Through social media, physicians can attract new patients and build trust with current ones. We further explain the opportunities, share best practices, and discuss risks to help healthcare providers establish a strong, yet safe, social media presence.
Choose the right social media platform(s)
Before diving in and creating a social media account on every platform, there are a few points to consider. First, what are your goals with social media? Is it to raise awareness of your healthcare practice? Connect with other professionals in your field? Generate leads? All this information is necessary to decide where your time and energy would be best spent.
When you’ve established your goals, decide the audience you’re trying to reach. For example, if you’re a family practice physician looking to connect with current and future patients, Facebook or Instagram might be the best option for you. TikTok has also become a popular platform for physicians. A search of the hashtag “DocTok” returns hundreds of videos and nearly a billion total views. However, be realistic with what you can achieve. Your target audience might be on TikTok, but if you don’t have the time and energy to dedicate to creating videos nearly every day, it likely isn’t the platform for you.
Ultimately, the best practice is to choose the platform(s) your audience uses and that you can maintain.
Create meaningful content
When it comes to creating content for social media, your goals and the platform you’re on come into play once again. Instagram is a highly visual platform, while LinkedIn can be a mix of articles, photos, and videos. Identify the content type and healthcare topics your audience engages with the most to help you decide what to create for maximum engagement.
Organization is important in many aspects of life, and social media is no exception. Therefore, develop a content calendar of when posts will be published and on what platform. Once you have been posting regularly, analyze how posts have performed to refine your strategy and develop future content calendars. In a fast-paced environment like the healthcare industry, scheduling posts when your audience is known to be online is convenient and can also boost engagement.
When creating content, remember to ensure patient privacy and protect their data. While a photo from an operating room might look interesting, it could also be a legal nightmare. Understanding HIPAA and adhering to regulatory guidelines should go without saying.
Improve patient engagement and manage reputation
Social media is another opportunity outside of the exam room to engage with patients. Whether it’s sharing a graphic with disease state information or answering questions about office hours, patient interaction alone should be a motivating factor for developing a social media presence.
However, set boundaries with how you will engage with your page’s followers. Facebook messages are not the place to offer medical advice and could be a threat to patient privacy. In that same vein, people might leave negative feedback about your business, or a crisis might arise on social media. It’s pertinent to establish a protocol for how to address issues before they happen.
Maintaining transparency during challenging situations is important for building and holding patient trust. In general, responding promptly and professionally to comments and messages is key. Oftentimes, no answer is an answer and could negatively impact your customer satisfaction.
To recap, social media has the power to help healthcare providers engage with patients. ddm’s content team is ready to help you implement effective strategies for success.