Far and away the most common question we are asked by medical businesses today is: Should we be actively marketing on social media, and if so; on what channels?
The data based around digital outreach and its power as a communication channel is compelling. Check out these recent stats from Hootsuite.
Source: 2018 Global Digital Report – Hootsuite
When we look at these figures, it’s hard to dispute the enormous potential that social media offers as a marketing channel but how can it be used to best effect for marketing a medical business?
Like all things to do with marketing, there isn’t a one size fits all approach. For greatest effect, social media marketing needs to be given consideration as a suitable strategy based on different criteria. Think about this:
Who is my audience?
Break this down into geography, age, gender, socio economic status, profession, interests.
What is my goal?
Consider if this is building your brand, promoting a new service to existing clients, getting new clients, attracting new practitioners to my practice, getting new users of my service, staying top of mind with existing clients.
Once we have defined our audience and our goal, we can then properly consider the best channel for social media for your medical business. Here are some interesting statistics:
Currently, for most medical businesses the top social media channels are:
1. Facebook
Undeniably Facebook is still the strongest player in the game, although it’s becoming trickier to get good results due to the recent spotlight on some questionable activities and the resultant algorithm changes, Facebook still reigns supreme as the first channel to be considered for MOST medical businesses who are reaching out to the general public.
2. LinkedIn
Although the numbers haven’t caught up yet, LinkedIn is a secret sleeper and a great channel for medical businesses – in particular those wanting to engage with other health professionals
3. Instagram
Although the stats are high, we need to look at our goals and target audience to determine whether Instagram is a good fit, as it is image based – the application for medical businesses is limited but worthwhile for the right business.
What are the do’s and don’ts of social media marketing?
Do’s
- Create a strategic plan for social media that is integrated into your overall marketing strategy
- Be regular – ideally you need to post at least once per week – twice is better
- Remember the golden rule “be social”. Make your posts 80% interest and chat and 20% sell
- Use good imagery
- Use different “voices”
- Talk to your audience
- Respond to enquiries quickly
- Set appropriate security settings
Don’ts
- Don’t start a social media page if you are not committed to posting regularly
- Don’t post intermittently – the key to successful social media is a regular, planned approach
- Don’t use your personal page
- Don’t underestimate its power
- Don’t ignore or remove client comments on your page
What is a realistic spend for social media marketing?
Social media spend is determined by a few factors. Ultimately, having a strategy in place that identifies the strength of social media as a channel for your business should form the basis of a budget based on expected return on investment. There are different things that should be taken into account for social media spend including:
- What is being done by my internal resources, and how much time ($) is being expended on social media. This is a “hidden” cost that you might not be properly taking into account as a social media spend.
- Outsourcing the management of your social media. This is a specialist service and costs will be based on amount of activity including curation of posts, frequency, management and replies to comments.
- Growth through boosting or paid ads. Costs will be determined by reach and competitiveness.
Unsure of what to do that’s right for you?
CJU Medical Marketing is a full service marketing agency working exclusively in the health industry. We can help you to develop a well structured, results based social media strategy that is the right fit for your unique business.
Call us today to arrange for a consultation on: 1300 941 250
