In just the last 10 years, things have changed dramatically in the social media landscape. A vast majority of potential patients now carry super-powered computers in their pockets at all times, capable of high-resolution video and image capturing, lighting-fast sharing capabilities, and in an increasingly online culture that value the latest and greatest trends when it comes to aesthetics and wellbeing.

The rise of influencers and the increasing prevalence of brands and professional services on social media allows medical practices like yours to enter mutually beneficial relationships with new people without them feeling like you’re necessarily selling to them all the time. Instead, social media is a way to build trust with people before they ever even pick up the phone to call you.

If the social landscape seems daunting or inaccessible to you, we’re here to help. Our social media marketing services allow you to put your brand in front of potential patients where they spend their most valuable time online. Here are our general tips for getting started with social media.

Go Where Your Patients Are

This can take some time to truly iron out, but you may not need to be on every single popular social media platform in order to draw a robust audience. About 70% of American adults are on Facebook and Instagram, making these two places an obvious starting point, but not necessarily your end-all-be-all strategy. Other highly popular platforms you should consider include:

• YouTube
• Twitter
• TikTok
• Google My Business (for Google searches)

People also frequent more niche sites like RealSelf when they’re passionate about cosmetic trends and procedures that you may provide, up to and including plastic surgery procedures. You can find out where people spend their time in your area by simply asking a question or two in a follow-up survey sent to patients who have already come in for a consultation or treatment: both where they heard about you and where they spend most of their time online.

Best Practices For Setting Up Social Media Profiles

Username/Handle

The first place you’ll start once you decide which platforms to use is by choosing a handle or username. You may find you have limited options for usernames given the many hundreds of millions of users on each platform, but the idea is to mention your practice name/brand, location, physician name, or even year of founding to help make yours both unique and readable. Adding a bunch of random numbers or symbols just to ensure it’s a valid unique username makes it look like spam, so avoid that.

Profile/Banner Image

Use your logo for all your profile pictures, preferably the same exact one across platforms that are used on your website. This helps solidify your brand identity no matter where people find you online. If your logo is too large or illegible at small sizes, you may want to consider cropping it or having someone redesign it for social media.

Your banner image should also be consistent across the sites that offer one. This is a long horizontal image that could be the name and logo of your practice, a pretty photo of your office location, or something else that evokes your brand.

First Few Posts

Although you’re free to set up your account(s) prior to having a strong content strategy in place, it’s best to have at least 3-5 posts ready to go on scheduled dates when you’re ready to start your pages and profiles. Common topics you can discuss in posts across platforms include:

• New blog posts on the website
• Before-and-after photos
• Patient testimonials
• New procedures
• Monthly/limited-time special offers
• Videos with the physician or practice manager

There’s no set rule for how often to post, although most practices find once to a few times a week is sufficient to stay in front of people without annoying them to death with how often you post.

Social Media Marketing For Medical Practices By DLM

Still, seem like getting started with social media is going to be an uphill battle? Our marketing experts can help. We create monthly content calendars for whatever platforms are most beneficial to you, as well as create or modify graphics to give you a professional presence throughout the social internet. Get your social media game plan by calling our office or contacting us online today.