Does your practice have a strong presence on social media? If not, you’re missing out on a powerful marketing opportunity. Most of our clients see a 20% boost in call volume after a social media campaign—when the campaign is done correctly.
How many people in the U.S. are on social media?
You can see below that the numbers of users of Facebook and LinkedIn alone are huge. These don’t even include Twitter and Instagram. There’s a good reason why 62% of marketers say that Facebook is the most important social media outlet for their business.
- 5 U.S. adults were on Facebook in 2018
- 177 million Americans have LinkedIn profiles
- 49% of LinkedIn users earn > $75,000/year
What types of posts work best?
Social media marketing is a great way to build your brand, attract new patients, and engage with existing patients. But you have to know what kind of messaging and behavior will best serve you (and your patients!) For example, which is the best day for you to post? A couple of different analyses have identified Sundays, Thursdays, and Fridays as days for peak Facebook engagement. In addition, you should be checking the Facebook analytics on your own site to see which days and times seem to get you the most response.
Should you just post text messages? Probably not. LinkedIn posts with images get twice the number of responses from viewers. LinkedIn posts with videos attract five times the number of comments.
On Facebook, posts with images get 2.3 times the engagement of posts with just text. The power of videos is even more dramatic. Video posts on Facebook get at least 59% more engagement than other types of posts. That said, you also want to provide a mix of different types of posts to hold the interest of your audience.
Less is more
The amount of text in your posts should be about 40-80 characters, with 50 characters as the sweet spot. Videos should be about one minute long ideally, but definitely not longer than 3 minutes. Remember that there’s a whole world of other posts competing for your viewers’ attention.
Know your audience
Whatever you post, you want to make sure that you’re sharing information that your target audience will find useful and relevant. According to a survey of over 1,000 social media users, 41% said that they will unfollow a brand if an organization fails to share relevant content. Your posts should also reinforce your brand and give you the chance to share insights as an expert in your field. The information you post doesn’t have to be complex. You can post simple information such as the following:
Don’t forget to replace your toothbrush every 3 months
OR
Gum disease is the #1 cause of tooth loss: don’t forget to floss!
OR
Record your hygienist giving a quick flossing lesson
Ensure that your website is top-notch
You’ll want to make sure that if you’re driving traffic to your site that it’s high quality and includes information that prospective patients want. It should also definitely be optimized for mobile access.