MEDICAL SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

As a medical professional, your strategy in social circles may carry a few additional components compared to other industries. After all, it’s patients that you’re trying to attract – not just customers. However, many of the principles remain the same in the medical industry.

See all the major components of social advertising below – and learn why each one is critically important to delivering even better campaign results.

Facebook

We all know the power and influence of Facebook. In the early days of social media, it was Facebook that gave people everything they wanted within this type of platform. Today, it has evolved into one of the most critical areas for any business to develop a presence and market to others.

To the naysayers who claim that Facebook is passé and fading as a platform, please refer to the following statistics:

Facebook carries over 1.49 billion active users a month.
Every day, 9.68 million people login to Facebook to check their accounts.
Facebook makes over US$1 billion in revenue through advertising alone.

Many of these statistics have actually shown an increase in users and revenue for the site within the past year. There’s no doubt that if Facebook isn’t on the top of your social media list, you’re losing out on the potential to reach prospective patients. At a minimum, you need to have the following 3 aspects of your account addressed:

1. Your Business Home Page

First and foremost, your Facebook home page is a direct way to give people a glimpse into what your business is all about. Use the home page as a tool to describe what your business is about, what sets it apart and why you’re valuable to your patients. Even more importantly, make it easy for patients to contact you, provide a link to your website and possibly have the functionality to schedule an appointment.

2. Your Interactions with the Public

As a social media platform, Facebook still remains one of the most powerful methods to interact with the public. More importantly, you can use your Facebook presence to quickly address and respond to people who are discussing your practice. As you probably already know, a mishandled Facebook account can spell disaster in terms of public relations and your online reputation. All it takes is one negative comment or review to create an enormous problem for your online image. Luckily if you know what you are doing you can avoid this or do damage control. Use Facebook for the exact reason the platform became so popular – quick and simple interactions with people. You can directly respond to comments, work to resolve issues, send out promotions or other events, and even help answer common questions people may be asking related to your specialty. Facebook gives you the avenue – and the ranking power – to truly boost your marketing potential. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of how this can benefit your own advertising strategy.

3. Targeted Advertising

Finally – and perhaps most importantly – Facebook represents one of the most effective mediums for targeted advertising. If you didn’t already know, targeted ads connect more relevant marketing to leads, who are more inclined to hear your message. For example, if you’re an allergy specialist practising in Sydney, you’ll want to attract prospective patients who also live in Sydney. Sydney-based Facebook account holders with search and post histories related to allergy problems and related terms will also be targeted. When your ads display, they will focus on these qualified leads. Facebook’s robust advertising platform allows you to customise your ads – and deliver them to the people who actually want to see them. As a result, these prospective patients are more likely to respond to the ads and potentially sign up for a consultation or to schedule an appointment.

Instagram has continued climbing up the rungs of the social media ladder to become one of the most popular choices for users. Just look at the current stats on user data:

Instagram has over 400 million active users every month.
Well over 75 million people use the site every day.
Over 20% of ALL internet users have an Instagram account.

Many medical professionals fail to see the potential for their brand marketing on this platform. As the above data shows, it’s definitely a mistake to forego an active Instagram account.

Here’s how Instagram works the site’s approach to content, sharing and communication is what distinguishes it from other social media sites. Instagram is driven by fast and simple sharing of photographs and pictures. While other social media utilises visual content to help improve the impact, it’s especially critical on Instagram. After all, it’s the primary driver of this medium.

Use these strategies when developing and operating your account to maximise your outreach and branding/marketing potential on Instagram:

Make Your Photos Truly Shine

Instagram is a social powerhouse built on one simple concept: sharing your pictures among your followers. Accordingly, you want your flagship content (read: your pictures) to be your most important focus.

Don’t worry – you don’t need to hire a professional photographer for all your content. However, you need to understand the aspects of photographic composition to ensure that every picture you post looks great.

There are countless resources available online to help improve your understanding, competence and proficiency with your brand-related photography. Even better, both Android and iOS devices have a wealth of apps at your fingertips to quickly and easily produce much better imagery for your Instagram posts.

Use Hashtags on Your Posts

Much like other social outlets like Twitter, hashtags are just as important on Instagram. They link all the content to relevant searches and ensure that your photos and posts are even more visible. Over time, this can directly benefit your marketing. You can use hashtags to connect with currently trending topics and distinguish your brand to make it more shareable. For instance, if your medical organisation participates or runs a charity event, you can use specific tags for these initiatives to improve visibility.

Track Your Results with Link Shorteners

As with every social media account, you need to track your results to understand exactly how your Instagram is benefiting your overall campaign. One of the simplest ways to achieve this objective is to use a link shortener for all your linked posts. Using Google’s link shortener (goo.gl) will quickly connect you with all sorts of great tracking tools. The more you understand how users interact with your account, the better you can target your marketing for better results. Make sure that effective tracking is a direct component of your Instagram presence.

Other Social Media Outlets

From Pinterest to Snapchat (and even Google+ for a boost on their SERPs), you can have your pick of all sorts of other high traffic, high potential social media platforms. While developing your social media strategy, make sure to incorporate at least a few more sites into your efforts. And no matter which ones you choose, make sure you bring just as much of a focus to these platforms as you do for the major mediums like Facebook.

Maximising Your Social Media Reach

Success on social media boils down to delivering valuable content and advertising to the people most likely to respond. From Facebook to Instagram and beyond, these are the places where your patients spend time online. You need to make sure you’re giving them a simple and convenient method to find you and contact you.

If you need a little help with your social media advertising, The Gaswerx has just the right answer for you. Their individualised advertising strategies can help identify all the important aspects of your medical practice. From there, they can work to create a results-oriented social media advertising initiative.

Don’t wait another minute to harness all the power social media has to offer. Get in touch with The Gaswerx today to see what true social success is all about.

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