Where do people go to connect with healthcare businesses? Increasingly, the answer to that question is social media.
In the US, 52% of consumers say they turned to social media to learn about health tactics they’ve tried, making social media the #1 source of this information. For context, only 34% of Americans say they’ve acted on similar advice from their doctor.
What that means for healthcare businesses is that establishing a presence on social media is essential. Social platforms are a place where you can build brand awareness, increase trust with followers and patients, and showcase the care and expertise of your clinicians.
Whether you’re looking to start a new social media page or wish to reinvigorate your existing one, these healthcare social media marketing ideas can maximize your presence.
Contents
- Healthcare social media marketing guidelines
- Healthcare social media marketing ideas
- Address healthcare trends
- Host an “ask me anything”
- Create “doctor responds” videos
- Talk about public health topics
- Share patient success stories
- Post timely healthcare reminders
- Recruit talented team members
- Round up fascinating healthcare facts
- Take followers behind the scenes
- Spotlight your staff
- Share your volunteer efforts
- Walk through your services
- Create a health challenge
- Brag a little about your achievements
Healthcare social media marketing guidelines
Before we get into ideas and suggestions, it’s vital to remember that healthcare providers are always governed by HIPAA rules—even on social media.
To ensure your patients’ protected health information remains safe online, consider creating a social media handbook for your team.
Even something as simple as sharing a photo from the office that has files with patient names in the background can technically violate HIPAA rules, so ensure that your social media team is well-trained on the rules and has an approval workflow to ensure its published content is in compliance.
Keep conversations on your social channels to general guidance about health and wellness; don’t discuss any one patient’s care. If you wish to post something about a specific patient, you must secure their explicit written consent to do so.
To dive deeper into HIPAA and social media rules, check out this guidance from The HIPAA Journal.
🌱 Make a plan to grow your healthcare practice on social media with our free, easy-to-use growth strategy template!
Healthcare social media marketing ideas to try
Ready to create healthcare social media content to build your audience and drive engagement? These ideas can work for any healthcare business.
Focus on concepts that align with your overall social media marketing strategy, and tailor the ideas to fit your brand and target audience.
1. Address healthcare trends
GLP-1s, “cortisol face,” face taping—people are always chattering about something healthcare-related online.
If the latest trend relates to your specialty, weighing in on the topic can help you gain attention from a broader audience.
Use relevant hashtags to help people beyond your immediate network discover your content. And if your posts or videos are helpful and engaging, they can win you new followers who are interested in your area of expertise.
2. Host an “ask me anything”
Ask Me Anything sessions (or AMAs) give followers direct access to your knowledgeable team. Whether you choose to hop on a live video or take queries through a Q&A sticker on Instagram or TikTok, you can source questions directly from your audience and have clinicians answer them on your platform.
Fielding incoming questions helps you build direct rapport with your followers and allows you to address issues you know are pertinent to them.
3. Create “doctor responds” videos
On Instagram and TikTok, a feature that allows you to stitch or superimpose your image on an existing video makes it easy for creators to provide commentary on that original content.
This is another opportunity for healthcare providers to capitalize on videos and topics that are already trending on social media. For example, if a popular influencer posts something about having a bad reaction to a new skincare product with a trendy ingredient, a dermatologist might do a video in response.
In the video, they can speak generally about the risks of using that ingredient and highlight the skin types that are most susceptible to an adverse outcome.
4. Talk about public health topics
Public health has always been top-of-mind for those in the healthcare field, but recent events, like the avian flu outbreak and COVID-19 pandemic, have brought the topic into focus for a wider audience.
Many ordinary people are hungry for trustworthy information on public health topics. Tap your in-house science communicators to hop in front of the camera and provide timely, reasoned, and calm advice on trending public health topics.
By giving helpful and actionable guidance, you can become a go-to source for updates on pressing issues.
5. Share patient success stories
HIPAA prevents doctors from revealing a patient’s personal information. However, if you receive explicit written consent from a patient, you can share their story publicly. Ask your legal team to create a compliant document that you can give to patients for this purpose.
Once you have a patient’s formal okay, sharing success stories can be a great way to show the positive impact your work has on people’s lives. These success stories can uplift and provide hope for others who are facing similar challenges.
6. Post timely healthcare reminders
Some healthcare messaging is seasonal. Sharing time-sensitive reminders with your audience is one way to create content that’s relevant and might drive an immediate action. For example, a reminder to book a flu shot at the start of autumn might spur followers to schedule their vaccination.
Some other timely themes you can tap into include:
- How to manage spring allergies.
- Tips for staying safe during a heat wave.
