subject: How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Medical Practice [print this page] How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Medical Practice
As a physician, you may think you don't have time to use social media to engage your patients and colleagues and promote your medical practice. But social media is a rapidly growing phenomenon that is not going away. Our series on marketing your practice with social media is designed to help you maximize the effectiveness of social media with a minimal time investment. This article, the third in the series, focuses on Facebook.
Facebook is an extremely popular (over 400 million users) social media platform that encourages regular interaction between those in common networks. According to O'Reilly Media, the number of Facebook users aged 35-44 increased 51% between September 2008 and February 2009. During the same timeframe, the number of Facebook users aged 45-54 increased 47%. But aside from the sheer number of people using Facebook, it's an effective marketing tool because it gives you an opportunity to interact with your patients; to put it simply, your Facebook page will make them trust and like you more. That translates to more office visits and procedures, as well as increased compliance with your directives.
As a medical doctor, the goal of your Facebook page will be to:
socialGain new patients and encourage existing patients to schedule regular appointments
Promote new products or services
Provide updates on changes to your practice, such as new office hours or the addition of a new physician
Offer content related to your specialty that is helpful and interesting to your patients
The easiest way to get started on your Facebook marketing program is to start a profile for yourself and a fan page for your practice. Your profile will include more personal updates, such as photos from your family vacations (you can adjust the privacy settings if you don't want your patients to have access to this information). Your fan page will be named after and will focus on your medical practice. This is where you will post information relating to the bullet points above.
Your fan page won't be much use if you don't have fans (this is known as "liking" a page on Facebook). Ask family and friends to "Like" your page by sending them a promotional message from your personal Facebook account. Place notifications of your Facebook Fan Page address (you can get a personalized address as soon as you have 25 fans) on all office communications and in patient waiting areas. Add your Facebook link to your email signature and business cards as well. Whenever someone "Likes" your Facebook page, their "Friends" will see that they have done so, and this will help spread the word about your fan page and help you gain more followers.
Try to update your Facebook Page at least once per day. In the world of social media, those who don't post often are quickly forgotten. Short posts are all that's needed, requiring just a few seconds of your time. A news article about your specialty, notice of a conference you'll be attending, or a few photos of your newly redecorated waiting room are sufficient to keep you in the forefront of your patients' minds. When you offer discounts or special services (such as flu shots in the fall), be sure to market them heavily on Facebook. Update your page on a regular basis with newsletter and website links, making sure to promote your other social media accounts on Facebook and vice versa. Providing useful content to your patients will keep your patients engaged and interested and will help them keep your medical practice in their minds in a positive light.
For more go to: http://www.practicemanagernetwork.com
