8 Social Media Forget Worthy Myths in 2021


There’s no question that social media marketing is, and will continue to be, important for practice. If we hold this to be true, there are also a lot of social media myths that are annoyingly persistent and believing them can hurt your practice.

There are a number of myths that you need to debunk if you want to grow your practice on social media.

#1: You Need a Presence on Every Social Media Site

The notion that you need a presence on every social media site is one of the most harmful myths for healthcare business owners. It takes time, effort, and money to maintain an active presence on ANY social media site and nobody has time for all of them.

What you need is an active and meaningful presence on the sites that offer you the best opportunity to connect with your target audience and engage your patients. Nothing else matters. Most practices should be on Facebook. 

Does this mean you should never try something new? Of course not! Set up a profile and give it a try. But if the site you choose isn’t giving you the results you want, cut it loose.

#2: Fans and Followers are Worthless if They Don’t Become Paying Patients 

Social media is a great way to attract new patients. But, it can also be a bit challenging for healthcare business owners to use it properly.

A common misconception we hear about is a lot of healthcare business owners who think that followers who aren’t paying patients aren’t worth having – and that’s not true.

Your fans and followers don’t need to buy from you to be useful. Having a large following can raise your profile and help new patients find you. If you’ve got fans or followers who have a lot of clout, you’ll get some of it by association. 

Most importantly, a follower who doesn’t buy your services could still refer their friends and followers to your practice. You should run ads designed to attract paying patients but don’t ignore the benefits of followers who aren’t your patients. They’re still helpful.

#3: It’s Useful to Have Your Friends and Family “Like” Your Posts

Another common mistake healthcare business owners make when it comes to social media marketing is asking your friends and family to ‘Like’ your posts. It would be more beneficial to find a way to engage with your posts instead!

It doesn’t mean that you should tell people not to like your posts. Instead, it means that you should always be asking people to engage with your content and share it with them.

#4: You Shouldn’t Schedule Posts on the Weekend

It’s a common practice for practices not to share new social media content on the weekend. While it’s true that some of your followers might not spend as much time on social media on the weekends as they do during the week, you shouldn’t assume that weekend content is unnecessary.

Instead, try scheduling a few weekend posts to see how they do. You can use Facebook Insights or whatever analytics tool you prefer to determine which days and times are the best for posting.

#5: You Must Respond to Social Media Comments Immediately

It’s important to respond to a question or leave a comment in a timely manner. But responding in a manner that doesn’t drop everything can be very time-consuming.

If you have a social media presence, then you should be sure that your patient support is done quickly. With the rise of Facebook Messenger, practices can now offer their patients a variety of chatbot solutions to handle their needs.

However, a comment that doesn’t require patient support involvement can wait a little while for a response. As a rule, try to respond within 24 hours.

#6: Social Media Posts Must Always Be Practice-like

Social media is social first and media second, but a lot of healthcare business owners forget that. Their social media posts are as dry as dust and don’t get any engagement. And they wonder why.

Don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your social media posts. Even if you offer a professional service, you can still use appropriate humor or compassion in your posts. This is the place to showcase your brand personality. Make sure that anybody who is empowered to post on your social media accounts understands the persona you want to project.

#7: You Need Endless New Content to Post

It’s good practice to publish new content regularly on your social media sites. However, there’s nothing wrong with repurposing or resharing old content if you don’t have time to write something new.

You can also find relevant content by sourcing it from industry publications and influencers. Curating content and offering feedback on the content you are sharing is a great way to position you and your practice as an expert or thought leader on your industry’s subject matter.

#8: Social Media Marketing is Free

This final myth is one that I hear often. While it is free to set up a social media account for your practice, you’re unlikely to get the results you want without spending some money.

The more you promote your content on social media, the more likely it is that your followers will see it.

The only way you can be sure that your followers will see your most important content is to boost it and or leverage paid advertising. Social media marketing can help you get your content in front of potential patients. The good news is that you don’t need to spend much to get the results you want.

The 8 myths I have listed here are all past their prime. Learn to navigate them and you’ll see your social media marketing results improve – and your business grow.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


Why Every Practice Should Leverage Digital Marketing


Digital marketing isn’t optional. 

The fact remains, though, that only 84% of practices have a content marketing strategy as of early 2021. 

16% don’t.

If you’re one of the people who has put off digital marketing or done it haphazardly, it’s time to get serious about it. 

You may have claimed your Google My Business listing – and that counts as digital marketing. It’s also the bare minimum you can do.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about why every practice – including yours – needs digital marketing, and which marketing strategies we recommend.

What is Digital Marketing?  

