8 Healthcare Digital Marketing Tips

Tip 1: Get on board.

Let’s start things out by just calling a spade a spade. In the 21st century, “digital marketing” is just marketing. Gone are the days when companies only utilized traditional marketing methods. If you’re not using any forms of digital marketing today, you’re not really marketing.

Tip 2: Utilize social media to get in front of patients.

As of January 2015, there were over 2.078 billion people with active social media accounts. That means that over a quarter of the world’s population is actively engaging each and every day on social media websites. That’s crazy! If your company isn’t using social media as a main marketing tool, then you’re missing out on an easy opportunity to reach a quarter of the world’s population with your message about your brand.

Not using social media yet? Have no fear! It’s never too late to improve your marketing strategy. Focus on building strong social media accounts for your company on the Big Three: Facebook (make sure to use these best practices for Facebook), Twitter (learn how to get Twitter followers and boost engagement), and LinkedIn. Not all social media is the same, and each of these platforms allows you to communicate with different audiences in a different way. Think of each platform as one important piece that, when used in tandem with others, makes up the whole social media marketing pie. They’re complementary, and when used effectively can become a dangerous tool for any marketer. Plus, why settle for one slice when you could have the whole pie? If you’re looking for some inspiration, Cleveland Clinic has a huge following and does a great job with their content and fan engagement.

Tip 3: Use platforms like LinkedIn to target influencers in your industry.

Not every marketing effort should be geared towards consumers. To be truly successful, it’s just as important to make sure that your brand is reaching and engaging with influencers in your specific industry. Promoting your posts on LinkedIn is one of the best ways that you can do this. Not only can you target people based on interests, groups, and industry, LinkedIn also allows you to use much more specific criteria when targeting, so you can promote your posts to people based on their specific job titles or positions as well and ensure that the right people at the right level in the right industry are the ones seeing your posts.

Tip 4: Keep it concise.

Let’s face it. In the fast-paced, consumer-driven 21st century, people want twice the information and they want it delivered in half the amount of time. We don’t have the time to scroll through pages of text in order to glean the few bits of information that we’re actually looking for. Got something to say? Keep it short, sweet, and simple. That’s why digital marketing tools like videos and infographics are two of the most popular types of marketing content. They’re simple, visual, and allow marketers to condense several pages of information into one user-friendly element.

Tip 5: Don’t be afraid to get emotional.

One of the benefits of digital marketing is that it’s actually a much more effective medium for storytelling. Being able to package stories with video, audio, photographs, and text then easily share them via the internet has been HUGE for 21st century marketers, not to mention much easier and much cheaper than traditional alternatives. It’s also easier for us to track how consumers are reacting to the content that we’re sharing. Emotional appeal is a huge influencer when it comes to a post’s likelihood of engagement, and the more you use digital marketing tools to help your audiences relate to your message the more they’ll connect with your brand.

Take this commercial from insurance giant Metlife, that tugs at the heart strings and as a result had huge engagement from consumers. WARNING: do not watch in public or without a box of tissues handy.

Tip 6: Consider ditching that direct mail campaign for an email campaign.

We’re not too young to remember the days of direct mail campaigns, which means we’re not too young to remember how expensive and annoying they can be. Address lists aren’t cheap, and neither is paying someone to spend hours folding, stuffing, addressing and stamping your letters. Email is the new direct mail, and the benefits are huge. It’s cheaper, it’s faster, it’s easier, and it’s track-able. There are tons of email marketing services out there (here’s the list of 2015’s best email marketing services) and almost all of them give you the added benefit of tracking the success of your campaign. You can see how many of your emails were opened, how much time was spent reading them, how many people clicked on your website links, etc. In comparison, direct mail campaigns are just more difficult to measure success for.

Tip 7: Recognize that a strong website is key to your success.

With so many other fancy digital marketing tools out there, it’s easy for companies to forget about what we think is your most important asset: your website. It’s the foundation of your brand, the bread and butter of your marketing tools, and it can make or break you. Your website is, in many cases, your first point of contact with a consumer. Sure, it’s possible that they saw your page on Facebook or they heard about you somewhere else, but that true brand connection? That moment when they decide they’re excited or disinterested by you and what you have to offer? It happens the first time they visit your website. Your website should be as strong as your brand, so to be a killer brand you’ve got to have a killer website.

Here are a couple of things you can do to strengthen your website:

-Make sure you understand how to reach consumers with your website

-Make sure that your website is mobile-optimized so that you don’t miss out on consumers who are using their phones

-Make sure that your website is interactive, user-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing

-Make sure that your website is SEO friendly

-Make sure it stands out

If you’re looking for a real life example, check out the website for Oscar Health. It’s fabulous. 

Tip 8: If you can’t do it well, don’t do it.

