5 Healthcare Marketing Experts You Should Start Stalking Immediately

Marketing can be difficult, especially when you’re in healthcare. Healthcare marketing has changed drastically over the past decade, evolving into an exciting but incredibly complicated mass of practices, tools, and ideas. The great thing about healthcare marketing is that it’s essentially a wide open frontier. We’ve moved so far beyond our traditional methods of the past that in many cases, those ideas aren’t relevant anymore. We’re moving forward. It’s a time of expansion, of thinking outside the box, of incredible growth. The bad thing about that, though, is that it means there’s not much to go off of.

Marketing is an incredibly collaborative field. We feed off each others’ ideas, we share our successes and our failures and we challenge both ourselves and our fellow marketers to grow. In an industry where marketing is so fresh and untested, though, where are we supposed to draw inspiration from?

We’ve gathered a list of a few of our favorite healthcare marketing experts, the ones who are regularly sharing exciting and innovative ideas specific to the healthcare industry with their fellow marketers. They’re pretty much healthcare marketing gurus, and if you’re not following them on every platform you can then you’re missing out on a lot of great content that could help you improve your marketing strategy and better your brand.

So, without any further delay, here’s 5 healthcare marketing experts you should start stalking immediately (while keeping in mind that restraining orders are a very real thing).

Marie Ennis-O’Connor @JBBC

She’s a Healthcare Social Media Consultant and health blogger, and she’s been named one of Klick Health’s top 50 global social media influencers. She specializes in providing social media consultancy and training services to companies in the healthcare industry, and she’s always sharing great tools and trends in healthcare marketing.

Stewart Gandolf @StewartGandolf 

He’s the CEO of Healthcare Success Strategies, a medical marketing and health care ad agency in California. He’s famous for all of the #hcmkgt stories he shares on Twitter, and his website has a ton of resources for online marketing as well.

Mitchell Cotthoff @MitchCotthoff 

If the 28,000 followers aren’t enough to convince you this guy knows what he’s talking about, a few minutes on his Twitter feed will. Mitchell’s constantly sharing innovative marketing resources online with his followers, and they’re all easily adaptable to the healthcare industry.

Salman Aslam @asksalmanaslam 

As a Digital Business Strategist and Co-Founder/CEO of Omnicore Agency, Salman’s got a lot of knowledge about healthcare marketing. He specializes in digital marketing, though, and what makes him different from some of our other gurus is the fact that his content is geared specifically towards marketers looking to boost their traffic on social media platforms. The content is valuable, and it’s specific too.

Fergus Linskey @FergusLinskey 

We love Fergus, and not just because he’s Tampa based! All of his marketing tips are geared specifically towards individual doctors and healthcare practices, which means no time spent trying to take those tips and translate them to be relevant for your business.

The list doesn’t stop with these five! There are tons of valuable resources out there, and there are lots of healthcare marketing experts doing everything they can to share them with others. We’ve made a habit of trying to follow as many of them as we can. You can find them through our page @Atlantic_Health. 

What Not To Do On Social Media: Healthcare Edition

Social media is hands down one of the most valuable marketing tools for healthcare professionals in the 21st century, if not the most valuable. It’s a platform that allows us to engage with patients in ways we never could before, to establish that personal connection and increase brand awareness substantially. It gives our practice a personality, and makes what many people don’t view as a traditionally exciting industry just a little more endearing. That is, if we’re using it correctly.

Like any other asset, social media can be a bit of a double edged sword. When used incorrectly, it can singlehandedly destroy your reputation or push current and future patients away. It’s true for personal social media accounts, and it’s even more true for professional accounts.

If you’re one of the healthcare professionals who’s taken the plunge and dipped your toes into the world of social media, then take a quick second and congratulate yourself for successfully riding the wave into the future of healthcare marketing! We all know it’s not enough just to start riding the wave, though…it’s all about whether you’re able to stay afloat while doing it!

It’s not enough to simply have social media for your practice, you’ve got to make sure that you’re using it right--otherwise it can end up being the anchor that drags you down. Everyone’s practice is different, so it’s impossible to just sit down and say “here’s what you should be doing”. When it comes to social media practices, though, there are some universal things you shouldn’t be doing. So here’s our list of what not to do…healthcare edition, of course! Although many of these tips are centered specifically around Facebook, they’re applicable to other social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn as well. 

