Today, social media is an acknowledged information hub for every consumer, including those seeking general health-related information.
Having an engaged audience is a measure of social media success.
Many medical practitioners and healthcare organisations successfully use social media platforms to educate and engage their audience and provide service information, and your practice could/should be doing the same.
Leveraging social media in healthcare allows practices to gain valuable data/insights into their customers, attract new patients, create targeted social ads, track ROI (return on investment) and drive traffic to their website and move them into the consideration phase of making a booking.
What is Social Media engagement?
Engagement is defined as interactions performed on any piece of content. For example, on an online video ad, engagement includes clicking on the video, commenting, and clicking on any suggested links in the ad.
Having high engagement rates is something all professional social media accounts are hoping to achieve. High engagement rates means you are building relationships with your followers/customers, which leads to more opportunities, improved brand loyalty, greater reach, and revenue.
Yes, social media can bring your business a lot of benefits, but it is not something that will happen miraculously. Obtaining all the benefits of social media requires continuous work, effort, and strategising.
This article shares key factors to boost social media engagements for your healthcare practice.
1. Social Media Paid Advertising Is Key
If you have just started a Facebook or LinkedIn page. It is unrealistic to expect your page to gain engagements instantly.
You will need to build your following, either inviting those who know you personally or staging your follower growth through paid marketing activities
Allocating a marketing budget for quick results can make users aware of your brand, and bring followers to those interested in your content and what your business offers. Several studies have shown that businesses that invest in paid social media ads reported an increase in their ROI.
Investing in paid social media ads will undoubtedly increase your followers, engagement rate, and social media presence.
2. Not Every Platform Is Suitable for Healthcare Marketing Purposes
A plausible reason why your healthcare marketing strategies aren’t performing well might be that you are using the wrong social media platforms.
- Surveys and research have shown that Facebook is an excellent platform for healthcare providers. Facebook has all the tools necessary for patients to call your practice, make online bookings, or leave an enquiry. It is also one of Australia’s most used social media platforms, with 66% of Australians still using Facebook daily.
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A recent study has also shown that most social media users head to Facebook to look for health-related information compared to other platforms – making this an excellent opportunity for Healthcare practices to build their online presence and share valuable content.
- LinkedIn is the world’s most extensive online professional network. Countless organisations have flocked to LinkedIn to build authority, attract new customers, and develop partnerships. Healthcare organisations using LinkedIn can exhibit their thought leadership and attract a more targeted professional audience. It is an excellent platform for recruitment opportunities too. If your practice is looking to hire doctors or nurses, LinkedIn is most likely the best place to do so.
- You can’t deny Instagram is one of the hottest social media platforms today, with almost 1 billion monthly users worldwide. Built on visual rhythm for mobile devices, Instagram is for those able to pictorially tell their story through image posting, stories (posts, short videos, and feed posts that last 24 hours), and reels (longer form videos).
Medical practices are presented with the opportunity to build an online community and develop lasting relationships with current (and potential) patients through this platform.One advantage of using Instagram for your healthcare business is its very convenient method of linking directly to Facebook, which allows for simultaneous posting to both platforms.
3. Posting Regularly Stimulates Engagements
Posting regularly is vital to the success of your social media strategy. Regular posting will help your business generate leads and make your business memorable.
Healthcare businesses can experience plenty of benefits when posting regularly on their social channels, such as:
- Increased visibility
- Improve conversion rates
- Encourages brand loyalty by connecting with your audience often
- Insights are more accurate
4. Post Short Videos
Healthcare organisations shouldn’t ignore the benefits short-form video content can bring.
Video content, in fact, generates twice as much engagement compared to image posts.
We recommend healthcare practices try this media format with their audience by posting visually engaging videos such as ‘meet the doctors’ videos, and educational and wellness videos.
5. Be Social and Engage with your Audience
To get the most out of your social media presence, you should engage consistently with your audience.
Studies have shown that businesses that focus on building relationships with their followers or like-minded social pages on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn are more likely to see their social pages on top of the search engine results alongside their company website.
Hire a Professional to Help you Execute a Solid Social Media Marketing Plan
Implementing an effective social media strategy can be overwhelming, especially when running a medical practice.
It’s worth considering hiring a professional digital marketing agency like Heartbeat Digital to handle your social media affairs and ensure your healthcare practice gets the engagement and awareness it deserves.
Please note that it’s important to understand your responsibilities by following the guidelines of each social media platform and those provided by governing healthcare bodies such as AHPRA and the TGA.
If you use an agency for social media, it remains your responsibility, and they should not be posting content without your approval and express permission for each piece of social content.
This protects everyone in the chain of your social media endeavours.