There are so many tactics available when it comes to digital marketing, and it can be easy to freak out and think that you as a marketer need to be using every single one of them. You’re wrong. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a marketer is to over-reach and spread yourself too thin. Less is sometimes more, and if you have to choose between using 15 marketing tools mediocrely or using 5 marketing tools really really well, always opt for the smaller number. Mediocrity is the bane of our existence, so stick with your strengths and work to further refine them. This doesn’t mean that you should never try new things, it’s important for your digital marketing efforts to continue to grow and evolve and embrace new technologies, but if you’re doing something and it’s not relevant to your brand or hasn’t been successful in reaching your consumers, you might be better served by pulling the cord and focusing those efforts on a tactic that’s been more effective. 

If you know that you need to do something but your team just isn't big enough, don't hesitate to ask for help from the experts in health care marketing! 

Health Care Social Media Mythbusters

There are a lot of opinions about the use and effectiveness of social media in health care. Plenty of naysayers have voiced their thoughts on the lack of social media’s impact on patients, but the time has come to put these myths to rest. Social media is a powerful tool for healthcare marketing professionals to use and it works to drive patients in a number of ways.

Let’s explore a few of the common health care social media myths and misconceptions and bust them wide open. (Feel free to read this article while listening to Lil Kee’s “Buss It Wide Open”)

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Myth #1 – Patients will only leave feedback or reviews on your Facebook business page or Yelp listing if they have a negative experience at your practice, so it’s best not to promote your social media pages to patients.

BUSTED: First of all, if you don’t take ownership of your business’ page, that doesn’t mean people won’t still be able to review your business and leave comments. It’s better to be in control and merge your Business Page with any relevant location listing pages. Secondly, we’ve found that patients are just as likely to share a positive experience as a review as they are to leave a negative review. People aren’t as likely to share their experience if nothing in particular stands out to them, but if you go above and beyond even in little ways you’ll be surprised by the reaction. At an imaging center on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, the staff hands out cards with their Facebook page and Yelp URL with a message of appreciation which they give to any patients who compliment the practice, their staff or service. More often than not, those patients take the extra step to review the radiology practice.

Myth #2 -  Most of our patients are elderly and the older populations don’t use social media.

BUSTED: 82% of the 65 million baby boomers and seniors, in the 50+ age group go online for health and wellness information. This demographic is also a part of the fastest growing online community. (Immersion Active, 2015) Older populations are very loyal to the brands and businesses that treat them well. They are most influenced by word-of-mouth style marketing and social media in itself is modern-day word-of-mouth. One multi-modality imaging center in The Villages in Florida, which is a 55+ community has a very active Facebook page on which patients and referring physician staff members engage regularly.

Myth #3 – My small town isn’t into social media; no one will engage with our Facebook page or tweets.

BUSTED: Of all Internet users in rural communities, approximately 67% use Facebook as compared to 72% in suburban communities and 74% in urban communities. (Pew Research Center, 2015) So while it is true, that patients in metropolitan areas are more active on social media, rural community users are still almost as active on Facebook as those in rural and suburban cities.

More myth-busters to follow next week! Read more: 15 Facebook Topics For Healthcare Marketers

5 Marketing Mistakes You Can Fix Today

With new healthcare marketing trends rising this year, your team is going to have to make some changes to your strategy. Evolving your marketing practices will help you reach more patients as their behaviors change, leaving your non-evolving competition in the dust.  Last year, we saw a huge spike in patients turning to the internet for health information and that is a trend that is certainly not going away, so let’s take a look at some of the mistakes you might have made in regards to your internet marketing efforts so you can improve this year.

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1.     Massive Marketing Collateral

Gone are the days of successful E-books. They take far too much time to create on your end and now patients are being drawn to more bite-sized content pieces. Smith & Jones calls them “info snacks,” giving patients with decreased attention spans the opportunity to easily consume the most important information you can provide. 

TIP: Buzzfeed has become wildly popular because of their funny and topical content, but also because of the way they display their content with easily consumed lists and quizzes. 

2.     Data Overload

Last year the most consumed forms of content were videos and infographics. Due to the short attention spans of online readers, healthcare marketers have to be able to deliver important data in a concise and easily consumed way. Showcasing medical data in infographic format is proven to make it more memorable and more impactful. 

TIP: Canva has some great infographic templates which you can easily import into a simple video format.

3.    Website's That Aren't Mobile Optimization

People are using their smartphones and tablets more and more to search online for services, so if your website isn't mobile responsive you could be losing valuable leads. Your marketing team needs to focus on how your website content appears on phones and whether or not your content is driving potential patients to connect with you. You should also keep mobile optimization in mind when it comes to your email campaigns. 

TIP: Squarespace websites include free mobile optimization and you can preview and test your web pages and mobile sites with the click of a button.