One of the biggest mistakes that healthcare professionals make when starting out on social media is to view their accounts as a place to sell. Don’t do that. Social media should be used primarily as a platform for patient engagement and information sharing. People don’t want to hear your business pitch, they just want you to care about and engage with them on a personal level. When it comes to self promotion on social media, try to follow Rallyverse’s Golden Ratio. 30% of your posts should be owned/original content, 60% should be shared from somewhere else, and just 10% percent should be promotional.

what not to do on social media: healthcare edition

We’ve all heard the phrase “sharing is caring”. When it comes to social media, though, that’s not always necessarily true. Yes, the key purpose of social media is to share resources and information and experiences with your patients, but we know all too well that oversharing has negative results. Try not to oversaturate the patients who are following you on social media—sharing too much content will result in being hidden from their newsfeed or even un-liked. Stick to one post per day on Facebook, and no more than 5 a day on Twitter. If you notice people aren’t engaging with your posts, try scaling back or experimenting with different times of the day. It’s a science, and it takes a little bit of time to figure out what works for your healthcare practice! On the same note, make sure that the content you’re sharing is relevant to your patients and your business. Otherwise you’ll risk losing legitimacy in their eyes.

what not to do on social media: healthcare edition

When it comes to social media, talking about your patients isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s great to recognize and appreciate them online, as long as they’re comfortable with it! If there’s one thing you should absolutely never do, though, it’s talk trash about your patients. Even if you had the most horrible experience with the nastiest patient in the world, it’s not ok to talk about on Facebook. Don’t joke about it, don’t poke fun at them, don’t complain. Anything you say about your patients on social media should be nothing but positive!

what not to do on social media: healthcare edition

Your company’s professional social media accounts are just that…professional. They’re not a place to argue about hot button social issues, they’re not a place to be vulgar or confrontational. They don’t operate the same way that a personal Facebook account operates—they’re held to a higher standard. Keep this in mind when you’re picking your posts for the week. If something seems a little too racy, don’t post it. If you think your patients might be offended by it, don’t risk it. The same can be said when it comes to responding to reviews via social media. You might have a patient who leaves a ridiculous or incredibly rude review on your Facebook page. Don’t argue with them, even if what they said was ludicrous. Be polite, be professional, apologize for the negative experience, and offer a solution for the future. It will go a long way towards improving your brand.

what not to do on social media: healthcare edition

Social media is a huge beast, and it’s not very easy to manage. There’s a ton that goes into it, and it can be so easy to get overwhelmed and feel lost. The big thing about social media is that you can’t just jump into it without a game plan. There’s a strategy behind how to properly use it, and if you’re lacking that strategy then you’re probably not going to see the results that your company is hoping to see. Think you might need some help getting your social media strategy together, or even just revamping it a little bit? Talk to the experts in healthcare marketing. We love doing it, and we’d be more than happy to help!

10 Tweets for Your Imaging Center’s Twitter Account

Getting your imaging center or medical practice involved with social media can be a challenge, so if you’re not sure where to get started you aren’t alone. Following health care social media best practices means providing value, being genuinely caring and being accessible.

With more patients turning to the Internet and social media platforms for medical advice and resources, your healthcare marketing strategy needs to go beyond just referring physician marketing. Healthcare social media and radiology marketing on platforms like Twitter, will help improve your online reputation and reach more actively searching patients.

Read More - Physician in Social Media: Twitter and How to Get Involved

health care social media radiology

Here are 10 tweet ideas for your imaging center to post on your Twitter account to get you started:

1.     Sharing current or past Blog Posts​

2.     Engage with local media personalities or news casters discussing health in your town. Most people in the media are also active on Twitter!

3.     Spreading the word about health care news that affects your patient

4.     Share photos of your staff doing something unique, like celebrating Halloween by dressing up. Then be sure to use holiday hashtags that are trending!

5.     Funny industry meme

6.     #TBT Tweets – Share a funny picture of your staff or your radiologist from back in the day. Twitter users want to see that you can have a personality.

7.     Links to other interesting or valuable articles, even if they aren’t on your websit

8.     Comment on something trending in your area. For instance, if you have a parade or event or local holiday coming up, engage in that conversation. Everything you tweet doesn’t have to be about your services, it can be about your involvement in the community too.

9. Sharing your contact information with an image attached, side note tweets with image content are much more likely to be engaged with

10.     Use geo-tag searches to find people tweeting about your kinds of services in your area. For instance, you can use this formula “MRI geocode:27.9959851,-82.7343884,60km” to find people who are tweeting with the term “MRI” within 60 km of your Google Earth coordinates. See who is close by using your terms and reach out to them to see if you can help! 

Radiology marketing will never be the same, so it is time for you to jump on board!

Read More: How to Get Followers on Twitter with Health Care Marketing

 

Healthcare Website Optimization Tips for Success

Are you on the road to success for practice's website?

Are you on the road to success for practice's website?

One of the best selling points your imaging center might have, is your quality of service. Now, it's time to see if your website showcases the same level of quality you hold your staff to. In healthcare marketing, search engine optimization and having a patient-friendly website is key.

To ensure that your website is being effective, you’ll want to go through and check all the moving parts. You don’t need to hire an SEO specialist or spend a ton of money to evaluate your website.  As long as you know what to look for, you can get started today!

Modern Style

Be honest with yourself, does your website look modern and sleek? Does it reflect the kind of high quality, technologically advanced medical care you provide? If your website looks like a high school student designed it in their computer class circa 2003, with sparkling and spinning graphics, it might be time to update.

Updated Content

If your website has said the same thing on the home page since you launched 5 years ago, Google probably doesn't even know you exist. You need to update your webpages with new content regularly. Adding a blog to your website can help you add fresh content without overloading your on-page content.

