Healthcare Innovators Utilize Influencers In Spectacular Ways

Healthcare companies are often pioneers in marketing innovation. Many healthcare companies use influencers to grow their brands and expand their reach.

Role of Influencers in Healthcare Marketing

Jeff Meade, a well-known marketing expert, wrote a post in Medium about the power of influencer marketing in healthcare. Meade pointed out that people looking for healthcare services and products regularly turn to trusted people for advice.

The concept of influencer marketing is brilliant. In today’s tech savvy world where everyone is always “connected” more and more brands are reaching out to influencers to subtly promote their products or services to a specific target audience on social media. Healthcare companies are no exception.

Healthcare influencer marketing is especially helpful with millennials. According to research from PwC Health Research, 90% of millennials trust healthcare recommendations that they receive through social media.

Influencers make a huge impression on their followers. Their opinions and recommendations influence the decision-making process of their followers in a variety of ways which includes stuff like what music to listen to, what movies to watch and what brands are good. Fitness companies in particular are using them to their fullest advantage.

What Is an Influencer?

An influencer is a person who has established themselves as a reliable, yet authentic source of information with their digital audience. They have an extensive knowledge of a particular topic or brand which they promote on social media. Within their niche market they bond with their audience on a personal level. This gives them the credibility to influence the choices and opinions of their large, active following.

Any healthcare brand or company can incorporate influencers into their marketing strategy. By acquiring the services of a well-established influencer, a brand is able to expand their targeted audience reach and the influencer is paid for their service. This makes their partnership mutually beneficial.

How Healthcare Companies Find the Right Marketing Influencers

The healthcare industry is always on the edge of groundbreaking advances. Therefore, it’s not surprising that there is an abundance of fitness related brands and influencers. Luckily, people are constantly on the lookout for new workout regimes, healthy diet ideas and general health tips.

This means there’s always room for new ideas in a fitness niche. By focusing your marketing strategy on a sub category (like HIIT workouts or healthy snacks) within the fitness niche you can reach out to a social media influencer who specializes in this particular topic.

Finding the right person to fit your brand can be tricky because there are millions of social influencers out there. This can be especially difficult if your particular niche is something specialized like fitness.

But don’t despair; for the most part the same rules apply to all markets when looking for the right influencer. An important point to remember is that influencer marketing won’t work if you’re not working with established healthcare experts with a wide reaching platform.

You can see how well this worked for Genentech. They hired influencers for their #NotOneType campaign, which turned out to be very successful on social media.

When looking for an influencer to promote a healthcare or fitness product or service, you need to ensure that the values, direction and overall vibe of the person are in line with those of your brand.

Using single-metric definitions like unique visitors or follower counts as a measure of influence can be helpful. But it’s important to take a closer to figure out how influential a particular influencer is. It’s not always about a large following. It’s about being able to engage your following.

Here are a few things to look for when identifying social influencers for your fitness niche.

Relevance

It’s important to take note of how aligned an influencer’s content is with your brand’s message. It’s necessary to get a good sense of their personality. An interest in fitness doesn’t necessarily mean they are a match for your brand. An advanced degree or experience in the healthcare profession doesn’t always matter either. Keep an eye out for things like tone, syntax and how they react to criticism.

Engagement

Engagement is an indicator of how interactive an influencer’s audience is with their content. Do their followers respond, comment, and share posts? The number of readers that engage with posts and how often they return are both good indications of how meaningful those relationships are.

The quality of their content is also important, especially in the healthcare industry. Are they encouraging and helpful? You don’t want to be associated with someone who tends to be rude to their followers.

Consistency

There is a direct correlation between how often a healthcare influencer posts and their online traffic. As with marketing any website, it often takes lots of exposure to get followers/visitors to engage with a post. When a social media marketing influencer posts high quality content on a regular basis, followers are more likely to engage and return. People who don’t post as frequently tend to have a higher rate of turnover. It’s also important to consider what social platforms your customers visit. When promoting fitness, an influencer with a social media presence on YouTube or Instagram might be more valuable than someone with a following on Twitter.

Authenticity

Healthcare influencers who have a smaller ratio of sponsored content tend to be more trusted by consumers. Personal stories that include genuine use or mention of a product, service, or brand are seen as more authentic (and therefore more trusted) than obvious product reviews. Creating quality, authentic content with a personal touch will resonate more with an audience as they tend to feel a real connection to the brand.