Social Media Marketing: The Marketing for Doctors and Dentists
Social media marketing is already part of many people’s lives, who spend hours and hours watching stories, posts, and videos every day. But unfortunately, many who manage clinics, offices, and hospitals forget that part of the content is related to healthcare marketing strategy. Therefore, maintaining a relationship with your followers through these networks helps maintain relevance and win new patients.
Do you want to understand why and how to use social networks strategically in the healthcare area? Then, continue reading to discover more about this crucial element of medical marketing.
Advantages of social media for medical marketing
Who doesn’t follow celebrities or professionals of interest on social media? Your patients or potential patients do the same with those in the healthcare area. Whether to stay informed or keep up with news in areas of interest, they certainly want that connection.
Now let’s understand why to keep your networks up to date with strategic content creation.
Improve the visibility of the clinic
The ancients already said: that those who are not seen are not remembered, and nowadays, one of the most important ways to increase their visibility is through social networks. People look for content online, as do clinics and doctors when they need care.
We separate the audience into a buying funnel that starts with awareness in marketing. For example, this is an important moment of connection when we talk about healthcare. The patient still doesn’t know that they need a particular healthcare professional, a doctor, or a dentist. Maybe he even feels some discomfort or pain, but he still considers it normal.
As your content gains reach (a metric that networks use to show the number of people who have seen something), more people enter this awareness phase. And quality content should convince them to follow your work even more so they can move on to the next step: consideration.
Your potential patients will eventually start thinking about scheduling an appointment through this first contact.
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Inform and educate potential patients
Since the invention of Google, it has become much easier to get healthcare information. There’s only one problem: many publications we find online are wrong or spread fake news. Therefore, medical marketing has a very important educational role.
How about starting to show important, true, and relevant information to your target audience? When you begin creating educational material, you start to captivate your audience. For example, everyone wants to know how to better their healthcare and have a good lifestyle, and professionals in the field can and should help.
In addition to teaching, healthcare professionals must direct their audience to other reliable information sources. They share content from someone who produces something relevant and important and lends authority. Make it clear to your patients how you are connected with the area and are always up to date with the news.
Social networks accompany the patient during the decision process
When the patient is still thinking about whether to schedule an appointment, he ends up turning to social media. After all, what better place to find out about something than in a community with people who have already been there? Or in a network of a doctor who specializes in the subject?
Your patient probably went through several places on the internet before picking up the phone to call the clinic. So, whoever manages to accompany you in this process is more likely to gain your trust.
Some types of content are better for this purpose, such as posts about procedures and specialties, lives to ask questions, and question boxes in stories. However, every person you answer is a potential patient. Remember that.
Engage with the community on social media
As the name implies, social networks allow the creation of a community, whether local. It is possible to talk with various people and even with other healthcare professionals through their sessions. This creates a new “word of mouth marketing” style where your Instagram sign is as important as a friend telling another about you.
Interacting with people in your area who may be interested in medical services is essential. Social media marketing in healthcare makes it easier, but everyone needs to take time out of the day to interact and generate positive reactions to their brand.
This is valid for all types of networks. From Facebook to Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter, they allow you to win over your audience through dialogue. Remember that the closer you are, the greater your likelihood of succeeding. The more you will be remembered by those who interact with your content.
Generate an online after-sales experience
Let’s say you had plastic surgery recently. After the procedure, he scheduled the return for the next fifteen days and went home. Naturally, this distance from the healthcare professional makes you feel insecure about recovery and results, but you only get more information at the next appointment. It’s a pretty nasty situation.
With social networks, contact doesn’t stop! For instance, in the case of plastic surgery, the patient would be able to continue following tips and care through the surgeon’s account. I could even ask questions inbox or comments, and I would certainly be much more satisfied.
By maintaining the connection even after the appointment has taken place, we can retain the patient. As a result, he visits the doctor more often and even performs new procedures over time.
Create a practical way to get in touch
The telephone has always been the best way to contact any clinic, but it has slowly become obsolete. In a multitasking world like ours, chatting, asking questions, and even scheduling appointments without needing a call is great! Therefore, social networks are becoming a form of contact for potential patients.
They love speed and practicality. After all, they don’t even have to stop scrolling their feed to get an appointment. So when you start using networks as a marketing strategy, you need to be aware of these contacts. Leaving people waiting for an answer or ignoring them completely is the best way to lose patients.
Content relevant to social media
Yes, social media is very important! But how do you achieve success through content? We have separated some content that helps make your networks more engaged and interesting to users. But it’s always important to consider your target audience’s profile before you start publishing.