- Sharing your local school’s vaccination requirements before the start of the academic year.
- Advice for road safety ahead of a snowstorm.
- How to maintain good sleep when clocks spring forward or fall back.
💡 Get ideas for every month of the year >> The Mega Must-Have Marketing Calendar
7. Recruit talented team members
When you work in healthcare, you’re always looking to build a team of caring, talented professionals. Social media can serve as a recruitment tool to help you connect with these individuals.
Posts that can build your employment brand include:
- Interviews with current colleagues about the culture and benefits.
- Features of team members, praising their work.
- Announcements of open roles.
- Highlights of cutting-edge technology or tools you’ve invested in—the best talent wants to join the best workplaces.
- Recognition of your team in honor of special national events (e.g., National Nurses Week).
🚨 Use our free social media marketing calendar to help structure your healthcare practice’s posts!
8. Round up fascinating healthcare facts
Healthcare is a field that’s full of wild and weird science. Why not share some of the strangest and most captivating information about your specialty with your audience?
As an example, an ENT might share five fun facts about how we smell. Or, a gastroenterologist might do a deep dive into the inhabitants of the human gut microbiome. How you present these facts is up to you; perhaps you film a video, create a carousel of images, or design an infographic.
Doing so can spark interest in the topic, inspire intellectual curiosity, and maybe even encourage someone to book a visit with your team that’s clearly knowledgeable and passionate about its work.
9. Take followers behind the scenes
Medical anxiety is a real thing—nearly half of all adults report feeling nervous before a doctor’s visit, and four in 10 people say those feelings have led them to delay making an appointment.
Showing prospective patients what your team’s work is really like can help assuage those fears and potentially encourage nervous patients to book a visit.
On Northwell Health’s TikTok page, they cover many topics that might get an anxious patient’s heart rate up. From an up-close look at the process of getting a mammogram to a guided tour of the colonoscopy scope, these short videos demystify the process and put viewers at ease.
10. Spotlight your staff
Another way to reduce some prospective patients’ health anxieties is to put a face to the name behind your clinic.
Tapping some of your friendliest colleagues to get in front of the camera can put a smiling face on your facility long before someone steps through your door.
Try to include a range of team members, from the chatty receptionist at the front desk to the dental hygienist who jams to ‘90s R&B during cleanings, to the dentist who’s known for her pain-free root canals. Each of these individuals will bring their own personality and unique outlook to your channel.
11. Share your volunteer efforts
Does your business like to give back? If so, consider sharing your efforts on social media.
People like to support businesses with a mission and heart. By posting about your volunteer work, you let prospective patients know you care about your community. Plus, if your efforts could benefit followers, it gets the word out to those who might need your support.
As an example, a team that offers free mammograms or hosts a regular blood drive should post about these events in advance. This gives people an opportunity to sign up, and it spreads the word about your good work.
12. Walk through your services
What do you do at your facility? Sharing videos that highlight each of the procedures and services you offer can educate potential clients about their available options.
As an example, everyone knows they can visit a dentist for cleanings or whitening sessions. But what about your lesser-known procedures, like dental onlays? Sharing an overview of different procedures and services comes with several benefits:
- It makes your patients more educated consumers, since they learn about other treatment options that might suit them.
- It can increase bookings for lesser-known services.
- It increases overall awareness about your practice’s wide range of expertise and knowledge.
13. Create a health challenge
When your patients are building new, healthier habits, a little encouragement can go a long way. Consider starting a health challenge and inviting followers to join in. You might:
- Invite participants to aim for 10,000 steps each day for an entire month.
- Share healthy recipes each day for a week, and encourage followers to cook healthy at home for seven consecutive days.
- Post beginner workout moves, and invite those who are looking to build a fitness habit to do at least one exercise each day for two weeks.
You can even create a hashtag for the event and invite participants to tag you in posts related to their journey, which is a great way to inspire user-generated content.
14. Brag a little about your achievements
Building trust with your audience is essential in any field, but it’s especially vital in healthcare. Sharing third-party endorsements or awards can bolster your credibility and make your audience feel more confident booking appointments with you.
Share any awards or recognitions you or your team receive on your social media channels to let followers know you’re a trusted provider.
Check your healthcare social media marketing vitals
Social media has a role to play in a healthy marketing strategy for businesses in the healthcare space.
For organizations that already have an established presence, these healthcare social media marketing ideas can open new avenues of creativity for future posts. And for those who are new to social media, these concepts can be a starting point to build awareness and grow your follower count (and use this social media checklist to keep it all on track). Regardless of where you are in your healthcare marketing journey, see how our solutions can help take your strategy to the next level!
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