By Stewart Gandolf
Chief Government Officer
Ever because the COVID-19 pandemic, extra persons are looking out social media for dependable healthcare information and assets. As expectations for reliable, up-to-date info proceed to extend, it’s not shocking that a few of the most adopted and engaged accounts are within the healthcare trade:
- Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC): 4.2+ million Fb (FB) followers
- World Well being Group (WHO): 38.4+ million FB followers
- Cleveland Clinic: 2+ million FB followers
Healthcare professionals present a human necessity, not only a retail product or luxurious service. This makes them uniquely positioned to market their services and products on social media.
A healthcare social media calendar helps companies successfully have interaction with audiences on their favourite social channels in real-time.
Healthcare organizations, suppliers, and influencers that leverage social media to coach and inform their viewers additionally construct belief, loyalty, and model recognition. They acknowledge that an rising variety of persons are utilizing social media to coach themselves about merchandise, companies, and the enterprise they supply.
* by way of SproutSocial
In as we speak’s aggressive panorama, it’s important to have a strategic social presence to drive gross sales and model consciousness. Whereas the place to begin for a social media calendar usually facilities on natural content material, together with paid social promoting is essential to make sure synergy between paid and natural posts. A social media calendar may also help plan your digital communications, keep constant messaging throughout a number of channels, and monitor your effectiveness.
On this weblog put up, I share:
- The worth of getting a social media calendar on your healthcare model,
- And how you can construct a social media calendar that works for your online business.
Why Do You Want a Social Media Calendar for Your Healthcare Model?
A healthcare social media calendar is an all-inclusive, in depth, and centered software used to make sure you’re sharing an identical model story throughout all advertising channels and media.
It integrates each facet of healthcare advertising, from weblog posts and occasions to video content material and paid search, and in all places in-between.
A well-planned social media calendar defines content material themes and posting cadences to satisfy the expectations of every social platform’s viewers and targets.
Listed here are a couple of advantages of sustaining a strong social media calendar:
- Retains your messaging organized and on monitor,
- Promotes constant messaging throughout all channels and avoids overpromotion (repetition),
- Avoids gaps in content material and encourages common posting to maintain your viewers engaged
- Supplies a snapshot of what you’ve just lately communicated throughout channels
However earlier than I share how you can construct a healthcare social media calendar that works for your online business, let’s take a deeper look into eight explanation why healthcare manufacturers want a social media calendar to draw, have interaction, and join with their target market.
1. Elevate Consciousness
Social media is the quickest solution to attain as we speak’s healthcare shoppers and lift consciousness about new, rising, and cyclical well being considerations.
It’s extremely efficient when issues that have an effect on public well being are quickly altering. Sharing well timed, related, and academic content material is the easiest way to share the newest points, tips, and advisories.
Staying on prime of present well being points and offering useful info additionally builds belief and loyalty inside your group.
2. Fight Misinformation
Social media is designed to shortly unfold info to various teams of individuals.
In accordance with a current Pew Analysis Service research, 86% of U.S. adults mentioned they get their information from a smartphone, so it’s simple to see how info (of all types) spreads so shortly. Whereas it’s extraordinarily helpful for sharing disaster communication or different pressing, fact-based messaging, it may also be used as a automobile for misinformation.
Recognizing misinformation on social media is difficult. To assist your viewers acknowledge credible sources of data, every put up you share should reply three crucial questions:
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- Who’s posting it?
(e.g., does this info come from a reputable inside or exterior supply) - What info are they sharing?
(e.g., does this info again up its declare with related research or analysis) - What’s their intent?
(e.g., does this info goal to coach or persuade)
- Who’s posting it?
Social media channels assist hospitals and well being programs elevate consciousness and share info from credible, reliable sources (e.g., your web site or different public well being accounts).
3. Disaster Communication
Managing and sharing public well being info is especially difficult throughout instances of disaster. One of the simplest ways to handle a well being disaster is to plan forward.
