Today, we don’t know if we are conquering the digital world or the digital world is conquering us. Living in an era like this, we need to ensure we are abreast with all the trends and developments that directly affect us. One trend that has moved all the industries and all parts of the world is the extensive use of social media. The millennial generation has embraced various social platforms with open arms and it is now a major part of their lives. On the top of this generation is the next, generation Z. Generation Z, also known as the iGeneration, is immersed in technology. They spend most of their time on social media.
It has, therefore, become very important for all types of businesses in all the sectors to leverage the technique of social media marketing to attract the millennials and genzers. This will not only increase the sales but help you build a chain of loyal customers.
Healthcare industry is also affected by this trend, but it lags behind in exploiting it to the fullest. Let’s understand what benefits it brings to you.
The idea of searching and following a doctor on some social platform would seem absurd if you thought about it a few years back. But, time has changed and so has the trend. When it comes to health, although people won’t shop around, they will still look for the best. Advertising everything that a provider has to offer on a platform reaching anyone and everyone is a great idea to mark him/her in the minds of people.
Additionally, users, all around the globe, surf their social media feeds number of times a day. If one makes sure to update their account regularly, users are likely to come across their post number of times. This leaves an impact on the users. Where else can one make their presence felt so frequently?
It also allows a company to connect with their patients in real-time. And this can be done from anywhere and everywhere!
With social media, you can ensure customer-centricity. Putting up health tips and staying in touch with the patients through social platforms are some ways to do this. Moreover, healthcare providers can put up about the practices, services, and products that they provide and the stories of how they have helped others for better. This will help them build a sense of trust in the clients as well as the audience visiting their account.
Other than this, social media marketing comes with a lot more advantages. To stand out and make it fun, here are a few ways that will help.
Educational Posts
A healthcare brand can educate their clients or patients through their social media feed. This can include posting health tips, a video of successful surgery carried by a hospital, awareness and precautions for particular disease, short description of a new device or technology, and many more. Being connected with the brand, the patients will look out for such tips and probably implement them as well. Not only will it help the brand in building better relationship with its clients, but also help improve the patients’ lifestyle.
Start a Campaign, Use Hash tags
It is a very good idea for a healthcare company to start its own campaign on social media. The campaign can be about anything from awareness about a disease to encouraging audience to share their success stories to starting a social initiative and calling out audience to join in. Using hash tags to promote such campaigns brings a lot of benefits. Say for example, a company starts a campaign for the patients of aids, calling out people to share the success stories of themselves or their loved ones in conquering aids. Hash tag like #companynameforaids can be used by everyone joining in the campaign. This helps improve the company’s branding alongside a good cause.
Interactive Communication
Clients/patients do not usually indulge in the interactive communication with the healthcare providers. On a social platform, this can be initiated. This will help the patients feel more close to the company and hence, build a long, trustful relationship.
Leverage Infographics
Infographics can help one provide highly informative content in very short time. Without taking up a lot of the audience’s time, a company can portray its strengths with the help of infographics. A step further is infographic videos. They say a lot of things in matter of seconds. Also, the combination of an audio, video, content, and colors is easier to remember and leaves a high impact on the viewers.
These are just some of the ways to leverage social media for marketing by healthcare brands. The scope for ideas is wide, as when it comes to creativity, the sky is the limit. It is the need of the hour to walk with the trends of the world and use them for your benefit. Social media marketing brings in a vast opportunity for healthcare companies to brand and advertise their strengths and connect to the clients better.
-Aishwarya Nawandhar