According to Facebook, over 5 million businesses use the platform for advertising their business–and 80% of small businesses are turning to Facebook to promote their brand, services, and products.
As the undisputed social media leader, Facebook is to the 21st century what the Yellow Pages were to the 20th.
Using the following Facebook marketing tips, you can grow your practice Facebook page, promote increased awareness of your medical practice, attract new patients, and keep in close contact with current patients.
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Complete all the Profile Basics
Sounds simple enough but I see this way too often.
Before developing your Facebook marketing strategy, it’s essential to take care of some basic elements to make sure your Facebook page is ready for presentation.
Your practice will need to verify its Facebook page and complete its profile. This not only helps build trust with patients, but it will help extend your pages reach with Facebook’s algorithm.
To promote brand recognition, you’ll want to select a profile picture and cover photo that include your logo or imagery that’s synonymous with your practice.
Your cover photo is a great place to include a tagline or call to action with will resonate with your potential patients.
You should also take care to include all contact information, including your website address, and a listing of your services (fill out the services tab). Once this necessary information is complete, you can begin to build your Facebook marketing campaign.
Note: A great cover photo presents well on mobile devices. Too often people design their Facebook cover photo on desktop and never check it on mobile. The dimensions vary on mobile and will cut the sides of the image off. Remember this: nearly 96% of all Facebook users access it through mobile. Therefore, the mobile presentation of your page is essentially all that matters.
Post High Quality Photos
Facebook is a highly visual platform. Aside from your basic profile and page cover, you should optimize your practice’s Facebook page with photos.
You might post a photo of your exterior facility so that it’s easily recognizable for new patients.
Post images of your staff hard at work. Some of the best photos will tell a story; they might convey the types of service you offer or the compassionate care your practice is known for.
If you choose to include images of patients at any time, you’ll want to have a release form on file that permits you to use their pictures.
Create Video Content
When generating content for your Facebook marketing campaign, you’ll want to break up your text-based posts with some relevant video content. You might include a video that showcases a new treatment you’re offering.
You might post a video of a staff physician highlighting some health concerns for your area. You can also share other public posts from healthcare organizations or other sources that are likely to be of interest to your patients.
Video content can convey important information, or it can entertain, but in both cases, it should be relevant to patients and appropriate for your practice to post.
Generate New Reviews from Patients
Reviews are critical for local SEO, and your Facebook page is no different. A staggering 88% of consumers trust and rely on online reviews as much as a personal recommendation from family or friends.
That shows you how vital gaining new reviews on your practice Facebook page is. It is a major deciding factor on whether or not someone in your Facebook community will ever convert to an actual patient.
Make sure you ask for new reviews at the point of sale while your patients are most happy. For example, this could be sending them an email shortly after they check out.
Interact with Your Growing Community
A key feature of Facebook is that it fosters two-way communication. If followers of your Facebook page comment on your posts, do them the courtesy of replying.
They’ll get the impression that you genuinely do listen to your patients and you will get to understand your audience better. You’ll also want to monitor your page to ensure that followers are posting appropriate comments.
Your FB page is somewhat like an extension of your practice–a virtual waiting room if you will. You want to ensure that what goes on there is carefully monitored and in keeping with your practice’s mission and values.
Not Just Organic: Leverage Facebook Advertising
Marketing on Facebook is increasingly popular for medical facilities because of the platform’s focus on advertising. With Facebook’s tech-savvy tools, you can customize your advertising strategy to market to effectively market to your target audience.
You can begin to invest in small increments in Facebook marketing and see how it goes. We generally recommend around $10/day or so when you jump into Facebook Advertising.
You can continue to tweak your advertising strategy and invest more when you find that it’s working–boosting your ROI and effectively promoting your practice to the tune of new patients.
A critical note to a successful lead generation campaign is to offer something that your audience will find valuable. Examples are FREE services or discounts if you download something (so you capture their information).
Facebook Analytics: Dig Into the Data
Finally, Facebook also features some helpful analytics and measurement tools so you can gauge how your Facebook marketing campaign is performing. Find out what posts (and when you made them) generate the most user engagement.
What posts generate discussions? What actions are people taking on your page? See if you’re reaching your target audience. Analytics can tell you a lot–should you continue your current posting strategy or make tweaks?
Facebook’s analytics tools can help you continually improve your social media strategy.
Wrapping Up
Facebook, as part of your healthcare marketing strategy, can be highly effective with all of the tools and resources available to leverage. If you haven’t established a presence on Facebook for your practice–or if you’re not using it as effectively as you could be, take some time to craft a strategy.
However, do not just rely on organic traffic, be willing to invest in some targeted advertising to extend your reach.
Go in with a clear goal and game plan about which service or product you want to grow and how you are going to incentivize people to react to your ads in a saturated landscape. If it is done correctly, it can reap a substantial return on investment.