Creating a disaster communication plan and healthcare social media calendar that may be executed at a second’s discover is important for educating your viewers on getting ready for the times forward and what they will count on out of your group (e.g., out there assets, places, hours, and so forth.).
Creating a proactive method to public well being crises and pure disasters will inform your viewers and assist instill model belief and loyalty.
4. Neighborhood Outreach and Progress
A healthcare social media calendar is an efficient software for public outreach campaigns. Hospitals and well being programs can use viewers insights to create and ship notifications to new audiences primarily based on demographic insights, like location, age, gender, and pursuits.
Neighborhood outreach messaging grows your natural attain on social media, particularly when utilizing related hashtags. For instance, you’ll be able to goal households with growing older dad and mom through the use of key phrases and hashtags reminiscent of nursing residence, residence care, arthritis, most cancers, and stroke.
5. Reply frequent questions
Eight in 10 web customers analysis well being info on-line within the U.S. alone, and 74% use social media.
Savvy healthcare companies leverage social media channels to coach followers and reply normal well being questions whereas sustaining affected person privateness and HIPAA compliance. For instance, if somebody inquires about an earache, healthcare professionals can present clear directions for what the questioner ought to do subsequent (analysis credible web sites for signs, contact major care supplier, and so forth.) with out asking invasive or private questions.
Healthcare entrepreneurs are additionally analyzing their posts’ attain and engagement to find out what posts to share (e.g., copy, infographics, or video), optimum instances to put up, and when physicians ought to take part in healthcare boards centered on affected person schooling.
6. Public well being monitoring
Individuals share every part on-line, together with how they’re feeling. Hospitals and healthcare organizations can monitor nation-, state- and even community-wide well being considerations and outbreaks in real-time with social media. Information analysts can predict illness outbreaks and conduct real-time illness surveillance and evaluation utilizing hashtag- or keyword-based searches.
These channels additionally act as accelerated notification platforms for healthcare suppliers. Posting necessary public well being info throughout channels like Fb, Instagram, and Twitter immediately notifies giant audiences in hopes of lessening or stopping illness outbreaks.
7. Affected person assist
Sufferers can be a part of digital communities by means of social media, take part in analysis, learn instructional supplies, obtain ethical assist, set objectives, and monitor private progress alongside sufferers with comparable signs, diseases, or continual well being circumstances. You should definitely embrace related content material that resonates together with your target market in your healthcare social media calendar.
These on-line connections have been proven to assist in restoration and illness administration—to not point out psychological well being.
8. Advertising and marketing
Social media networks are open to everybody (effectively, virtually everybody), giving companies the power to observe and have interaction with shoppers or information them deeper into the client journey.
By frequently participating and interacting with shoppers on social channels, hospitals and well being programs can revitalize word-of-mouth referrals, enhance business-to-consumer (B2C) communications, and supply higher care.
These channels additionally assist healthcare entrepreneurs perceive their viewers’s likes, dislikes, wants, and pursuits, making a extra knowledgeable advertising technique that pulls a high-intent viewers and builds model loyalty.
Your Full Information to Making a Healthcare Social Media Calendar
Now that you simply perceive why social media advertising is important for healthcare organizations, let’s develop an efficient social media calendar that pulls extra sufferers and delivers outcomes.
Step 1: Plan Forward
An in depth supply of all of your social media posts may also help determine the sorts of content material which can be working and which aren’t. You may develop well timed, related, and interesting content material and improve interplay charges, however it’s necessary to put the groundwork first.
1. Develop your model voice for social channels
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- Earlier than creating social content material, hospitals and well being programs want to ascertain a model voice, so your viewers has clear and constant messaging throughout a number of channels. The voice displays your model and may entice the sorts of affected person relationships you want to domesticate. It’s additionally necessary to notice your tone might change barely throughout social channels to attraction to totally different viewers demographics, however the model’s total voice ought to stay constant.
For instance, Fb is the very best platform for storytelling, whereas shorter, extra concise messaging is greatest for Twitter.
