Social media marketing for doctors is very important, but far too many doctors just ignore this aspect of their business. When was the last time you posted on a social media site? Was it a post that was designed to bring in more clients?
Social media marketing is something that everyone needs if they’re in business. Whether you’re a doctor or a bartender, you need to be posting about your business. Your potential customers and patients are on social media, so if you want to reach them, you have to be out there. It’s one of the most powerful and cost-effective methods of marketing your clinic.
As a doctor, you may feel you have better things to do with your time than post on social media and that’s very true. Many doctors outsource their social media posting for this reason. If you’re not interested in spending the time learning SEO and posting on multiple platforms, you might just want to outsource the whole process.
Tips for Better Social Media Marketing for Doctors
So, how do you work this whole social media marketing thing? The first thing to do is to figure out where your patients are online. Do they hang out on Facebook? Are they on Twitter or Instagram? While you can cover all the social media networks, it would be a waste of time if your clients are actually on Instagram. Once you’ve determined where your clients are, it’s time to get busy!
Identify your audience. You can’t create content for every single person in the world, so focus on the people who will be your ideal patient. Often it helps to come up with an avatar for this patient. Pick an age, gender, profession, etc. for them and then market to that person. If you outsource your marketing, this avatar can be very useful in expressing what your audience looks like to the person taking on the work.
Keep it up. You need to post to social media regularly or people will see you as flaky. This means it’s essential to have posts at least 3-5 times a week. The consistency will help potential patients see that you are trustworthy and reliable. They’ll also know that you are providing up to date information for them.
Use high quality content. There’s nothing worse than going to a social media page for a professional and discovering fuzzy or blurry photos and text used in the posts. It’s essential that you have high quality content, so be sure to use the right size of font and photos to avoid looking low quality.
Stick to the truth. It’s always best to use trustworthy sources to back your statements up on social media, even if you don’t actually link to them in the post. Have the link handy so you can refer to it if someone says you’re wrong. High quality content will contain facts that can be proven.
Get visual. Adding images to your posts is a surefire way to connect with your readers. However, video is really where it’s at these days on many platforms. Consider adding video to get more people interested in what you’re posting, even if it’s just stock video with a message from you.
Offer some real value. While memes and fun jokes are okay once in a while, you should also plan to give your followers some true value. This can be anything from knowing when to seek a doctor’s help to a tutorial on how to handle a specific issue naturally. Building trust comes from offering information and education.
Interact frequently. It’s also important that you respond to comments and questions on your social media posts. If you don’t, people will think you’re aloof, absent, or not really interested in their well-being. It’s best to check your social media networks at least once or twice a day to respond to any comments or messages left for you.
Be original. It’s fine to share posts you find useful from other people, but at least 80% of your posts should be original. Don’t forget to watermark them in case other people want to share your content, as well. This can build up even more interaction for you.
Use keywords in your posts. Social media isn’t just about posting information and funny memes. It’s also a form of search engine marketing, if you do it right. Take the time to incorporate SEO into your social media for an even bigger impact.
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