Keyword Optimized Page Titles

If a patient went on Google and typed in “MRI in Tampa fl” you would hope that your Tampa based imaging center would come up first in their search results. If you don’t have the terms “Tampa” or “MRI” in your page's title though, it’s very unlikely.  Think about the search terms your patients would use and be sure to incorporate them into your content.

301 Redirects

If you've recently revamped your website or moved to a template site like Wordpress or Squarespace, it's possible that some of your old URL links might have changed. To make sure links out on old social media posts or in old blog articles aren't broken and leaving your visitors perturbed, set up 301 redirects so that the old URLs go to similar new pages rather than pages that don’t exist anymore.

Alt Image Description

Appropriately used images on your website or blog posts are great, but make sure that you have added image titles and descriptions to them so they aren’t just taking up space and are working to grab the attention of Google for terms you're hoping to rank for organically.  This way they help to boost the power of your page.

Google Analytics

Do you have Google Analytics set up? If you answered ‘no’ to this question, then go in time out. How are you tracking the success of your website? How do you know if people are actually using your site? You can’t improve if you don’t know where you stand.

Calls to Action

Make sure you have a call-to-action on each appropriate landing page on your website. These should be accompanied by a contact form giving patients the opportunity to request appointments online, ask questions if they are unable to get on a phone or just to get more information.

Want us to do an evaluation of your website? Fill out the form below!

9 Things You Need to Know About AdWords

Whether you’re an AdWords novice or have been Google certified for years, there is always something new to learn in the world of search marketing and advertising. Today we’ll explore some basic AdWords training principles to incorporate into your healthcare marketing strategy, so you’ll be more prepared for conversations with your team about your paid search strategy.

 

The 9 Things You Should Know About Google AdWords:

1.     CPC/PPC vs. CPM

CPC (cost-per-click) and PPC (pay-per-click) are terms that can be used interchangeably and mean that your bid-strategy is to pay Google only when people click on your ads. You can also choose to take the CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand impressions) bidding approach which determines your costs based on how many times your ads are shown. CPC is more common and helps give you a better indication of your ROI.

2.     Keyword Planner

Google offers a FREE keyword planner tool for all Google AdWords users. You can use this to determine search volume of certain keywords, estimate competition and average bids along with helping you come up with more appropriate keywords for your campaigns.

3.     Difference between Ad Campaigns and Ad Groups

Ad Campaigns can have multiple Ad Groups underneath them. Think of Ad Campaigns as the different service lines for your practice (ex: Women’s Imaging or Diagnostic Imaging for a radiology center) and think of Ad Groups as the specific services or modalities that fall under those campaigns (ex: Mammograms and Ultrasounds).

4.     Negative Keywords

You can add negative keywords to your campaigns, which indicates to Google that you don’t want your ads shown when people search for certain terms that might be similar to your terms. For instance, let’s say you are using the keywords “diagnostic imaging centers” and “imaging centers” but someone typed into Google “imaging services” they will get results for imaging centers and also digital printers, so you’d want to add “digital imaging” as a negative keyword.

5.     Branded Keywords

When you create an ad campaign for branded keywords, that means ads will show up when someone searches the name of your practice. It might seem counter-intuitive since you’re already coming up 1st organically, but it’s still beneficial to own that real estate. It helps contribute to your overall ad rank if you’re converting well on your branded terms, but keep in mind you don’t have to budget as much for these campaigns.

6.     High Search Volume with Low Competition

It’s a good idea to focus on keywords that have higher search volumes and lower competition. This won’t always seem like a good approach from the get go, but if you do well with converting lower competition terms, you’ll be in a stronger place when you start bidding on more competitive terms.

7.     AdWords Certifications

Anyone can become AdWords Certified through Google and it doesn’t cost anything. Always ask your paid search team if they are certified. It doesn’t take much to do so. First, you take the AdWords Fundamentals exam and then you choose to take either the Search, Display, Mobile, Video or Shopping Advertising exam. Once you pass both, you’re officially certified. Side Note: There are tons of free study guides online and through Google.

8.     Search Network vs. Display Network

These are kinds of campaigns; “Search Network Only” means that your ad will only show up on Google, “Display Network Only” means your ad will only show up in Google’s Display network of websites and videos, including YouTube and Blogger. “Search Network with Display Select” is a combo, which enables your ads to show up in both scenarios.

9.     Ad Rank vs. Quality Score

Your AdWords’ ad rank is the grade that determines in where your ad is displayed on a search results page. Your ad rank can fluctuate based on your bid amount and the quality score Google has given to your ads. Quality score is measured by your ad’s headline, description, destination URL, relevancy and the keywords you’ve chosen. If you have a higher quality score for your ad you could end up paying less per click since Google has determined that you’re providing valuable information for their searchers.

 

Learn more about Google AdWords by reaching out to the members of our paid search team and by checking back for more blog posts about paid search and healthcare search engine optimization tactics.

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