- Earlier than creating social content material, hospitals and well being programs want to ascertain a model voice, so your viewers has clear and constant messaging throughout a number of channels. The voice displays your model and may entice the sorts of affected person relationships you want to domesticate. It’s additionally necessary to notice your tone might change barely throughout social channels to attraction to totally different viewers demographics, however the model’s total voice ought to stay constant.
2. Establish your social media channels.
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- As an alternative of creating an awesome and unsustainable healthcare social media calendar that encompasses each social channel, deal with those that may enable you to join together with your target market, drive engagement and enhance income. Listed here are 5 steps:
i. Establish your target market
ii. Analyze your present site visitors sources
iii. Establish the place your rivals share content material frequently
iv. Decide your social media targets
v. Select 1-2 channels (you’ll be able to at all times add extra, however the secret is to be lively the place your target market is engaged)
3. Select your content material varieties.
There are a number of social media content material varieties, however the commonest are written (e.g., posts, blogs, articles, and so forth.), hyperlinks to exterior content material, photographs, movies, and testimonials. Different content material varieties might embrace:
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- New weblog posts or reshares of top-performing weblog posts
- Digital Advertising and marketing campaigns
- New workers bulletins
- New companies/remedies/service strains, or service promotions
- New web site, service, or touchdown pages
- Organizational milestones
- Neighborhood occasions
- Nationwide well being observances
- Quotes from medical doctors and/or workers
- Updates to hours or contact info
- Updates to well being protocols
- Particular presents or promotions
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Listed here are a couple of ideas for selecting the best content material varieties on your viewers:
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- Establish your viewers
Analyze your social viewers and determine their most well-liked platform, content material varieties (primarily based on engagement), and in style matters.
- Establish your viewers
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- Set your objectives
Establish whether or not you wish to focus totally on elevated engagement, web site site visitors, buyer acquisition, and so forth.
- Set your objectives
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i. The most effective content material varieties will usually turn out to be obvious when you’ve recognized your online business targets. For instance, elevated web site site visitors will doubtless require inside hyperlinks to thought management articles, blogs, and customized touchdown pages.
The advertising or communications editorial calendar also needs to affect your content material varieties. Relying on the construction of your group, this will likely require consulting with different departments in your hospital or firm to make sure your healthcare social media calendar is aligned on branding, voice, and messaging.
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- Decide your posting cadence
Whereas frequency and timing are necessary, it doesn’t go as deep as cadence. Cadence is extra customized and leads to higher and extra engagement. When figuring out the very best cadence on your content material marketing campaign, it’s important to reply these questions:
- Decide your posting cadence
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i. What’s your target market and/or purchaser persona?
ii. Which social channels do they like?
iii. What sorts of content material present probably the most worth?
iv. Does the content material assist qualify prospects, fill the pipeline, and transfer them to the subsequent stage of the shopping for journey?
Sharing the proper content material with the proper folks throughout the proper stage of their shopping for cycle—and on the optimum time—is essential for constructing a profitable social media technique.
Selecting the sorts of content material to put up is essential to constructing your healthcare social media calendar. Listed here are two customary content material combine formulation that will help you get began:
i. Cut up your content material into three buckets (the rule of thirds):
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- Promote your online business or drive conversions.
- Share user-generated and curated content material.
- Private interactions together with your followers.
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ii. Observe the 80-20 rule
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- Design 80 % of your posts to tell, educate, or entertain.
- Design 20 % of your posts to advertise your online business or drive conversion.
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- Create content material forward of time
Creating and pre-scheduling content material helps your online business keep related and retains your viewers engaged and returning for extra. This, in flip, generates model consciousness and loyalty, builds belief, and presents your online business as an trade chief.
You also needs to spherical out your healthcare social media calendar with Nationwide Well being Observances all year long. Creating and scheduling such a content material forward of time ensures you’re posting related content material your viewers needs to have interaction with all year long. For instance, allergy and bronchial asthma content material ought to coincide with Allergy and Bronchial asthma Consciousness month in April.
