by Sally Falkow
As a business owner, your goal is to service as many people as possible.
The number of people searching on mobile devices is skyrocketing and a huge number of them are looking for help with health issues. Nearly 60% of patients turn to the Internet to increase their knowledge and seek advice for a health issue.
So obviously you must rank high on Google for your keywords, so you can be found when they search.
What About Social Media?
Many practice marketing and SEO companies say you should not bother with social media. If you’re found in Google, you’re good to go.
Competition in Google for many industries is fierce.
How Social Media Works for Business Marketing
We know that people are wary about jumping straight into a purchase on the first contact online. It can take up to seven “touches” – finding you in a search, visiting your website and seeing your content on social media – before they trust you enough to engage and make an appointment.
Getting the people who find you in search to like and follow you on Facebook is a great way to start a relationship with a prospective new customer. They get to know you and they see how helpful and knowledgeable you are. And the reviews from your customers build trust.
The Quality of Your Social Media Content
Simply posting something, anything, every day won’t get you the result you need – a community of interested and engaged customers. Put some thought into the content you post. Would it catch your eye if you saw it in your news feed? Would you read it? Would you comment, or share it with your friends? Or is it “blah” and boring?
A Facebook Community
Once you have built a community of loyal Facebook followers, more people see your content and engage with you. It does, however, require that you tend this community,
Watch for notifications and messages and respond. Invite the people who like your posts to also like the page and follow you.
Check the statistics on your posts and learn what kind of content your followers find interesting and useful. Use that knowledge to adjust your content strategy and increase engagement.
Facebook is not a direct sales platform. It’s a branding and thought-leadership space. You gather a group of like-minded individuals and lead them into a conversation about topics that they find valuable and interesting. And they reward you by becoming a loyal patient and referring others to you.
It’s a very valuable business marketing tool.