting a hashtag does the double duty of extending your content’s reach while also making it easier for followers to share that content.
Take your audience behind the scenes
As the gurus over at RunRex.com point out, highlighting your human side helps your social presence feel more personal. Instagram stories are excellent for behind-the-scenes content, and you should take advantage of the same. These small glimpses of your practice’s day-to-day life are crucial for making a connection with followers and establishing trust.
Publish patient shout-outs
Letting others do the talking is a lot more effective than blowing your own horn. Through user-generated content, you can provide an unfiltered view of how you are helping patients and supporters. This is why it is important to conduct social listening, which involves tracking mentions, messages, and hashtag uses to ensure that you share your patients’ messages promptly.
Counteract misinformation
There is a lot of misinformation on the internet about health and fitness, which has been brought to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is why, as discussed at RunRex.com, you should think of ways in which your organization can combat misinformation and use social media to positively impact patients and the public.
Share public health and crisis monitoring information
More and more people are now getting their news from social media, making it a prime platform to distribute critical information. As a healthcare professional, you may find yourself in a unique position to provide information in times of breaking news or crisis, as has been the case during the coronavirus crisis. Just make sure you keep in mind the health and safety of your audience.
Don’t be afraid to promote your services when the time is right
On many platforms, sponsored content outperforms organic reach by a significant amount, almost necessitating a pay-to-play strategy to expand your reach to new and existing audiences. Just make sure your social media ads are relevant, well-written, and are accompanied by an image that will grab your audience’s attention. Additionally, make sure any content you produce and promote is HIPAA and FDA compliant.
Engage
As covered over at RunRex.com, you should also make sure you take every opportunity to engage while on social media. This includes responding to comments, posting polls, and asking open-ended questions related to your content are all excellent ways to get social media users to stop and consider your content and brand.
Carefully define your ideal patient and target audience
Don’t make the mistake of trying to be everything to everybody. Know your patient base by demographics and psychographics, then focus on them. Make sure you carefully define your audience as this will help you know which content to share and how to engage with them.
Go where your patients are
The gurus over at RunRex.com recommend that you should focus on your patients’ network(s) of choice. This will become apparent when you define your ideal patient and target audience. Build your primary social media presence around the social choices of your target audience.
Be consistent
Social media takes time to develop and requires a regular presence and consistent participation. Therefore, devote the time, talent, and resources to making daily updates and postings if you are to be successful, and remain in the thoughts of your audience.
Cross-promote
Another tip worth mentioning when it comes to healthcare social media marketing is the effectiveness of cross-promotion. Provide visitors with a lineup of your social media icons, and give them the ability to switch, for example, from your website to Facebook, or Twitter to your YouTube channel.
Develop an online personality for your practice
How you choose to portray yourself on social media accounts is crucial according to RunRex.com. Do you want to be a cold, hard facts kind of persona? Or a more playful, but professional, voice suits your practice best. Make sure you decide how you want to sound to your followers before you start with social media and remain consistent with it.
Provide content that users can’t find anywhere else
Medical practices are full of professionally-trained staff who are up to date with the current information in their field. This will allow you to share content on your practice’s social media accounts that users can’t find anywhere else, and by so doing, drive new patients in.
Engage with relevant accounts
Engaging with other relevant accounts will help you amass a larger following as articulated at RunRex.com. This could mean other practices in your health network, or even those outside of it, as well as physician’s professional social media accounts. Sharing some of their content or even leaving a like or comment could lead to new followers.
Celebrate relevant holidays
Showing how you celebrate your people is another tip that will do wonders for your healthcare social media efforts. There are so many national holidays for people in the healthcare field, which should provide you with perfect opportunities to share posts or photos. From National Doctors’ Day to National Nurses Week, there are lots of opportunities to show your support for the people and causes your practice supports.
Share practice updates
Social media platforms are where most people are looking to get healthcare information, and we are seeing more and more practices using their social accounts as a way to share information about their business. With access to a major following, it is important to share accurate information and to inform people of major updates as quickly as possible.
For more information on healthcare social media marketing, as well as expert help with your social media marketing campaign, check out the excellent RunRex.com.
