When loved ones are sick or we need medical advice, we turn to our local brave and dependable healthcare professionals. When healthcare professionals need help sharing their incredible messages to their communities, they turn to the social media marketing team at beMarketing! To make the most out of your social media strategy, our team has identified three critical areas that every healthcare marketer needs to consider before they start sending Tweets, posting Instagrams, or dancing on Tik Tok!
Educate:
It would be impossible to ignore the fact that certain challenges arise in terms of what exactly you can say when it comes to digital healthcare marketing. Through compliance with HIPAA regulations, your patients’ privacy and other medical codes must always be met. This doesn’t mean, however, that you’re not able to share advice or news with followers. While providing quality information and communicating breakdowns on surgeries or pharmaceuticals is important, dispelling misinformation is just as essential. In an era where people of all ages are skeptical of the news, they read online, be a voice that’s reputable and straightforward.
Your organization has a responsibility to keep patients informed. Successful healthcare marketers will disseminate trustworthy, relevant, and genuine information, thus creating a favorable and legitimate image for your organization and forming a committed patient base. A great place to start is sharing articles that include reliable information from reliable sources on Twitter and Facebook, and contextualizing what it may mean for your patients.
Humanize:
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen perhaps the biggest growth in collective support for healthcare professionals. Their ability, perseverance, and courageousness to fight this unparalleled virus in the front lines tremendously highlighted how important and how committed these individuals are not just through these last few years, but always. In the same sense, the masses seemed keener to learn more about the personalities of nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals more than ever.
Healthcare social media provides endless avenues to humanize healthcare workers, introduce them to local communities, and have them share a little about themselves. Not only will this help make your healthcare organization a more personable, communal entity, but it will also remind followers or social media users that your staff is comprised of real humans with real passions, stresses, and interests.
Consider All Audiences:
Clearly, the healthcare industry is vast. Regardless of your expertise, specialties, or practice area, your digital healthcare marketing plan should account for a wide range of demographics as well. Social media, as a whole, is no longer a tool only used by younger generations. Many of your patients may be elderly and are unfamiliar with emerging media, while some may be teenagers privy to all the advancements in technology. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Instagram: According to Statista, more than half of Instagram users globally are younger than 34 years old. Healthcare marketers using Instagram should then consider new trends or features like Reels or Stories to connect with younger patient clientele.
Facebook seems to be the platform that’s relatively all-encompassing in terms of age and other demographic categories. The Facebook design and structure are more conducive to article-sharing and other news-related posts.
Twitter: Because of Twitter’s character limitations and text-heavy content surface, it can often be a useful tool for sending quick updates, snippets, or internal announcements. It’s a relatively straightforward platform where subcultures or interest groups follow updates in industries or spaces.
beSocial with beMarketing!
When it comes to your healthcare digital marketing strategy, partner with a team that has the experience and the proven results to make a difference. Our digital team produces engaging, informative, and relatable content that highlights your expertise and connects with your communities. Your organization’s reach should never be microscopic, connect with us today to magnify your digital brand awareness!
