Facebook can be an extremely effective tool for marketing your medical practice.

Not only does it have the power to boost brand awareness, attract new patients and build trust and loyalty among existing ones but it also has huge reach, with over 75% of Australians (approximately 15 million) logged in (Source: Digital in 2017). In addition, Facebook is now the fourth most accessed online resource for health information (Source).

However, while its potential benefits and viability as a medical marketing channel are pretty convincing, getting the most out of it requires time, effort and some essential know-how about what you should and shouldn’t be doing to get it right – and here it is.

1. Keep it professional

While this is true for any business, when you’re working in the medical profession, you need to pay extra attention to maintaining that personal/professional divide. The first step to doing this is setting up a separate business Facebook Page instead of using a personal account to promote your practice.

With a Facebook Page you can only connect with people through ‘likes’ and ‘follows’, you don’t become ‘friends’. This means you can’t see the personal information of your patients and they can’t see yours. Because of this you can avoid a range of potential legal and ethical pitfalls.

2. Post regularly

Don’t see your Facebook Page as a static billboard. To make it a successful marketing tool for your practice, you need to be posting updates often in order to stay in the minds of existing patients, and to get in front of new ones. Twice a day is recommended but a few times a week should suffice.

Knowing what to share beyond practice updates can be a sticking point. Latest health news; advice on healthy living; tips on managing certain conditions; upcoming dates and events  – think about what will engage your patients and what they’d be looking for online.  Mix it up with both original and shared content – but be sure any shared content is from a credible source.

Related: 10 content ideas for your medical practice blog

3. Encourage interaction

The great thing about social media is that it’s social, which means it’s designed to facilitate two-way conversations. So instead of just pushing out information to your practice’s Facebook Page followers, craft posts that are going to actively engage them. This means asking them questions and encouraging them to take action.

For example, you could ask what they think about a recent change at your practice e.g. new opening times etc. In addition, ask them to ‘like’ a post if they agree or describe a photo in the comments. These can all provide you with valuable feedback and insights into your customers and their preferences which you can act upon.

4. Show your human side

Trust is critical when it comes to healthcare because of its huge personal importance – people want to know they are in safe, capable hands. As well as demonstrating your authority on your Page with useful, quality posts, you also want to make people feel comfortable and that they can relate to you.

In addition to sharing your story and information about your team on your website, your Facebook Page is a great place to get your philosophy and personality across. By injecting approachability, friendliness or even humour into your posts you can give people a better insight into who you are and, in turn, build deeper relationships.

5. Optimise for local

As with anything online, to get your Facebook Page seen by the right people you need to SEO. When you set up your Facebook Page you can automatically link it to your practice website – this in itself boosts your SEO rankings. In addition to this, you should be optimising your Page and the best way to do this is using local SEO.

Local SEO is critical in general practice as the majority of your patients will come from your surrounding geo-location. What do you need to do? Firstly, include some local keywords e.g. GP Bondi Junction in your ‘About’ section, ‘Page settings’ and your short and long Page descriptions. Secondly, post about local businesses and events and include local hashtags.

6. Utilize audience insights

Facebook Insights, accessible from your account, lets you track user interaction with your Facebook Page e.g. number of visitors; days and times of visits; potential number of people you can reach (friends of your followers); number of likes and shares per post.

By monitoring your insights on a regular basis you can start to identify trends and patterns. For example, you can see the demographics of who is engaging with your post, figure out what types of posts are most popular as well as when the best time of day is to post. You can then use this information to guide your Facebook marketing and improve engagement.

7. Promote your Page

As well as ensuring your Facebook Page is regularly updated and monitored, you should also be proactively promoting it on an ongoing basis in order to attract new ‘likes’ and ‘follows’. The bigger your audience the greater your reach, which means the better chance you have of asserting your authority and bringing in new patients.

There are a number of ways you can do this. As well as sending requests to your friends, family and contacts, add links to your practice’s Facebook Page on other communications such as on your website and in your email signature. You can also try posting in Facebook Groups where you target patients spend time, or even use the paid promote posts feature.

When executed well, your medical practice Facebook Page has the potential to really drive and grow your business. However it’s important you see it as only one part of your wider social media and overall marketing plan.

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