Social Media Marketing = New Opportunities for Your Practice
3.07 billion users.
This figure represents the powerhouse social media platform, Facebook. An estimated 3 out of 5 social media users worldwide are active on Facebook.
YouTube is a top contender as well, with 2.53 billion users—and one billion hours of video watched every day.
The advantages of social media are clear for marketing products, but are you aware of the many opportunities it can present for your medical practice?
CAP3:Proclaim is the leading social media marketing company ready to guide your practice to success. By working closely with us, you’ll avoid the common issues and setbacks that can occur if you’re trying to manage this extensive and involved marketing strategy on your own. Let us take the helm of your social media so you can go back to what matters most to you—your patients.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some of the benefits of social media marketing, how it can improve your image and some important HIPAA precautions you should take before hitting that “post” button.
3 Advantages of Social Media Marketing For Your Practice
1. It Increases Your Visibility and Brand Awareness
Potential (and current) patients are looking for your brand—and a big part of that centers around social media. In fact, 48% of consumers interact with brands they follow on social media. Being active on social media enhances your visibility with local patients (and potential patients).
It’s also vital to realize that if you’re not taking advantage of these platforms to create awareness, your competitors are. You can’t afford to ignore the opportunities social media marketing presents for your brand. A social media marketing company can help you get your reliable message out front and center, further enhancing your brand.
2. Social Media Helps Establish You as an Authority
You’re the area’s healthcare provider. What you say matters. After all, you’re the expert, and reliable information from credentialed medical authorities matters more than ever.
A 2019 study showed that the top 50 viral articles that featured misleading or false healthcare information garnered more than 12 million interactions— including comments, shares and reactions. Many are getting their news from social media.
Social media gives you a chance to share vitally accurate healthcare information concerning the importance of cancer screenings, accurate health and wellness tips and other vital tools your patients need to live healthier lives.
3. It Builds Trust and Engagement
Your patients want to know about you—not just what you do, but who you are. This means giving them an inside view into what is important to your brand, your practice and your mission. By doing so, you place a “human” element in an industry that can be misinterpreted as stoic and inaccessible.
For example, maybe members of your healthcare team wear pink to raise awareness of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Perhaps they’ve participated in community charity events. Your patients want to know.
Even just a short, “getting to know you” video can make a big difference in your brand perception.
Of course, there are some precautions you should take when interacting with followers on social media. We go into detail about the implications concerning HIPAA next.
What About HIPAA? How Can I Actively Engage My Audience While Respecting Patient Privacy?
At CAP3:Proclaim, we understand the nuances and stringent requirements of HIPAA. There are several vital issues to keep in mind when your practice uses social media.
Do Not Use Personal Health Information (PHI)
While this seems obvious, there are subtleties involved. Let’s take a look at this imaginary scenario:
Suppose you are a member of a healthcare team at an ear, nose and throat practice. One of your patients leaves a comment on your social media page. This patient mentioned how pleased they were with the tonsillectomy your doctor performed.
This may seem to be safe territory for a gracious response — after all, the patient has voluntarily given their information.
But not so fast.
While the patient may have provided their personal information, even replying with a brief “thank you” confirms this diagnosis from your practice, and as a result, you could be facing a HIPAA violation. Medical practices are held to higher standards when it comes to replying to comments, and in many cases, it may not be possible to respond to comments at all without unintentionally revealing PHI.
Get Patient Approval in Writing
Be safe: Only respond to comments or provide patient information if the patient has explicitly signed a HIPAA release form. This form should also indicate that information may be used for marketing and social media. This extra step is vital to shield you from liability. In some cases, a generic, “We always strive to provide the highest level of care” may be appropriate as long as it does nothing to confirm the patient’s diagnosis.
At CAP3:Proclaim, we’re an award-winning social media marketing company that’s very familiar with HIPAA, and we’ve worked with several medical practices and hospital systems to provide additional information and guidance when needed. We also encourage you to stay up-to-date on the latest regulations involving HIPAA and social media.
The bottom line is we recommend you speak with your HIPAA-designated team member and legal team to provide additional information on what could constitute a violation of PHI.
Let Our CAP3:Proclaim Social Media Marketing Company Guide Your Practice to Greater Opportunities
Social media is an important element in your practice’s marketing. Provided you take precautions to protect PHI, you can gain followers, establish authority and give an inside glimpse of your healthcare team.
While social media is crucial, it’s only one part of an overall digital marketing strategy that aligns with your mission and vision to help you dominate the search engine results page and gain new patients.
We’re well-versed in working with medical clients and have even earned awards for our marketing excellence. We’ve helped smaller, independent practices outrank larger, university-based practices, securing coveted visibility.
We would welcome the opportunity to help you achieve your goals. See how we can put our expertise and knowledge to work for you. We invite you to contact us for a consultation.
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Sources:
Kheeler, John, Forbes, “Six Social Media Tips for Medical Practices,” https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2021/05/10/six-social-media-tips-for-medical-practices/
King, Mandy, HubSpot, “9 Ways Healthcare Marketers Should Utilize Social Media,”https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-healthcare-industry
Mooney, Ciatlin, HubSpot, “Healthcare Marketing: Humanizing Hospitals and Physicians Through Social Media,”
Shopify, “Top 10 Most Popular Social Media Platforms,” https://www.shopify.com/blog/most-popular-social-media-platforms