Did you know there are many influencers on social media who are medical professionals? Take Dr Pimple Popper, for instance. With 4.2 million followers on Instagram, this dermatologist has revolutionised the healthcare social media marketing industry.
Of course, not all healthcare professionals have the time or resources to grow such an extensive social media presence. Nevertheless, you can still reap the benefits of social media content for your business with the help of a social media wall.
In this article, we bring you 5 handy tips to improve your healthcare institution’s social media marketing strategy.
Healthcare events have always been prevalent in the world of medicine. From global Gastroenterology Summits to local Red Cross fundraisers, there’s always a group of healthcare professionals you can gather to bring attention to a cause.
And while you plan it, you should focus on encouraging attendee participation through a social wall. Since humans like to feel included in any community, including a temporary community created at an event, you should let attendees meet each other through social media.
With a social wall embedded on your platform or displayed at your venue, attendees can submit their selfies and show up instantly on the wall. This allows them to meet everyone and to stand in the spotlight for a few minutes.
Here are some examples of healthcare conferences that used a social wall to engage attendees:
IASLC 19th World Conference on Lung Cancer used Walls.io to engage their attendees.
Zeiss, a German manufacturer of optical systems, hosted a conference and used a social wall to engage attendees. They displayed the wall on a huge screen on-site, along with their branded hashtag. This way, it was clear for everyone how to make their content appear on the wall.
If this example inspired you to set up a social media screen at your next event, check out our digital signage partners. We integrate with ScreenCloud and many other digital signage solutions.
Get a social wall for your healthcare event
2. Collect and showcase reviews from patients
Show off positive reviews from patients on-site or on your website. When a patient posts a review of your services on social media and tags you, you can collect it and display it on a social wall.
Then, embed the social wall on your website to make website visitors trust your services. The social wall will automatically collect and display any future reviews. Of course, you can moderate which type of reviews are collected by the social wall with our advanced moderation tools.
Helvetia, a Swiss insurance company, shares customer success stories on social media, which they display on their website’s social wall.
Alternatively, you can encourage your patients to tag their reviews with your branded hashtag. For example, 50 Million Steps for Epilepsy collects social media content tagged with the hashtag #50MillionSteps. Having an intuitive and memorable hashtag will make it easy for people to submit content.
There are all types of discussion threads about every single topic on social media and online forums. Take advantage of these and track the discussions related to your services. Interact with people by providing value to the conversation with your comment, and readers will inevitably click on your profile and maybe visit your website and, eventually, make use of your services.
The best part about this strategy is that these threads stay online forever. While researching unconventional health-related topics, I have found many Reddit discussion threads from 5+ years ago. Whoever stumbles across your comment in the future could potentially become your patient.
Some of the most popular online forums about healthcare are:
4. Run awareness campaigns
Another good idea to boost your healthcare social media marketing strategy is to run awareness campaigns. Either once a month for different causes (see tip 5), or choose one specific topic and create an ongoing campaign around it.
Awareness campaigns for healthcare institutions should revolve around topics related to the services they provide. For example, The National Coordinating Center for the Regional Genetics Network (NCC) runs the Public Health Genetics Week (PHGW). This campaign increases awareness and celebrates the efforts of the public health genetics system.
This campaign set up a social wall on their website to collect questions, comments and photos of anything related to the event.
The result of running such campaigns will depend on what your goal is. Raising awareness and funds are the ideal targets, but bear in mind that you will also have the chance to grow your audience and social media engagement.
5. Run campaigns around international days
If you choose to focus on multiple causes throughout the year, we recommend running awareness campaigns on international days. These can be less time consuming than an ongoing campaign but equally helpful.
Research dates of international causes relevant to your work, set up a social wall and collect content that people are already sharing on social media. Tell your audience about the campaign and encourage them to post content using the official hashtag.
For example, this wall collects content about World Cancer Day (February 4). Any social media post tagged with #WorldCancerDay is displayed on the wall. You can set up your wall with your brand’s colours and logo to let people know that your organisation supports the cause.
💡Remember, If you set up a wall to support a cause, make sure your intentions are honest. Donate to NGOs related to the cause and encourage other people to do the same.
Wolfon’s Children runs multiple ongoing campaigns, which makes them a great example of tips 4 and 5 combined. They set up a wall for each program at the hospital. There’s a heart wall, an autism and neurodevelopmental disorder wall, one for donations, and many more.
Overall, remember to stay honest. Your efforts to improve your social media marketing strategy should reflect your organisation’s mission and tap into what’s relevant for your community. These 5 tips will help boost your social media presence, but make sure to keep your strategy focused from start to finish.