Healthcare Social Media: Understanding Your Followers

10 Feb Healthcare Social Media: Understanding Your Followers

When it comes to healthcare social media, maintaining active social media profiles is only half the battle. After all, the gold standard in social media marketing is the ability for your content to appeal to users organically — that is, without you having to pay for advertising upfront.

How do you get to that point? Well, a huge part of a successful healthcare social media plan is engaging, shareable content that hones in on the interests of a wide variety of people. At its most basic level, this simple fact boils down to the following things: You need to understand your followers, and know what content really captures their interests.

Sure, this might seem easier said than done. The best place to start is to consider your analytics, and to look largely at the type of people composing your audience as followers and fans on your brand’s social media platforms. This includes the bigger scheme of things — not just Facebook, but also Twitter, Pinterest, and even email campaigns. After all, you want to give your followers a reason to forward your latest promotion to their friends and family, right? Read on for more info!

Your followers can range from passive likers to active users.

This is especially true for healthcare social media, which can capture a broad range of people who follow your page. Here are a few basic groups:

• The Passive Liker: For one reason or another, this person decided to follow your page, but hasn’t engaged with any of your content just yet. This user may have recognized your brand’s name from someone else in the family, or maybe he or she is passingly familiar with your practice’s presence in the community. In either case, this individual will occasionally see your updates in his or her newsfeed — but hasn’t found a reason to pursue anything more.
• The Happy Patient: This person has received services at your practice, and had a positive enough experience to want to follow you on healthcare social media. He or she will occasionally engage with your material in the form of a like, share, or comment, but approaches your brand as a casual presence.
• The Fan: While all followers should be appreciated, this follower is definitely a positive impact on your practice’s image. This individual had a great experience at your office, and may be a long-time patient; either way, he or she actively engages with your content, spreading the word of upcoming promotions, events, and tips to friends and family.
• The Angry Customer: Of course, not everyone can be a fan, and sometimes you’ll have to deal with individuals who follow your practice for the sole reason of complaining about a negative experience or service. This person expects responses soon, and wants to be heard — which means you may see this customer share his thoughts on unrelated posts, all for the sole reason of garnering more attention.

Target your healthcare social media content for different groups. 

The Passive Liker: This person requires an incentive to engage with healthcare social media in a meaningful way. Incorporate multimedia content, like photos and videos, to capture his or her attention, and consistently use calls-to-action to invite this user to explore your page.

The Happy Patient: Work on increasing opportunities and reasons for this user to promote your content. Whenever new services or products become available, blast them on healthcare social media in order to capture this casual user’s attention — and give them a reason to keep checking back for more.

The Fan: Reward this user’s appreciation by personally thanking him or her, and make a point to use this individual for brand, product, or service testimonials.

The Angry Customer: Stay calm, cool, and collected, but promptly respond to his or her complaints with the invitation to speak personally, either over the phone or at the office. Either way, maintain professionalism — don’t feed into his or her negative vibes.

Interested in learning more about healthcare social media followers? Speak with the professionals at the HealthCare Marketing Group today!