Customer communications have dramatically evolved over the last decade. As a result, healthcare customer engagement has evolved too. Social media is now an essential part of a healthcare firm’s overall communications strategy. Effectively engaging your customers online now goes far beyond encouraging them to visit your website. Patients can now recommend you, review your services, “like” your practice or simply read your blog and pass along interesting posts to their friends. Healthcare practices that are not utilizing a social media strategy are missing the chance to gain new patients and engage their existing ones. Consider our top three tips for using social media for customer engagement.

1. Utilize social networking sites. A study by Virtual Business Marketing gathered research from over 4,000 clients, analyzing their social media habits. They concluded that businesses with 500 to 1,000 Facebook fans generated four times more customer leads than those with only 25 “friends.” Similar success was found for companies with Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest or other social media presences. Don’t miss this valuable medium to engage customers in relevant health discussions, promote special events or send out wellness reminders.
2. Integrate a blog. The same HubSpot study found that businesses that blogged a minimum of 20 times per month received over four times as many leads as businesses that did not. Blogs are a great way to establish yourself as a trusted authority in your field. Take patient questions. Post blogs about commonly asked medical questions. Use your blog for relevant information, not just self-promotion. Remember to integrate your blogging strategy with the rest of your social media outlets. Add a “like” button so your readers can post your article on their favorite social media sites.
3. Make it easier with engagement tools. Keeping up with all your social media outlets can be a daunting task. It involves not only posting content, but measuring your return on investment. Make life easier by using one of many available tools to manage social media outlets. USAN offers social media tools to help you design, listen to, measure, analyze, engage and make the needed adjustments to your strategy.

Contact us to learn more about our engagement products specifically designed to meet your social media needs.