What is Medical Social Media?

02 Oct What is Medical Social Media?

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Youtube aren’t just for catching up with friends and family — in fact, they’re prime places for medical social media, and avenues you should be pursuing. Of course, it’s one thing to say, “I’m on Twitter!” and a completing different thing to maintain an active and resourceful profile. Not sure where to start? Don’t worry — read on!

Facebook and Twitter for Medical Marketing

As a user, you wouldn’t post the same things on Facebook as you would on Youtube. This is doubly true for medical social media. Facebook is excellent for posting dietary tips, updates about your practice, links to information on your practice’s website, and photos of your practice and events. Generally, posting two to three times each week is plenty, because you don’t want to clog the newsfeeds of the people who follow you. Primarily, you want to serve as a prompt question-and-answer resource, which means you should make a point to answer questions to comments and messages as they arrive.

There’s a lot of crossover in the types of medical social media content you would put on Facebook and Twitter, but if you ever wanted to update more frequently in a day, Twitter is the place to do it; you can tweet live updates from classes your practice is holding, information on any hour closures, or reminders about upcoming community vaccination events.

Pinterest and Youtube

Pinterest and Youtube are completely different beasts, and if you’re just starting to build your medical social media profile, it’s a good idea to start with the big ones — so, Facebook and Twitter. Pinterest is great for posting interesting infographics and links to updates from your website, but should incorporate graphics as much as possible. Stock photos are good places to start; you can post a photo as the header image to an interesting blog article, press release, or update on your practice’s website.

Youtube should be reserved for quick, concise videos that meet a clear goal and quickly capture your viewer’s attention. Interviews with medical staff, tips and recommendations, tours of the office, and explanations of common medical procedures are all great places to start, but make sure you’re using good-quality video equipment and excellent lighting. Unlike other medical social media accounts, Youtube can be updated less frequently — once a month is a good goal to reach for.

Where to start with medical social media

If you’re not sure what to post, or how to create medical social media content that meets the needs of your patients, contact HealthCare Marketing Group™ today at 800-258-0702 today. We’re here to help you create and maintain a stellar social media profile!