As of the first quarter of 2016, Facebook had 1.65 billion monthly active users. The number is expected to rise exponentially in the next few years – a promising reason for your practice to develop and maintain a Facebook page.
Owing to its worldwide popularity, Facebook has become an integral part of Internet marketing strategies for almost all business and brands. Through it’s easy and free, creating an interactive Facebook page is definitely a big task. Following are some simple steps that you can follow to create a great Facebook Page for your practice:
All information and interactions on your Facebook practice page should be HIPAA-complaint and strictly adhere to patient privacy guidelines.
Give Key Details In The “About” Section
The About section of a Facebook page is the most important part as it reflects a lot about your practice. Make sure you spend some good time adding all the key details about your practice like your specialization, years of experience, services offered, practice address, hours and appointment numbers. Also, make sure you mention your website URL at the top position where it’s immediately visible to anyone who clicks on the About section. That will make it easy for patients/potential patients to learn more about your practice through your website.
Use An Appropriate Cover And Profile Picture
Every Facebook page has a cover area that you can utilize to post a picture which speaks about your brand. It’s similar to a billboard that can be used to capture people’s attention to your Facebook page. In a similar manner, choose an appropriate profile picture for the smaller image area provided on the main page. This is the image that will appear on all posts, photos and content you post on Facebook, so choose one that reflects your brand.
Proactively Monitor And Respond To Comments On Your Page
People who comment on the content or images you post on your Facebook page wish to be heard and responded to. Facebook provides setting notifications for comments, which can be directly accessed from the top right side of your Facebook page. You should aim to interact and respond to all the important comments proactively on a regular basis. This will provide a boost to your online visibility and people will definitely get the feeling that you are always there to hear their concerns.
Use It As News Feed to Keep Your Patients Informed About New Events
You can post all important announcements about your practice, such as opening of new branches, changes in office hours, special promotions or discounts on healthcare packages, addition of a new provider to your team and so on. Without any hassle, your patients can get to know about the important updates through the Facebook news feed.
Regularly Post Good Content/Images And Videos
People love to learn new things and constantly seek information that can satisfy their hunger. Though information on any topic is just a few mouse-clicks away on the Internet, getting reliable and accurate health information still remains a challenge. You can regularly post scientifically accurate articles, messages, tips and blogs to educate your patients and schedule them to be posted on Facebook. This helps establish a sense of trust and credibility about your practice among all patients and other readers who can be potential patients in the future. You can be in touch with your patients even if they aren’t visiting you. This helps build loyalty along with a positive reputation, and these can be the determining factors for growth of your practice.
A key component of digital healthcare marketing is to create impactful physician-patient communications that inform, influence and motivate patients to make better health decisions to improve the quality of their lives. Facebook provides an excellent opportunity to healthcare providers to take a more active, engaged role in managing patient health.