Social Media for Medical Professionals

Doctors and medical professionals alike are quickly understanding and implementing the use of social media in order to drive their business.  After all, social media is the fastest growing and most affordable marketing option out there.  The main channels on the platform include Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and several other channels.

So, why should a doctor’s office use social media?  Well, more and more folks today use social media as their one stop shop to gain information about potential medical practices.  They checkout the practice page, read posts and articles, as well as read comments from other patients.  When friends and family refer each other to different medical practices, that referral carries more weight than any other form of marketing.  And what platform enables you to gain more referrals than ever?  Yep, you guessed it: social media.

In order to be important in the online world, your practice must have social media accounts.  This is imperative for two main reasons: it allows you to interact with your patients and it affects your internet search rankings. 

How you can use Facebook:

You have the amazing potential as a medical professional to reach thousands of people via Facebook, which could result in hundreds of patients. Create a company page, and invite everyone you know to like it.  When you post valuable information, such as newsworthy articles, interesting photos and videos, health tips, etc. you up your chances of your Facebook friends to share your post.  

The more shares, the more people you reach.  The more Likes on your page, the more people you reach. Your audience will only continue to grow as long as you are posting valuable content on a consistent basis.

How You can use Twitter:

Twitter also enables you to be connected to your patients, but in a different way than Facebook.  Twitter only allows for a certain character limit in posts, and only allows for status updates.  This is a great way to quickly share news with your patients, whether it’s a new treatment you are offering, a special event going on, or to publicize any special news.  Your following can then ReTweet your posts, which will then gain you more followers.

How You can use YouTube:

YouTube is another great social media resource to utilize.  Create a YouTube channel for your specific practice. 

Whenever you post videos on that channel, you can then use the link on your other social media accounts to share it.