Physicians - Getting it Right with Social Media

Social media for physicians and specialists is no longer an innovative healthcare marketing strategy of the future; it’s here and it’s a necessary component of any successful integrated marketing campaign. From launching a targeted healthcare blog to integrating medical topics onto Facebook and Pinterest, to joining your own online conversations, social media marketing is now. If you’re not on board you’re falling behind the competition, and Dr. Smith down the street is attracting your potential new patients.

Physician’s Blog

As a healthcare provider, you probably are well aware of the importance of medical magazines and journals. Combined with medical websites and healthcare mobile apps, these resources keep you in touch with innovative procedures, research and outcomes. As a Los Angeles physician, or Scottsdale specialist, at the top of your game, these publications, sites and apps are your personal tools to providing expert medical care.
When a patient needs an instant answer to medical questions or concerns, they too have their own ‘go to’ apps and websites, and you better be sure they are going to your website. As a thought leader in your industry within the medical community, you absolutely need to be a thought leader to your patients online. This is where your physician’s blog comes into the picture.

Provide your patients with educational, informational, medical tools in laymen’s terms. Break down the local risk for obtaining the flu or norovirus. Ease fears about vaccines and shots. Provide relevant pregnancy information for new moms and dads. The physician blog is your greatest opportunity to share your knowledge with your patients and potential patients on a variety of subjects.

Social Media Campaigns

While many physicians still struggle with the idea of social media marketing strategies such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn, a successfully healthcare integrated marketing plan absolutely must include these mediums.

• Social Media Facilitates Transparency – Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, where patients, potential patients, Fans and Followers have 24/7 access to you and your information. By posting photos of your offices, providing medical information through the physician blog, and discussing topics with your Fans ‘out in the open,’ Fans feel at ease with your openness and transparency, thus building trust.

• Social Media Builds Trust – While a physician’s career success should be determine by his or her medical outcomes and efficiency over time, in reality many times your career is measured in your credibility; how much your patients and potential patients trust you. Social media is a wonderful way to increase Fan credibility and cultivate trust between you, your brand and your audience.

• Social Media Encourages Conversation – Facebook and Twitter are conversation driven. As a physician, these mediums give you an amazing opportunity to converse and discuss medical topics with your audience. DO NOT simply talk TO your audience. Social media was meant for conversation and discussion, so after posting a topic from your physician blog, return often to join the discussion and talk WITH your Fans.

Healthcare marketing and building your medical brand as a specialist or physician has come a long way in the past five years, and with the advent of social media and targeted content marketing, the sky is the limit. Our Quaintise marketing professionals have successfully increased patient volume and brand awareness for clients in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Contact us today for more information.

"by Kandice Linwright" at Google