Healthcare information content
As we mentioned above, your audience is eager for reliable information. Therefore, take advantage of your in-depth knowledge and constant contact with patients to answer common questions. For this, use simple, direct, and easy-to-understand language.
A common mistake in the medical field is to go too deep into certain types of educational content. Even those who try to reach other healthcare professionals need to remember that most followers are lay people. They need to understand what you’re trying to explain, so always keep it simple.
In addition, we must remember that the consumption of content on the internet is fast and superficial. Therefore, even though it is possible to write several books for a single question, the healthcare professional will have to choose a clipping and focus on it.
Quick quality of life tips
Is healthcare a necessity for every human being? In an attempt to maintain a good lifestyle, the public seeks quick, practical tips that can be applied in the routine of healthcare professionals.
Create this type of fast-moving content to impact your followers’ lives positively. Then, when someone puts one of your tips into practice and gets what they want, they will surely start to see the expert with different eyes and start spreading it to their circle of colleagues and friends.
It is crucial to choose the appropriate format for communicating this information. For example, some doctors prefer static cards with text, some like videos, and some prefer reels with a little humor. However, there is no correct way to communicate information. What matters is finding something that your audience will interact with.
Disclosure of services and procedures
Don’t be afraid to promote yourself on the internet, especially social media. What we mentioned earlier about creating something that positively impacts people’s lives is important. But you also need to move on to the next phase: bringing these affected people into the office.
In addition to informing, teaching, and giving tips, you also need to publish information about your services. For a clinic, this means always highlighting which specialties it works with, the most common procedures, exams, and equipment, among others.
According to the Federal Council of Medicine, promoting values and packages is not allowed. But that doesn’t mean you should stop showing what you do so followers can book appointments.
News in the medical field on social networks
How about showing the followers of social networks that you are connected with the most modern in the area? Share new research, new releases, and any news you can find. By showing yourself as an up-to-date professional, you can generate authority and trust on the part of the public.
Plus, it’s your chance to deliver technical content palatable to the general public. So even if the information is not exclusively yours, the authority to “translate” it from medical terms into something everyone understands remains with you.
Finally, the patient observes who shares the news as a reference in their sector. Take the opportunity to do the same whenever you attend events, congresses, and even courses to receive updates.
Internal marketing of the clinic or hospital
Is your clinic running an internal campaign, such as food storage, client events, or similar? Everything should appear on social media! Its patients and followers want to see the face of the person behind the clinic’s name.
Disseminating content through the specialists themselves and those who work in the space is also a way of humanizing the brand. In addition, the connection we create through this type of strategy helps to strengthen other content, whether it be tips or disclosure of procedures.
Just be careful with exposing patients at these times. They should never appear on social media without proper authorization or have their data, such as their name, exposed.
Dissemination of in-depth content on the site
We hope you use your site to spread more detailed blog articles on relevant topics. Haven’t you started yet? So the time is now, as it is possible to take advantage of social networks to increase the reach of this content.
We’ve already said that you should keep posts simple, brief and fast to consume. But nothing prevents you from directing the small portion of the public interested in your blog, where you can learn even more about the subject.
Whenever you create an article, try to branch it out to some simpler posts and let the public know that they can read more on the site. But, of course, as the number of users increases, calls and appointments must follow.
Months of disease awareness
The colorful months are focused on a variety of healthcare issues, such as:
- White January: mental healthcare;
- Purple February: Alzheimer’s;
- Lilac March: cervical cancer;
- March navy blue: colorectal cancer;
- Blue April: autism;
- Purple May: Inflammatory bowel diseases;
- Red June: Blood diseases;
- Yellow June: viral hepatitis;
- Orange August: Multiple Sclerosis;
- Yellow September: suicide;
- Pink October: breast cancer;
- Blue November: prostate cancer;
- Orange December: skin cancer.
The dates allow you to carry out seasonal marketing on social networks. In other words, we take advantage of a topic that is on the rise to talk even more about it and inform our patients. In addition, sometimes state or municipal campaigns are going on to enlighten the public, making the issue even more relevant in your region.
Dissemination of achievements of experts on social networks
Social networks should also showcase the achievements of those who work at the clinic or hospital. Did one of the experts win an award or honor at the university where you teach? Great, it’s your chance to build that image of authority and knowledge. Did a local magazine award the service team? The achievement also becomes a post. After all, everyone should know about your excellent work.
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