Social media is one of the best tools you can wield in the healthcare industry today. Patients use social media to learn more about the various healthcare services available.
After all, since they spend so much time on it, they’ll likely look for healthcare solutions there, wouldn’t they?
So, it makes sense that there’s a market for medical services on social media channels. But, if you’re unsure of how to use social media to promote your healthcare business, you’re not alone. Often, healthcare professionals wonder how they can use it to turn a profit.
In this article, we’ll discuss how you can use social media in medical business management.
Use of Business Management Resources in Healthcare
Managing a healthcare business is challenging enough in the first place. If you’ll add promotional activities to your regular operations then you have a lot to deal with. The question is, would you rather focus on healthcare or marketing?
Providing advanced functional medicine to patients is the best promotional technique. But, this is sometimes not enough considering how competitive the healthcare industry is. Increasing your promotional efforts will help you recover your initial investment quicker. It’ll also help you increase brand awareness via social media.
If you don’t have the time and skills for marketing, you can always leave it to the professionals. Several online companies are willing to develop a functional medicine business model for practitioners that are having a hard time. These companies offer you guidance on the strategies you can use to turn a profit.
You can also find coaching services, business management, and catalogs to increase profits. This guidance includes how you can use social media to attract patients. Marketing professionals can help you run your social media channels.
After you get the hang of social media handling, you can take up the reins yourself. In time, you’ll find that you don’t need a medical business management degree to maximize revenue.
Many healthcare businesses shy away from using online guidance. Often, they think that online companies are fraudulent and lacking experience. But, this isn’t always the case. Functional medicine practitioners that learned the tricks of the trade run these online companies
If you’re careful and opt for trusted companies, you won’t go wrong here. But, it’s not easy to determine which companies are trustworthy. Opting for reputable companies is the safest route to take.
Provide Users With Useful Content
Providing users with educational, useful content is the key to social media engagement. After all, why would a patient follow your page if they learn nothing from it? Anyone can promote their business online. Not everyone, however, can educate users to win them over.
Bear in mind that educational content should never be boring, though. Expecting users to read long chunks of text in the name of education isn’t reasonable. Instead, use social media trends to pique their interest.
Also, remember to match your content format to the platform you’re using. For instance, if you’re using Instagram, you could consider making Reels. Several healthcare professionals use these short videos to provide quick medical tips to viewers.
If you have the manpower for it, you could create such content too. Remember to keep your videos as short and informational as you can. If you impress customers with your promotional efforts, they might follow your page.
In this way, you can encourage positive interactions with patients. You should present your content in a way that captures a user’s attention for a few seconds. Interactive content like quizzes can help here.
Or, you could give them a list of ‘Do’s and ‘Don’t’s they can follow to stay healthy. This technique is how several functional medical practitioners gained followers during the pandemic. They made videos on COVID protocol to engage viewers and promote their services.
You could make similar videos and display ads for your practice. Such content should be easy-to-understand and educational for users. Most people find it off-putting if they encounter too much jargon on social media.
Feature Patient Stories
Nothing works quite like a good story to engage an audience. For decades, medical practitioners have been using patient testimonials to promote themselves. It’s difficult for patients to entrust their well-being to unfamiliar healthcare providers.
Reading genuine testimonials from fellow patients would help soothe their fears. Social media has unparalleled visual appeal for users of all ages. Images are powerful tools and can tell a story in a few seconds. You can use them to your advantage to increase brand awareness.
Publishing success stories from your patients will let viewers know you’re trustworthy. It also lets your target audience know that your patients are happy with your services. This marketing technique will create a positive impression among viewers.
Keep these stories short, sweet, and simple. No matter how interesting a story is, no one on Facebook or Instagram will spend more than a minute reading it. Thanks to the Stories and Reels features, our collective attention span is short.
Since Reels don’t go beyond a minute, reading time per post shouldn’t exceed it either. Besides, you don’t have to write down each patient’s testimonial. If a patient agrees to a video interview, you could conduct one instead.
Mixing up your content in this way will keep users engaged and interested. It’ll help you relay the same message in different ways. This mixture of content formats is the key to successful medical business management.
It allows users to understand the services you’re offering them. It also allows them to discover how patients feel about your practice. So, in many ways, it works as a powerful promotional tool to establish your reputation.
In an industry where reputation is everything, we recommend this marketing technique.
Conclusion
Respecting patient confidentiality and privacy should be a priority over social media marketing. As long as patients are comfortable with sharing their experiences, you’re good to go. But, if they aren’t, you have alternatives available.
If you’re a medical practitioner, you could feature yourself in promotional content. Sure, you could always use paid actors, models, and influencers to get the job done. But, using genuine medical professionals in healthcare marketing strikes a chord with audiences.
Your target audience may perceive your practice as reliable if you reach out to them this way. It’ll also help you connect with patients like never before. Thanks to the wide reach of social media, this is now easier than ever.
