The healthcare industry has witnessed a digital revolution in the recent few years. About 88% of consumers use the Internet to make health decisions (Pew Internet Research). As the numbers of social media users continue to soar globally, healthcare providers can leverage it as table-turning dynamics to add value to their practice and attract new patients.
Compelling Numbers of Social Media Usage
In the past few years, social media has earned the reputation of one of the most effective forms to educate and empower the health consumer. People have taken charge of their health and make informed decisions regarding their health. Some years ago, it may have been an absolute matter of choice to market your practice and connect with patients on social media. But now, it’s an absolute must in order to survive and thrive in the competitive healthcare market.
Maintaining a virtual relationship with patients on social media has become imperative for healthcare providers and will continue to gain more traction in 2017. Being reluctant will only take your online reputation in a downward spiral and cause havoc to your brand entity. Always remember that it can only take a few seconds to destroy a brand’s online reputation that took years to build.
Let’s have a look at some major advantages of having a social media marketing strategy which can help you attract more patients and grow your business:
Strengthened Patient Communication
People analyze the social media interactions of physicians to form an opinion about the quality of care provided at their practice. Various social media platforms provide an unprecedented opportunity for healthcare providers to strengthen relationships through transparent communication.
Richer Customer Experiences
Every patient interaction you have on various platforms like patient-review websites, blogs posts, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is an excellent opportunity to let the world know about service excellence at your practice. Through these interactions, you can get to know the mind-set of patients. You can utilize this medium to address the issues patients may have faced at your practice, apologize for any inconvenience caused and assure them that nothing less than the best healthcare services will be provided.
More Patient Conversions
Every post you make on social media platforms can be a chance to convert potential patients. If you have a reasonable following on social media, you can reap trifold benefits of simultaneously connecting with new patients, existing ones and other visitors who can be future potential patients.
Wider Bandwidth for Brand Exposure
Healthcare is now in league of all other businesses where social media plays a crucial role in brand management. A strong online presence enhances a physician’s trustworthiness and boosts traffic and search engine ranking. It provides additional exposure to your practice as through the content on social media, you can provide links to your website that can bring additional traffic and higher ranking on search engines.
The healthcare sector is evolving rapidly and in the coming year more competitors will enter the online healthcare marketing space. It’s high time to create and implement an effective social media strategy to take advantage of the opportunities in the coming year and beyond.