The importance of having a social media presence is truly unmatched by many other medical marketing strategies. Along with content development and distribution, on-site and off-site optimization, and link building, social media has become a fundamental aspect of marketing your medical practice. But where do you start? Most physicians knew that they must have a Facebook page, but don’t know the first thing about starting one. So, let’s break it down to the bare minimum.
Setting Up A Facebook Page For Your Medical Practice
The initial act of setting up a Facebook page involves nothing more than an email address. If you already have a personal oage, you’re one step closer. You will be the Admin of the new Business page, however no one will be able to tell that you’re the Admin. So if you already have a personal Facebook page, we can start with that.
To create your own Business page, click on the below link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?campaign_id=372931622610&placement=pghm&extra_1=0
From there simply follow the steps to creating your Local page, Place page, Company or Organization page, Brand page, and Cause or Entertainment page. Most medical practices will want to select “Local page” in order to add their exact location for targeting purposes.
Choosing a Profile Picture
Even though this is your Business page, you’ll want it to seem personal and available to everyone. So, if you run a small medical practice that is extremely family oriented or neighborhood friendly, consider adding a group picture as your Profile photo. However, if you own a large practice containing many employees, your company logo will work just fine.
However, let’s expand on the purpose of the Profile picture. This is one of the first things that visitors will see as they check out your page or read your News Feed, so it must make a good first impression. Consider having a graphic designer create a custom Profile picture for your page that includes your website information, phone number, hours of operation, even location. Be creative and think outside of the box.
Choosing a Profile Name
Selecting a name for your Facebook page is also important for two reasons; Facebook Search will soon give Google Search a run for its money and Facebook pages appear in Google Search results. What does this mean for medical marketing? Google holds about 70% of the market for overall web searches. While Bing and Yahoo take up much of the rest, Facebook’s search numbers are climbing, and when Google executives start to voice concern, you know Facebook is really moving up.
A Profile name must contain your business name. If you want to break off a subset of Facebook pages later for each physician in your practice and each procedure, it’s a great idea, but for your first page you’ll want to keep it simple.
Adding A Welcome Page
Every great Facebook page has a Welcome tab. Though the format of Facebook pages are currently undergoing some changes, if you can get a web developer to install a custom Welcome page before March 15th, that page will remain throughout the Facebook pages update process.
A Welcome page is usually an image, or multiple images, that invites the visitor to the page. The current trend is to have this Welcome page become the Landing page, the only page that visitors will see until they “Like” the page. After they “Like” your page, they will have full access to its benefits. Creating a custom Welcome page does take some css and html knowledge, so speak with your web developer about getting one set up.
Adding Content
Once you have the basics set up, you’ll want to start adding content to your page. In terms of medical marketing, keep a keen eye out for the latest medical news, breakthrough procedures, and personal stories that you can post to your Wall. Don’t forget to make it personal and don’t be afraid to share in-office pictures and more. Content should be added at least once a day to keep things moving.