The role of social media in healthcare is changing rapidly as more health service providers have learned the big secret.
Social media isn’t a platform for free advertising or information dissemination. With the right healthcare social media engagement tactics, it can be a place of social proof and genuine engagement. Somewhere to get helpful answers and feel like part of a community where people recommend your practice in their local Facebook groups whenever anybody asks.
However, more local optometrists, dermatologists, med spas, and dentists are becoming aware of social media’s power to make connections instead of simply self-promotion. So, you have more local competition. It’s time to put your best face forward. Enhance online interactions, foster patient loyalty, and promote better health outcomes.
1. Myth-Busting Posts
Become the source of truth on the Internet where anything goes. Build trust and loyalty. Support your community as they decipher mounds of conflicting information. Get them closer to their health and wellness goals.
For starters, present a myth and follow it with factual information to educate your audience and dispel false beliefs. This positions your organization as a trustworthy source of accurate health information.
2. Patient Success Stories
You don’t have to run afoul of HIPAA to share patient stories. Real people can share impactful narratives. These help prospective and existing patients see that people like them are getting the help they need.
Highlighting testimonials and recovery journeys not only celebrates individual achievements. It also provides hope and motivation to others facing similar health challenges. Through the words and faces of others, you’re humanizing your brand.
At the end of the day, people engage with humans on social media, not faceless entities.
3. Interactive Q&A Sessions with Local Authorities
Let’s demonstrate your interconnectedness in your community! Invite several non-competing health professionals to answer questions during a live Q&A event.
You’re helping patients explore health and wellness services by bringing this expertise into one place. You’re demonstrating that you care about the people you serve, not just the conditions you treat.
This is also a great—but underutilized—social media engagement tactic for healthcare. You’re pooling resources to generate more patients and clients for all local health businesses involved.
4. Educational Content
One of the simplest—yet most meaningful ways to engage people is through honest, practical, and helpful education. People in your area have questions about symptoms, procedures, therapies, and more.
Create informative articles, videos, and infographics to engage your audience. Curate and share studies and news from reputable sources. Become a go-to location for staying on-trend with the latest research and tried-and-true health services.
For instance, why not create content that addresses common health concerns or provides preventive care tips? Whatever your specialty, you’re promoting health and wellness in the community. And people will take note.
An often underutilized social media engagement tactic in health care is the humble infographic. These visuals help you simplify complex topics.
They make your page feel useful, approachable, and inspiring. What’s more, they can reinforce memory recall. Most people are likely to remember what they see, especially if it communicates some valuable information.
5. Behind-the-Scenes Content
Offering a glimpse into your daily operations humanizes your practice. It strengthens the bond you have in the community.
So, share photos or videos of your team at work, during facility tours, or during event preparations. This transparency fosters trust and makes your organization more relatable.
6. Health Challenges and Campaigns
Health challenges aren’t just for tweens on TikTok. Adults love them, too!
Initiate health-related challenges. Host a 30-day fitness program, a healthy eating campaign, or a No Sugar November. Hey, that works for the dermatologist and the dentist!
Think about your specialty. Then, brainstorm ideas to attract engagement from locals who will likely become new customers.
Encourage followers to participate and share their progress using a specific hashtag. This not only promotes healthy habits but also builds a sense of community.
7. User-Generated Content
It’s great to bring patients into a studio to create a professionally-produced testimonial. But that takes the right equipment and skills, which you may not have in-house.
On the other hand, user-generated content is free. Encourage patients to share their experiences and testimonials. Get them talking about their health journeys on their own social media feeds.
Reposting this content (with permission) validates their stories—and yours. It provides authentic insights for others. Together, these enhance credibility and engagement.
8. Polls and Surveys
Social media has some great features to explore. Conduct polls or surveys about health topics, service feedback, or general wellness interests. This interactive approach engages your audience. And it provides valuable insights into their preferences and needs.
9. Post Conversation Starters
Social media algorithms love posts with lots of comments. So, anything you can do to get people talking will spread your message.
When you get ready to post something, stop. Think, “How can I turn this one-way information dissemination into a conversation?”. Then proceed. That’s how to create an engaging post.
10. Creating Humorous and Relatable Content
Addressing health topics with humor can break down barriers and make information more digestible. For example, Queensland Health’s campaign normalized workplace bowel movements with its “It’s okay to poo at work” campaign. They effectively engaged the public on a sensitive issue.
Once the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, people engaged openly with Queensland Health on the topic “no one wants to talk about”. They were able to discuss regularity and colon health. And perhaps they also encourage some people to talk to their doctor if they are having problems.
This demonstrates how important humor is in healthcare. Yet, it’s still underutilized. This represents an opportunity for those not afraid to start uncomfortable or quirky conversations.
Of course, humor doesn’t have to be of the potty variety. Look for other ways to inject laughter into your social media persona while staying true to your brand.
11. Implement Educational Series and Webinars
It’s easy to think about education as a one-off. But let’s take this a step further by making it a series of posts, videos, or webinars on a topic. This allows you to go in-depth and get people talking and looking forward to the next installment.
You could even poll your followers to see what series they want you to create first. When you do this, you’re combining effective healthcare social media engagement techniques to get the most out of your social media budget.
That’s smart social media marketing.
12. Monitoring and Responding to Trends
This is yet another often-overlooked social media engagement tactic for healthcare. Many assume that the cutesy trends on social media don’t work for a serious business. Wrong!
You’ll gain more traction if you find ways to piggyback off of what’s already popular. So, whether you’re building content around how to be “mindful and demure” (in 2024) or leaning into the short video format, social media trends represent familiarity.
When you use them, you’re sending the right message. You understand how people currently use social media, which changes over time.
You can adapt content to align with trending topics by staying updated with current health discussions. But you can also address patient concerns promptly and accurately. Utilizing tools like social media monitoring platforms can aid in tracking these trends and tailoring content accordingly.
13. Leveraging Emerging Social Media Features
There’s just something about being the first to do something, even if you’re just the first in your area. So, even if you feel behind the curve on social media features, explore these more advanced tools and find ways to use them.
Today, live videos, polls, social commerce, carousels, and more give you options to liven up your page. Tomorrow, who knows? Just stay on top of it.
Early adoption of these formats not only captures audience attention. It also positions your practice as a forward-thinking leader in healthcare communication.
These Healthcare Social Media Engagement Tactics Work
More local health service providers are catching on to the power of social media to build a localized brand. However, several healthcare social media engagement tactics remain underutilized, representing an opportunity for small, local practices like yours to step in and reap the rewards of an engaged local audience filled with likely clients and patients.
By implementing strategies such as educational content, patient success stories, interactive Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes glimpses, health challenges, user-generated content, polls, and myth-busting posts, you can foster stronger connections and promote better health outcomes.
It’s time to build the local online presence that grows your brand. And it starts with streamlining your marketing efforts. We invite you to explore Surefire Local’s all-in-one marketing platform. From reputation management to social media to keyword research, this tool has everything you need.
We designed these marketing tools to simplify online marketing for small businesses, helping you reach and engage your local community more effectively. To see how we make online marketing easy for small businesses, schedule a demo today.