Effectively Using Social Media to Engage with Patients

Social media provides an opportunity for healthcare organizations to communicate with patients and potential patients quickly and inexpensively. There are numerous opportunities offered through social media: promoting wellness and fitness programs, marketing new services and treatment options, or celebrating achievements in patient care, are just a few. There are risks that must be addressed to ensure that healthcare organizations protect their information accuracy, organizational reputation, and patient privacy. However, by establishing good policies, providing informative training, and enlisting the help of healthcare marketing professionals, the benefits far outweigh the risks. Genesis Medical Management spoke with Steven Everett, CEO of Citryn Marketing, a firm that specializes in healthcare marketing, to determine the most effective ways to use social media to engage with patients.

Social Media Opportunities to Engage with Patients

Ensuring wide platform coverage
Engaging posts (comments, likes, reshares, direct messaging)
Using analytics for effective targeting
Unique targeted ads
Informative and entertaining videos
Retargeting website visitors (Facebook pixel)
Revisit hashtags regularly
Applying backlinks

Ensuring Wide Platform Coverage

Many healthcare organizations have developed a presence on Facebook or Instagram, but have not expanded beyond that. Ensuring you are on all the major platforms means that you are reaching a much wider audience and developing a more engaging following. You should develop a presence on the following platforms at a minimum: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Each platform offers unique ways of engaging with patients.

Engaging Posts

Many healthcare organizations have developed a presence on Facebook or Instagram, but have not expanded beyond that. Ensuring you are on all the major platforms means that you are reaching a much wider audience and developing a more engaging following. You should develop a presence on the following platforms at a minimum: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Each platform offers unique ways of engaging with patients.

Using Analytics for Effective Targeting

Citryn Marketing’s success in using social media to engage patients for their clients lies in their use of analytics to create the best ongoing strategy to provide clients with an advantage over their competition. Analytics can be used to develop optimal posting schedules and analyze demographics to determine who your followers are for direct target marketing. These strategies have helped Citryn to ensure their clients have made their mark on each social media platform.

Unique Targeted Ads

Each healthcare organization should develop their own unique style and carry that across all platforms, so they are recognizable to their followers. Using authentic photos and videos of your staff, patients, and facilities helps to ensure your content is unique and your patients recognize you and your organization. Citryn takes care to develop a consistent style and look for their clients so that even subliminally their patients will connect with them, from color palettes to fonts and logos, the look should remain consistent to push your brand. Using the analytics mentioned above, ads can be geared to target specific demographics for more effective marketing.

Informative and Entertaining Videos

Short videos are an effective way to engage with patients on social media. Videos featuring staff members talking about services provided, or clients speaking about care received can be effective tools to highlight the services your healthcare organization provides. Fun-themed videos featuring staff members can also show the more personal side of your business and make your staff more relatable to your patients. Citryn has also had great success in adding subtitles to videos, with A/B testing showing that they increased the number of views significantly for their healthcare organization clients.

Informative and Entertaining Videos

Short videos are an effective way to engage with patients on social media. Videos featuring staff members talking about services provided, or clients speaking about care received can be effective tools to highlight the services your healthcare organization provides. Fun-themed videos featuring staff members can also show the more personal side of your business and make your staff more relatable to your patients. Citryn has also had great success in adding subtitles to videos, with A/B testing showing that they increased the number of views significantly for their healthcare organization clients.

Revisit Hashtags Regularly

Using hashtags can help patients and potential patients to find you throughout all social media platforms. From content hashtags to trending hashtags, to brand-specific hashtags, they should all be reviewed and refreshed regularly. Citryn Marketing revisits all clients’ hashtags regularly to ensure they are keeping up with latest trends, providing content specific hashtags, and driving traffic to their posts.

Retargeting Website Visitors

An informative, interactive, and engaging website is crucial for a healthcare organization and one of Citryn’s specialties is creating those sites. However, a website alone isn’t enough. A social media presence is critical because that is where most people find your website, through ads and posts forwarded from friends and family. Facebook pixel offers an option for measuring ad conversions, website traffic, and monitoring your audience. Learning customer data and how they engage with your website and advertisements helps you to focus on your target audience, reengage visitors to your website, and improve your ads.

Applying Backlinks

One of the simplest ways to drive traffic to your website through social media is by adding backlinks. A simple post about a new service, new staff member, or healthcare tip that includes a link to “learn more” is an effective way to get followers to your website where you can continue to engage them and convert them to patients.

Citryn Marketing has effectively helped many healthcare organizations to build a positive reputation and increase their clientele through social media. More visits, more views, more hits, means more patients and effectiveness in engaging with current patients.

Genesis Medical Management helps medical organizations to thrive in this highly competitive industry. Contact us today to help you with operational management, growth strategies, revenue cycle, and real estate development.