Sweet 16 Digital Marketing Hacks to Increase your Patient Database !

The marketing benefits of social media for doctors, medical practices and hospitals are significant.

It seems as if nearly everyone with a smartphone is addicted to one or more social media connections. Somewhere in that crowd are your patients and prospective patients. It’s no wonder that many healthcare providers are now on social media Here’s some sweet 16 helpful tips to increase your patients digitally –

1.  Carefully define your ideal patient and target audience. You can’t be everything to everybody, so don’t make that classic mistake. Know your patient base by demographics and psychographics, then focus and then focus again
2. Create accounts for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are dozens of social networks, including many that you don’t know. Begin with the largest players first. Create your account profile with descriptive words that your patients to search you!
3. Quality content counts the most. Publish regularly. Information needs to be accurate and authoritative. Quality content must be interesting, understandable and compelling.
4. Commit to being present regularly. Social media takes time to develop, and that requires a regular presence and consistent participation. Devote the time, talent and resources to making daily updates and postings.
5. Call on professional help. Social media for doctors can be demanding, and we at Digimaap can help. Reach out to us for help in the planning, design and effective posting on social media!
6. Cross-promote your social self. Provide visitors with a lineup of your social media icons. Give everyone the ability to switch, for example, from website to Facebook, or from Twitter to your YouTube channel.
7. Images add impact and interest. Virtually every social platform provides for easily using pictures, videos, GIFs or other image enhancements.
8.  Include emojis in Facebook updates. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, emojis capture attention. Use these little digital images or icons to reinforce an idea or sentiment.
9. Include keywords in social profiles and comments and use hashtags.
10. Keep post updates short and sweet. Strive to present a single idea in a clear but compact message.
11. Share your updates/entries multiple times a day ! If it’s an exciting new discovery or need to use .. post more.
12. Listen to the voice of the customer. Social media provides online “listening posts” for providers to hear and understand discussions, trends and issues that are important to patients/prospective patients. This is fodder for timely engagement.
13. “Tell. Don’t sell.” Content that teaches, informs or updates is valuable. Heavy-handed “selling” is a social audience turnoff.
14. Selectively join groups and discussions. Find and participate in conversation opportunities such as Twitter Chats, LinkedIn Groups etc.
15. Create your own mini-visual quotes. There are several simple-to-use online tools that create useful and attractive quotes for social postings.
16. Respond quickly to questions, comments and reviews. Immediate responses are often best, although not always practical. Strive for same day reply/response if possible!These 16 tips will help doctors use SM ( social media) to their advantage!