Some healthcare business owners don’t understand what digital marketing is and that’s part of the problem, so, let’s explain a little more about what it is.

Digital marketing is the sum of any efforts you make to promote your practice online. It may include:

  • Email marketing
  • Blogging
  • Search engine advertising (PPC)
  • Social media posting
  • Social media advertising
  • Practice listings
  • SEO
  • Video marketing

The key to making the most of digital marketing is choosing the strategies that are most likely to deliver the results you want.

Target Local Keywords  

The first thing you need to recognize is that in the world of digital marketing, everything is local. If you try to compete for the same keywords used by big corporations with huge marketing budgets, you’re going to lose. You’ll get far more bang for your buck if you think local.

Local keywords should be a combination of industry-specific words that identify what your practice does and local words that let people know where you are. For example, a massage therapist in Minneapolis might target words such as:

  • Minneapolis massage therapy business
  • Twin Cities massage
  • Emergency massage care Minneapolis

You get the idea. You want the words you target to be specific to both your practice and your location. Google prioritizes local search already and optimizing your website and ads for local keywords will give you the best possible chance of connecting with people in your area.

Claim Your Local Listings 

A big part of digital marketing is creating a consistent online presence. A person who finds you on Yelp should have access to the same basic information about your practice as someone who searches for you on Google or someone who navigates directly to your website thanks to a referral from a friend.

Local listings such as Google My Busines, Yelp, Angie’s List, and others act as online directories. They’re there to help people find the practices they need. If you haven’t already done so, you should claim every listing for your practice. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to update and standardize all information to create a seamless presence.

Use Social Media Wisely

Social media should be part of your digital marketing strategy. As of 2020, 3.8 billion people worldwide use social media. Your patients use social media.

The trick, of course, is to know which social media options your patients prefer. 

B2B companies should focus on LinkedIn. Any company with a visual or aspirational service would do well to invest in Instagram and Pinterest marketing. Most practices can benefit from having a Facebook presence.

Once you’ve decided which social media accounts to create, you still need to use them wisely. That means using both organic posts and advertising to connect with your target audience. A practice can focus on local patients by using carefully-chosen hashtags and participating in community events such as Throwback Thursday.

Don’t Forget Email Marketing 

Email marketing isn’t the new kid on the block, but it is still one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies around. It’s particularly effective for keeping existing patients engaged and coming back to your practice.

If you don’t already have an email list, you can build one by creating content to give away and advertising it on Google or social media. If people want to download the content, they’ll need to provide you with their email address.

You can get the most from your email marketing by creating unique content for the people on your list and combining it with special coupons and giveaways.

Advertise on YouTube

YouTube advertising is something that a lot of practices miss out on because they don’t understand how effective it is. Fully 90% of patients say they have learned about a new service from seeing an ad on YouTube.

Marketers agree that pre-roll skippable ads are the most effective format for YouTube ads. However – and this is anecdotal – we’ve noticed an increase in the number of short, non-skippable pre-roll ads we’re seeing. Patients are less likely to mind sitting through a 15-second ad they can’t skip than an ad that’s longer and not skippable. 

YouTube is owned by Google and that’s one reason that YouTube is a great option for retargeting patients who have visited your site without buying anything. 

Encourage Reviews

You already know that reviews are important. You should consider them an essential part of your digital marketing strategy.

If you’re not already doing so, start encouraging patients to write online reviews. You can ask them in person either during or after treatment or, if you have an email list or Facebook account, ask them to leave a review and link to your preferred review site. 

Optimize for Mobile 

It’s safe to say that in 2021, all digital marketing is mobile marketing. We don’t mean that nobody accesses a website or social media on a computer but it’s a fact that mobile search has surpassed desktop search and almost everybody has a smartphone.

In practical terms, that means you’ve got to be sure that your website is optimized for mobile. Ideally, you should have:

  • A mobile responsive design that looks equally good on any device
  • Mobile-friendly content
  • Clickable buttons

No mobile user should need to zoom in to hit your call to action button or scroll horizontally to read your blog posts. There’s no excuse for ignoring mobile users – so don’t do it.

Digital marketing is here to stay – and it’s time to take it seriously. By focusing on the marketing strategies we’ve mentioned here, you’ll be able to differentiate your practice from competitors and attract a steady stream of new patients.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


How to Identify Your Audience and Find YOUR future patients Online


We’ve all had the experience of looking for something and not being able to find it. It’s frustrating and time consuming and can feel like a pointless exercise if we’re forced to keep at it for long.

For a healthcare business owner, there’s nothing more frustrating than knowing there’s an audience for your service and not knowing who they are – or where to find them. 