Listed here are a couple of extra healthcare content material ideas for in style social media channels:
- Create content material forward of time
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i. Fb: Create customized, shareable content material that encourages engagement (e.g., click-throughs and shares).
ii. Instagram: Share easy, lovely imagery that appears like one thing a buddy would possibly put up.
iii. Twitter: Put up easy, concise, and relatable content material. Embody hyperlinks for extra studying as wanted.
iv. LinkedIn: Put up thought-leadership content material associated to your trade focus.
Step 2: Construct Your Calendar
A complete doc that outlines your social media posts for every social channel you’re concentrating on can shortly determine gaps in content material, overlapping content material varieties, or locations the place your model voice might falter. It’s time to deliver your whole ingenious content material concepts collectively in a single place:
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Choose your calendar software.
We like Google Sheets at Healthcare Success, however there are many choices like Hootsuite, Hubspot, and Solo PR Professional. I like to recommend you assessment every of those choices (and extra) to search out the one greatest suited to your wants.
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Create a tab for a month-to-month view of your calendar.
Create a month-to-month spreadsheet that means that you can view weekly and day by day posts/matters at a look.
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Create a tab on your stock of content material, copy, and belongings.
After getting your at-a-glance month-to-month calendar, it’s time to flesh out your copy, add hyperlinks to supporting content material, and determine graphics.
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Add tabs for every social media channel.
Add a tab for every social media channel you propose to make use of and construct out your audience-specific copy, content material, and belongings as wanted. Whereas there are a number of social channels, these are the most well-liked for healthcare audiences:
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- Fb
- YouTube
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Add customized columns for put up info.
At a minimal, we suggest the next columns for every social media channel:
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- Publish Date
- Publish Time
- Textual content or copy to put up
- Hyperlink
- Graphics
- Character counts
- Key phrases/hashtags
- Provides/CTA
Step 3: Monitor & Monitor Your Outcomes
Now that you simply’ve constructed a robust basis, it’s time to begin posting, testing, monitoring, measuring, and enhancing your technique. Most social channels have analytics or insights you’ll be able to analyze:
- Fb Viewers Insights
- Instagram Insights
- Twitter Analytics
- YouTube Analytics
- LinkedIn Viewers Insights
These instruments assist determine the content material varieties, graphics, or sorts of content material that your viewers engages with probably the most.
Subsequent, you’ll be able to modify your healthcare social media calendar posts, content material, or technique to focus in your best-performing content material to keep away from additional lackluster outcomes.
To additional refine your social media technique, I additionally suggest A/B testing. By splitting your viewers into two teams, A/B testing means that you can evaluate two variations of the identical put up to find out which will get higher engagement.
Testing helps information you to the very best sorts of content material, codecs, put up frequencies, and instances of day for every social platform.
The Backside Line
Well being programs and multilocation medical practices face extra challenges with holding social followers engaged. Along with following HIPAA laws and sharing distinctive content material frequently, they have to additionally take into account the distinctive wants of every local people they serve.
That is the place a well-planned social media calendar may also help bigger, extra advanced manufacturers ship related branded messaging and location-specific messaging that inform a constant story.
Lastly, a social media calendar builds a strategic basis that means that you can layer in spontaneity whereas supporting your overarching enterprise targets.
Stewart Gandolf
Chief Government Officer at Healthcare Success
Stewart Gandolf, MBA, is Chief Government Officer of Healthcare Success, one of many nation’s main healthcare and digital advertising businesses. Over the previous 20 years, Stewart has marketed and consulted for over 1,000 healthcare purchasers, starting from practices and hospitals to multi-billion greenback firms. A frequent speaker, Stewart has shared his experience at over 200 venues nationwide. As an writer and professional useful resource, Stewart has additionally written for a lot of main trade publications, together with the 21,000 subscriber Healthcare Success Perception weblog. Stewart additionally co-authored, “Money-Pay Healthcare: Begin, Develop & Good Your Money-Pay Healthcare Enterprise.” Stewart started his profession with main promoting businesses, together with J. Walter Thompson, the place he marketed Fortune 500 purchasers reminiscent of Wells Fargo and Bally’s Whole Health.
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