Health care providers’ social media goals can often shift suddenly. Let’s take a major health event like COVID-19. Health care providers had to shift their social media objectives rapidly when this illness first hit the U.S. They had to help people get accurate information about this condition and its treatment. Providers also had to inform people about ways they could continue to help with people’s other health care needs during the lockdown. Some health care providers were successful at this; others, unfortunately, weren’t.
This is an extreme example. But many providers may find it harder than it should be to establish clear social media objectives. For one thing, social media is constantly changing, as my COVID example shows. However, social media marketing experts can help you develop and work toward robust and flexible social media goals.
What should your social media objectives be helping you do?
It’s easy to say that your social media objectives should be helping you meet your goals. It’s harder for many providers to make sure that they do. Often, the reason it’s hard to develop effective social media objectives is because you aren’t sure what your social media needs to do in general. Social media pros can help health care businesses develop objectives that should help:
Increase transparency
Do you ever get the feeling that someone isn’t telling you everything? And you probably didn’t want to have much to do with that person either. The same goes for health care providers. If current or prospective patients don’t feel you’re being transparent, they may not engage with you.
One study reports that 94% of customers are more likely to be loyal to a brand that provides total transparency. That’s why it’s vital to ensure that transparency is one of your overarching social media goals.
Being transparent involves sharing patient reviews- good and bad. Display your reviews on Facebook and LinkedIn. Setting expectations or dispelling myths about medical conditions is another helpful way that health care providers can be transparent.
Keep current and prospective patients engaged
People quickly get bored with seeing the same old thing on social media, which can make it tough for health care providers to hold patients’ attention. Here are a few ways your healthcare practice can engage on social media:
- Share photos and quotes highlighting stories about your patients that are inspiring, humorous, or relatable.
- Highlight profiles of your staff members so your audience can get to know them.
- Post reviews of your practice from other patients.
- Share a video about a day in the life of your doctors, surgeons or other providers. Just be sure to get written permission to show real patients.
- Give general advice on health and wellness like nutrition, exercise, and the benefits of regular check-ups.
- Share “unboxing” videos of new medical equipment and demonstrate it’s capabilities.
Social media marketers can help make your brand shine by working with creative designers to enure your posts are as visually appealing as possible. They can help you upgrade older content by adding new images, videos, or infographics to explain your process. Social media marketers can even help you create vibrant social media content that fits with current and ever-shifting trends.
Here are some examples of social media images and topics to post about:
Heart & Hustle can help health care providers develop robust and personalized social media goals
Are you sure that your social media objectives are doing what they should be? If you aren’t, Heart & Hustle Brandsoffers social media marketing services that can help your health care brand. I’ve worked with a range of health care providers to develop effective, evergreen social media marketing plans. Where do I start? I start by helping your team develop a set of potent social media goals that every post is linked to.
Ready to create or refresh your social media marketing goals? Let’s talk.
About the Author
Stacey Harrison is the lead brand strategist and designer at Heart & Hustle Brands and has provided creative direction for healthcare, industrial, and financial services brands for 20 years. She started Harrison Creative Group in 2017 to serve businesses that need a professional brand image on a budget. In 2021, the company rebranded to Heart & Hustle Brands to walk in the shoes of clients that experience a change of name or brand refresh.