In this article, I’ll break down the process to help you first identify and then locate your audience, so you can fine-tune your marketing and get the leads you need.

Let’s dig in!

Identifying Your Audience

We can look to social media for some guidance in how to identify an audience. If you have an existing patient base, you can begin by analyzing it using two categories of information: demographics and psychographics. From there, you can use information about the problems your service solves to narrow your search.

Demographics

Demographics are easy, so let’s start there. Demographics are facts about your patients (and your target audience) that can help you identify them. They include:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Geographical location
  • Education level
  • Income level
  • Marital status
  • Employment/industry

Having basic information about who your patients are can help you identify the right target audience for your service. 

Psychographics

Psychographics illustrate your target audience’s interests and preferences. 

For example, if you run a gym inside of your practice, some interests to consider might include the following.

  • Health
  • Fitness
  • Weight loss
  • Running

You could also consider pop culture interests. If you own a clothing boutique, you might target people who watch fashion shows such as Project Runway or Say Yes to the Dress, or who follow fashion designers such as Christian Siriano or Ralph Lauren.

Benefits/Problem Solving

Finally, you should give some thought to what problems your service solves, or what benefits it provides to the people who are likely to buy it. Here are some questions to ask yourself.

  • What types of people might have the problem I’m trying to solve?
  • What solutions are they looking for?
  • Why do they need a solution – that is, what are their pain points?
  • What am I offering that’s different from my competitors?

Asking these questions may help you fine-tune your demographic and psychographic requirements. By the time you have worked your way through all three categories here, you should have a good idea of who is in your target audience.

How to Find Your Audience Online

After you have identified your target audience, it’s time to think about where to find them online. Here again, there are multiple methods you can use, alone or in combination, to find your audience.

Let’s start with social media, which can be extremely useful for connecting with your target audience. You can use demographics to identify the sites where your audience is most likely to be, so let’s start there.

  • Facebook is the largest social media site and skews the oldest. 69% of Americans have a Facebook account and with the exception of people age 65 and over, a majority in every age group use Facebook.
  • Instagram users skew much younger than Facebook users, with approximately two-thirds of Americans under the age of 30 active on the platform. There are more women than men who use Instagram.
  • Twitter users encompass only about 22% of the US adult population and more men than women use the platform. Twitter users tend to be urban and educated when compared to other social media platforms.
  • Users of Pinterest skew heavily female and tend to be affluent and educated. They encompass every age group, although it’s worth noting that the smallest demographic is people over the age of 65.
  • LinkedIn users tend to be under the age of 65 and highly educated. They mostly live in cities and suburbs and are more likely to be looking for professional services than consumer goods.

You should also consider the type of service you sell and where people are likely to look for it. We’ll talk about Google later, but on social media, here are some general guidelines. 

It’s also worth mentioning if you have a locally based practice, Facebook is really good at getting in front of users based on geolocation. Sometimes we run ads and only use zip codes as our qualifying targeting criteria if we are interested in reaching everyone that lives, works and plays within our targeted areas.

 

  • Facebook users look for all types of services, ranging from consumer goods to services at every level.
  • Instagram is likely to be most useful for selling services although some services can lend themselves to Instagram as well. For example, any service where you can show before and after photos is a good match for Instagram.
  • Pinterest users are accustomed to finding services on the site and often “Pin” services for later purchase.
  • LinkedIn users tend to be professionals and are most likely to search for services.
  • YouTube can also be leveraged! Tapping into YouTube Ads makes sense if you are a national, international or even a practice. Their ads via Google are compelling!

For example, if you have a clothing store, it probably makes sense to find your audience on Instagram and Pinterest. If you own a law firm, LinkedIn and Facebook might be the best choices.

Search Engine Marketing

In addition to finding your audience online, you must make it easy for your audience to find you. Search engine optimization and marketing are designed to help people in search of your services find you.

SEO comes down to having a properly optimized website and a well-established online presence. You’ll need to target the right keywords and identify the search terms that people in your target audience will use when searching for a practice like yours. You’ll need to make sure that your site is mobile-friendly and optimized for voice search.

At the same time, you should standardize your online listings and claim your listings on review sites such as Yelp and Google. Most consumers search for practices online before they decide where to obtain a service. Having reliable information about your practice and good reviews will make your practice more visible on Google and other search engines.

Understanding who your audience is and where to find them is a must for every practice. Once you have identified who you’re selling to, you’ll be able to fine-tune your marketing campaigns and you’ll spend less to attract new patients.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


How to Create Content for Your Practice That’s Worth Sharing 101


We all know that content marketing is the name of the game for healthcare business. Content is king and all that. But how does a practice create enough good content to reach their marketing goals? That’s the question.

