Hashtags for Healthcare - Health Works Collective

When it comes to utilizing social media for marketing purposes, hashtags (#) are a must. That includes the healthcare industry.

Hashtags make it easier to find and follow discussions on popular social media channels, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google Plus. They also help track the performance of a promotion or event across all of social media.

Any word or term could be used as a hashtag (ie – #healthcare, or #hospitals) but the broader the hashtag, the harder it will be to find the conversations that specifically involve you and your facility.

To get the most out of your posts and tweets, you should always include a unique hashtag that differentiates you from others. This will make it much easier to keep track of how others are participating in your campaign and spreading the word.

Don’t just think of a random word either to create a hashtag. It should be memorable, unique and most importantly relevant to your campaign. For example if you are a holding a blood drive and trying to attract people to it, one hashtag you may want to include in your posts and tweets is #(facilityname)blooddrive. That way it is unique to your facility and tells users exactly what your campaign is about.

During and after a campaign, there are many ways to track and analyze hashtag performance. One tool is called RebelMouse. This website not only gathers information on hashtags as they are happening from any social media site, it also offers integration with Google Analytics, social sharing and RSS feeds. You can even embed what people are saying across the social web, right onto your website.

If you are looking for data, Talkwalker is another great tool. Not only does it let you listen and engage with what others are saying on your hashtag, it provides users with data for gender and geographic distribution along with sentiment analysis. That information can be extremely helpful in the world of healthcare marketing.