Healthcare Social Media Strategy: 5 Ways to Build Trust
If you’re one of the many healthcare professionals who have spent time and effort building an online presence, chances are you’ve heard it before: people are more likely to trust brands they know, like, and trust on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram than they are on traditional platforms like TV and radio. If this describes your business, and if you want to take full advantage of social media, it’s essential to find ways to build trust with your audience. Here are five ways to do just that.
1) Establish Credibility with Prospective Patients
The first step in a healthcare social media strategy is establishing credibility with prospective patients. This can be done by posting positive information about the clinic or hospital, offering an informative blog post or video, and providing links to reliable sources such as medical journals.
Some clinics also offer Facebook contests to increase their reach and show appreciation for those who like their page. It’s important that your content also focus on topics like humanizing your staff members or highlighting how much they care for their patients.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to provide medical information on your page, but it’s helpful when you want people to come back again for updates on treatments or other news that may be relevant to them.
2) Increase Engagement with Existing Patients
When it comes to building trust, one of the most effective ways is by increasing engagement with your existing patients. Patients typically have a lot of questions about their conditions and treatments, so using social media are an excellent way to answer these questions while at the same time providing a more personal touch. Plus, when you respond quickly and accurately, you can build trust by showing that you care.
3) Use Data and Analytics
Data and analytics are powerful tools for healthcare social media strategists. Here are five ways to use data and analytics to build trust with your audience.
1) Let your data do the talking. Provide visual representations of your data by using graphs, charts, or maps to display trends and comparisons. Share insights about your organization’s data so that people know what they’re getting into if they follow you on social media.
2) Take a look at other organizations’ datasets. Learn from what others have done wrong so that you can avoid making those same mistakes yourself.
3) Keep it up-to-date. The more current your data is, the more valuable it is. The simplest way to keep data fresh is by uploading new files every few months with updates as needed.
4) Use open-source software when possible. If you don’t have specialized software designed for specific purposes, then find open-source alternatives that will suit your needs just as well but might require some tweaks along the way.
5) Present interactive visualizations online. Interactive visualizations invite users to explore complex information through their own methods and create connections that might not be apparent otherwise.
4) Foster Two-Way Communication
The healthcare industry has always been complicated, but now that social media is a big part of our lives, the potential for confusion and misunderstanding is higher than ever. Here are five ways to build trust with your patients on social media.
1. Encourage two-way communication – By encouraging patients to ask questions and comment on posts, you show them that they have an active voice in the process.
2. Provide resources – Use social media to help educate people
3. Provide guidance – When posting about specific symptoms or treatments, provide context and links so that people know where to go next if they need more information
4. Create an FAQ page – Include a frequently asked question (FAQ) page on your website so people can find answers quickly when scrolling through their newsfeeds or searching online
5. Take advantage of hashtags – Hashtags make it easy to track conversations about trending topics, which will help you answer popular questions quickly.
6. Keep things light-hearted – One way to share good content and foster conversation is by having fun with it!
5) Encourage User-Generated Content
Encourage user-generated content on your social media platforms. This is one of the most effective ways to build trust with your audience. Listen, share, and comment on these posts and show your appreciation for them by thanking them for their contribution. Showing you care about what people are saying and sharing will generate a sense of community among your followers, which will ultimately lead to increased engagement with other posts from your page.
Key takeaways
1. It’s all about the human touch.
2. Make your content personal, but not too personal.
3. Be transparent and honest with your followers–tell them what you’re doing and why it matters to them.
4. Be open for feedback and don’t be afraid of criticism–it can help you learn from mistakes and improve your practice’s effectiveness in the future!
5. You don’t need an elaborate strategy to create a great social media presence; get creative with photos, posts, videos, and hashtags.
Conclusion
I hope this was helpful in some way and you found it informative. If you need any more information, please feel free to contact me at
Author Bio
A highly creative and motivated self-starter with exceptional project management skills and strong ability to work independently desires the job of a Brand Marketing Coordinator at Healthcare Mailing, a leading provider of healthcare email list, physician mailing list, medical email list and healthcare related marketing services.