 

The answer, as it turns out, is easy. All you need is a primer with ideas that you can use in multiple ways to create content. That’s what I’ll do here — break down simple content ideas that you can use (and reuse) to grow your practice. 

 

FAQ  

 

Let’s start with content that comes from a section you probably already have on your website: Frequently Asked Questions.

 

If you’re like most companies, you have FAQs with short, snappy answers. I’m willing to bet that in most cases, you could flesh those questions out with additional information and suggestions to provide detailed and actionable content for your clients.

 

I suggest reviewing your FAQ and picking out questions where there’s room to elaborate. Then, think about the best way to expand on the question. It might be a blog post, a short video, or an infographic. Whatever it is, you can share it to provide your patients with the kind of authority content they crave.

 

Behind the Scenes

 

How do your services get made? You might think that people aren’t interested, but there’s a reason that shows like “How It’s Made” are popular. 

 

Think about your process and what makes it unique. Is there an element of your service that’s handmade? Do you have a shortcut that you created? Once you’ve identified a behind the scenes story, you can break it down into a slideshow, video, or photo array to share on your website and social media  Alternatively, you could do behind the scenes videos introducing your staff!

 

Service Demonstrations 

 

You won’t be shocked to hear that service demonstrations are a kind of content you can create cheaply, but you might not realize the possibilities for content creation that are locked inside the services you offer.

 

Beyond the simple introductory service demo, you can show your patients the potential for other uses of your service. Even a service that doesn’t require a demo can be highlighted in a demonstration video.

 

For example, a clothing boutique that sells scarves could put together a demonstration video showing 10 different ways to wear a scarf. A kitchen supply company could show multiple uses for a utensil or condiment. 

 

Content Curation

 

Not every piece of content you post needs to be original. A big part of social media marketing is content curation, where you find content that’s relevant to your audience and share it with them.

 

The key here is not to simply share the content as is. Instead, you should find a way to add some authority or a unique twist to it.

 

For example, you might find an article in your local paper or an industry publication with a list of… whatever. Instead of simply posting the list, share it and point out which item is your favorite and why. Alternatively, you could mention something that wasn’t included in the list that you think should have been.

 

Patient Testimonials and Stories  

 

Happy patients are your best ambassadors and you should be featuring them in your content. While reviews are important, testimonials offer a more in-depth, story-oriented way to share the benefits of your services with your target audience.

 

The wide availability and affordability of video means that it’s easy and inexpensive to film patient testimonials. You can even do them on Zoom! 

 

To make your patient testimonials effective, it may be useful to map out an outline based on the patient’s story. That way, you can share the kind of journey that will resonate deeply with people and help them to make an emotional connection with your service.

 

Podcast

 

Have you noticed that podcasts are suddenly everywhere? There’s a good reason for that. They’re relatively easy and inexpensive to produce, and for some practices, they feel less intimidating than video. Experts predict that podcast advertising will be worth $1.33 billion by 2022.

 

From a marketing standpoint, the best thing about podcasts is that they feel personal and engaging. People can download them and listen when they’re in their cars or cleaning the house. They offer a way for you to connect directly with your audience and share insights they can’t get anywhere else.

 

Your Brand Story 

 

Differentiating yourself from your competitors is a must and content marketing provides the ideal way to do it. No matter what industry or niche you’re in, your brand has a unique story that is yours to tell.

 

Whether you do it in a series of blog posts, a video, or on your Instagram Story, tell the people in your target audience what you do, why you do it, and how you do it. Make sure to include the specific things that make you unique, whether it’s a proprietary manufacturing process, personalized attention, or innovative services that deliver the solutions your patients need.

 

Seasonal Content

 

It’s always a good idea to create evergreen content because it has a long shelf life and will likely be as relevant two years from now as it is today. However, not all content needs to be timeless.

 

Seasonal content can be highly useful to your patients and entertaining at the same time. Chances are that you’ve found yourself looking for content related to a holiday or time of year — so why not provide seasonal content for your audience? 

 

Updated Content  

 

Finally, don’t assume that older content you’ve created is no good to you now. Instead, take an inventory of old blog posts, videos and graphics and see if there’s an opportunity to update or improve them.

 

If there’s information that could clarify or expand your existing content, add it and repost it. Take old video footage and intercut it with new footage. You could even break an old piece of content into parts. For example, you could take a long blog post and transform it into a series of short videos.

 

I hope you get the idea. Your focus should always be on providing value and entertainment to your audience. You don’t need to have a huge content marketing budget to create the kind of content that your audience will love — and be eager to share.

So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you!  Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call