4.     Unemotional Messaging

With healthcare marketing it can be scary to show too much emotion and be disruptively different, but if your marketing is too general and surface level, you'll go unnoticed. It is a huge mistake to avoid using personality in your marketing or to be too clinical. Some of the best doctors are the ones that get personal with their patients, share stories and can be seen as a shoulder to lean on; as opposed to those that are detached and unemotional. Let your content marketing reflect the kind of care you want to deliver to your patients.

TIP: Connect with patients by sharing information about your staff or physicians on your pages. Go beyond where they got their training; focus on the parts of their personalities that patients can connect with, like favorite movies or inspiration quotes.

(Read More: How to Grow Your Practice's Twitter Audience)

5.     Blah Branding

There are few industries where brand loyalty is more imperative than health care but it is often over-looked. Let your brand speak to the kind of care your organization delivers and be sure to focus on branding in your social media content, blog posts and advertising efforts. This is your chance to stand out from the competition and in medical marketing, people are often afraid to deviate from the norm. Be the one who isn't afraid to switch things up!

TIP: Run a social media campaign or contest to get your patients and community involved with your brand by asking them to come up with a new tagline for you.

How To Get Followers on Twitter and Boost Engagement

We are often asked by health care organizations and practices which social media marketing platform is most important for their business, which is a hard question to answer because each platform is valuable in its own way. 

Facebook is used in health care marketing for:

• Engaging with patients on a personal level and collecting reviews
• Sharing consumer-facing news and updates
• Hosting contests for referring physicians

(Read More: 15 Topics for Facebook Posts in Health Care)

LinkedIn is used in health care marketing for:

• Connecting with industry experts
• Building your reputation as a thought leader, whether you’re a physician, hospital administrator or marketer
• Sharing original blog content from your website

While Twitter can be used in health care marketing for:

• Responding to your community’s tweets about health care and medical issues
• Reaching out directly to media contacts
• Sharing valuable articles, statistics and infographics
• Finding community updates and industry news
• Engaging in social conversations by tracking certain terms ex: affordable drugs

So, how do you get started on Twitter to excel at social media in healthcare? The first steps are to find who you want to follow, to get new followers and then get people to engage with your tweets. Here’s how to become a health care influencer on Twitter:

1.     Follow the best people: Don’t just follow willy-nilly, there should be a reason you’re following them.

• Find out who are the top influencers in health care on Twitter and identify which ones you can learn from and which ones would value your messages. See SlideShare of 2014 Influencers below.
• Pick the top 10 journalists who are writing the kinds of articles you could potentially be featured in or who you could provide syndicated content/guest posts to. TIP: Some of these can be national writers but don’t forget to focus on journalists at your local newspapers.

100 Healthcare And Digital Health Influencers To Follow In 2014 from Marie Ennis-O'Connor

2.     Use the right hashtags: Hashtags enable you to see all conversations related to a topic such as #TwitterTricks

• Find all appropriate health care hashtags on Symplur’s website for healthcare hashtags.  You can find upcoming conferences, tweet chats and popular medical topics.
• Be sure to set your location on Twitter so you can see what topics are trending in your area. It’s okay to use hashtags related to pop culture or community news sometimes, you don’t always have to be specific to health care. The goal is to provide value and join the conversation.

3.     Search and track terms: You can also find tweets using certain keyword phrases when they aren’t used as a hashtag with the following search tricks.

• Use location-based search to find people within your vicinity using certain words in their tweets. Ex: MRI near:Tampa within:10mi (hint: No spaces between :Tampa and :10mi)
• You can filter search results based on sentiment by adding :) or :( to your search query to see positive and negative tweets about a subject.
• Use advanced search forms to find specific combinations of words in tweets:

o   Tweets containing all words in any position (“MRI” and “cost”)  ex: “Anyone know the cost of an MRI in Tampa?”

o   Tweets containing exact phrases (“MRI price”) ex: “I found an MRI cost comparison tool online.”

o   Tweets containing any of the words (“MRI” or “cost”)

o   Tweets excluding specific words (“MRI” but not “cost”) ex: “Do you think Arian Foster’s MRI will show a torn Achilles?”

4.     Tweet with purpose: Be sure to actually engage.

• Tweet directly to a person you’re hoping to engage with
• Use hashtags, but don’t go overboard.  A tweet with 1-2 hashtags is more likely to be retweeted or shared, but if you go over 3 hashtags you’re cutting your chances of engagement by 50%.
• Reply to someone you’ve found via advanced search and communicate with them by serving as a resource or answering their questions.

TIP: If you’re tweeting without doing any of these three things or sharing a link to something on your website, you are essentially talking to yourself. You know that homeless guy downtown who is always yelling, at no one in particular? You are the social media version of him, in this case.