80% of online searches are healthcare related. How many searches do you think it takes for someone to find you? One of the ways people are searching online for healthcare professionals and health-related information is through social media. People are using social networking sites to seek medical information, discuss symptoms, treatments, procedures, and broadcast about their experiences with a particular healthcare provider or practice. You need an online marketing strategy that encompasses social media marketing to attract, engage, and convert new patients. With the growing popularity of social networking sites, it is more important than ever to make sure your practice is visible online so those people searching can find you!
Facebook is the largest social network and it should be a key tool in your online marketing strategy. There are over 1 billion Facebook users, and you should be reaching out to them, building relationships with them, and driving them through your doors! Facebook is about creating conversations that in turn drives word-of-mouth marketing & brand awareness through recommendations between friends.
81% of patients consider a practice with an active online presence to be more “cutting-edge”. Setting up a Facebook business page for your medical practice will drive your content, news, specials, and treatments towards people looking for what you offer. You can even create Facebook tabs so your fan page functions like a micro-website. Tabs can include services, schedule a consultation, and a team bio. Tabs are another creative way to gain leads and drive a call to action. Your page is where you are going to build your brand, grow your fan base, and capture your audience’s attention.
Posting quality content in social channels is key. You want to do a mix of informational, fun & quirky, FAQ’s, behind the scenes, and personal types of posts. If you are constantly doing self-promotional posts, it will turn your audience off and you will lose their attention. Create an editorial calendar that has monthly specials, awareness months, and contests to keep them interested and coming back for more! 71% of consumers say they’re more likely to purchase from a business they like on Facebook.
Facebook ads are one of the most targeted types of online advertising available. They are a great way to reach out to new potential fans, build awareness for your practice, drive traffic to your website or fan page, promote a specific product or treatment, and generate new leads! Here is how to set up a successful campaign.
First, you want to choose what type of ad you are going to run. Are you trying to get more page likes? Are you trying to promote a product or service? Are you driving traffic to a specific page on your website to get it indexed faster by Google? Facebook gives you different types of advertising options in order for you to reach your goals.
Next, you want to set your ads up to reach the right audience by selecting your target demographics. You can be strategic in the demographics you select so your ads are only appearing on people’s pages that would be the target patient for your practice. Micro-targeting very specific audiences using qualifiers such as age, gender, location, interests, keywords, and other common interest fan pages, will help you target ideal people who could convert into a patient. You can also geo-target different demographics based off of where your practice is located. How far would a patient travel to come to your office? These are the types of questions you can ask yourself when choosing which demographics you want your ads to target. As you make your specific selections, you will see your estimated audience size begin to fluctuate. This is the number of people who you can reach if your bid and budget are high enough.
You should also select specific demographics based on the ad copy you are writing. Some of your treatments might be specific to age or gender, as well as some promotions may be for new patients, moms, or skin problems. When you get very specific with demographics in Facebook advertising, you may have a smaller fan base, but this is ok. It does not benefit you to have fans all over the state or country, as most will never become patients. The key to converting is a smaller, tightly selected fan base that will in the end, convert into a patient.
Promoted posts are another way to reach your current fan base. When you publish a post, not all of your fans are going to see it. Facebook now throttles your own posts, to your own fans. Facebook’s algorithm simply does not allow you to reach all your fans with every post – but there is a solution. You can pay to promote a post to appear in more of your fans news feeds. Pick a post to promote that had good engagement on your fan page. This will help boost virality, increase engagement, and reconnect with fans who have not seen your news updates in a while.
Facebook advertising is just one component when it comes to social media marketing. You want to make sure you have an optimized Facebook business page with all of your information, as well as daily posts with interesting, unique and engaging content. When someone is directed to your fan page from an ad, they won’t like your page if it looks in-active and stale. 91% of local searchers say they used Facebook to review local businesses, so it is extremely important to keep our page up to date.
EXAMPLES
Here are some of my personal tips for creating a buzz-worthy Facebook ads:
1) Types of ads for growing your fan base can include promoting your specials, health awareness months, and treatments popular for that season.
2) Choose an image that has a bright background so that it pops off of Facebook’s white background. This will draw eyes to your ads.
3) Capitalize key words in your ad copy so they stand out.
4) Try using a tagline or question for the ad title or first sentence to capture attention.
5) Split test your ads to see which ones work better than others so you are getting the most bang for your buck!
How To Measure Your Results
You should be using social media to reach, connect, and engage with new potential patients. The Facebook ad campaign manager will provide you with results on how many conversions you are getting and how your ads are performing. Pay attention to the “actions”, which is the number of people who liked your fan page after viewing a specific ad. The CTR, or Click Through Rate, tells you how many times people clicked on your ad divided by the number of times it was shown (also known as impressions). This will help you determine which ads are working & attracting people, and which ones you should edit or stop running. There are many other ways to measure your Facebook success, such as the amount of likes your page has, fans sharing your content, leads from fans messaging you about services, people commenting on your posts, positive reviews, the amount of fans participating in contests, people calling about Facebook specials, and overall brand awareness.
Social Media Marketing ROI is more than a dollar amount. It is about creating an online presence, branding you as the industry leader, and managing your reputation. Social Media benefits include SEO value, reducing attrition through relationship-based marketing, introducing new services & having patients recommend them, and best of all, word of mouth marketing!
As you can see, Social Media is a great marketing tool that can be leveraged to target new patients. Facebook advertising takes time and effort, but can bring a huge return once you discover who your fans are and what they want to hear. People are talking about you and what your practice offers. Don’t you want to be a part of that conversation? Make it count and start engaging with new and returning patients. Get them excited about coming to you for their medical advice and expertise. Make a strong online presence by gearing your social media towards keeping loyal patients and bringing new ones in. Now go sign up for Facebook and start advertising!
Check out the full article in NewDermMD magazine by clicking HERE!
Are ready to increase your visibility and target patients through social media and Facebook advertising? Visit our website or call us to learn more today 800-949-0133!
