How Small Medical Businesses Can Best Use Social Media for Marketing

Ever increasing competition, expectations of better service and faster responses are factors that make social media an important tool for healthcare digital marketing. According to a report by PwC, 42% of users who search for health information on social media look at reviews and 29% of them look for health information such as patients’ experience with the disease etc on social media. Large corporations as well as small businesses are successfully leveraging social media to improve their visibility and maintain contact with customers.

Small businesses in the medical sector include:

Surveys and studies show that an increasing number of people now select their healthcare providers on the basis of their social media reputation. When engaging in social conversation, they talk about care received at a hospital or medical facility, and about specific doctors or nurses with whom they had a positive or negative experience. Apart from engaging with healthcare consumers online, medical businesses can also use social media avenues to establish thought leadership in their respective fields. They can build trust and encourage discussions by directly connecting with their target audience.

Here are some practical and effective social media marketing tips small businesses can utilize.

• Focus on effective social media platforms: It may not be affordable for small medical businesses to make an online presence on all social media platforms. So they should choose effective social media platforms that help in obtaining better returns on their marketing investment. Finding the platform that has a good share of the targeted audience is vital. It requires research to identify a target audience and connect with them online. Pew Research published a study of the typical demographics for large sites:
  • Instagram audience mainly includes young people under 30 living in cities.
  • Facebook holds the maximum number of people who are under 50
  • LinkedIn is a B2B network that attracts college graduates and adult users who have above average income.
• Post educational and health-related updated content: Small medical businesses face competition from thought leaders and established healthcare entities, so it is important to focus on providing relevant and informative content that can capture more targeted audience. People are keen to look for health-related information on social media, so share content that your audience is looking for. This will increase the credibility of your medical business or brand. Have the right mix of text, graphics and videos to attract more users. Valuable and concise content with good titles will help in engaging with healthcare consumers.
• Keep your social media posts short and avoid jargon: Keep your posts short and simple and write for your audience. They should understand what you are talking about. Avoid using abbreviations and medical jargon that laymen cannot follow.
• Ensure effective social media management: Social media management is an essential element in healthcare business and to make it more efficient, choose the right software. Hootsuite and Buffer are two user-friendly apps that can manage various social media marketing functions. Apps such as these will help you automate all tasks ranging from scheduling posts to tracking brand mentions to following people back after they follow you. It also has various metrics that help you understand which kinds of content work best to achieve your goals.

Social media marketing is an important part of digital marketing for healthcare and it lets you connect with potential patients and customers. It helps your small medical business to get the attention of more people, and engage with those people who may not have noticed you. Your first priority is developing good social media content that supports your business objectives, but make sure that you spend time connecting with potential customers and influencers in your business niche. Identify the right tools that can help you create the right content, or partner with a Long Island SEO company – the latter option is more cost-effective and saves you time as well. Post your content in a timely manner and always be present on social media platforms. The goals you set must be realistic, smart and achievable. Evaluate your social media activities regularly. This will enable you to understand important things such as how users interact with your posts and what types of posts receive the maximum comments and reactions.