Choosing the right social media platform to market your practice may be easier than you think. Every social media platform has unique applications and marketing appeal. Russ and I compare LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook and few others to help you choose the right social media platform for you.
This post corresponds to our latest podcast episode of “Russ and Randy” – a podcast on Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing. We hope you like “Choosing the Right Social Media Platform.”
You can find us on iTunes.
The term “social media” can be overwhelming and intimidating. This episode compare the usefulness of different social media platforms to market a medical practice or healthcare institution.
We compare Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter and make a few comments about Pinterest.
Know Your Patient Persona
Before you start, it’s ideal to have a good grasp on your patient persona, that is, your perfect patient. More specifically, do you know which social media platforms your patients prefer? For a medical office this is much simpler than a larger institution.
A medical office usually specializes into a narrow niche compared to the larger health institution which needs to appeal to a wider range of people. It is likely the typical medical office needs to use only 1 or 2 social media platforms whereas the health institution must use several more.
As an example, as a retina specialist treating mostly older patients, I choose to use Facebook to market my clinical practice because;
- It is the ubiquitous (largest and most popular).
- If my patients don’t use Facebook, their children do.
Russ is an pediatric ENT specialist and he needs to find a social media platform to appeal and connect with his patients’…parents.
How Many Platforms to Use?
Ideally, choose and maintain only one or two different platforms. It’s unnecessary to do any more and is not practical. Keeping your social media platforms fresh and up to date, i.e. active, is a key to social media success. The more social media platforms you choose, the more work you create. Stale, little used platforms are a big turnoff to potential followers.
Each of the platforms we discuss has a particular advantage and appeal. There is really very little overlap. For instance, you might use Facebook to market to patients, but you may choose to use LinkedIn to connect with colleagues and attract good employees.
Are you using social media to market yourself and your medical practice? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below!
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Russ…and Randy
Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing
Healthcare’s Rx for Web and Social
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