Consumers, in general, are aware that they cannot truly trust medical information that is easily found on websites or third-party platforms. But since these results dominate search engine results, this often certain information tends to carry more weight than it should – especially as it spreads to social media and is passed off as fact.

Healthcare marketers can and should use social media to combat this misinformation so that their audience is truly aware of the health issues that worry them the most. By not joining these platforms, hospitals and clinics could be missing out on great opportunities to build brand awareness.

Here’s how social media marketing can benefit healthcare organizations, along with some smart strategies for social success.

How a social media marketing strategy can benefit your organization

Social media marketing offers a number of benefits to healthcare organizations. It is great for building brand awareness and developing patient trust, which is essential for building meaningful relationships and long-term loyalty. Patients who interact with a healthcare organization online and find value in those interactions are more likely to turn to the same organization when they need healthcare services.

People are already actively seeking health information on social media channels, and healthcare organizations can actively respond to this need by consistently delivering value to patients in this space. Hospitals and healthcare providers can share high-quality content and posts designed to educate consumers to provide knowledge on subjects such as choosing the right treatment option, why precautionary care is needed, or what to do, for example, before major surgery.

Healthcare organizations can also use this strategy to provide information to patients. When they need to make important decisions about their own health.

Social listening also allows healthcare organizations to receive suitable feedback on products and services, sometimes even generating ideas for how to improve them, or identifying suitable opportunities to create new products and services that meet an urgent need in the marketplace. Healthcare organizations can also use social monitoring tools to keep connect with trends in this area, staying on top of how competition is evolving. All of these ideas can help inform an organization’s content strategy on an ongoing basis.

A strong social media presence can also increase the profile of a healthcare organization in the industry. Health experts and organizations can showcase their guidance and expertise through the posts they create and the conversations they engage in, creating valuable connections with industry.

Tips for an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy

So what’s the best way to get started with social media for healthcare marketing? Here are some online audience engagement strategies, as well as a few examples of how leading healthcare brands have turned their social media presences for success.

1. Position yourself as a trusted source of health information

Your audience has health questions that they might be afraid to ask, but are likely looking for answers on social media. In fact, according to the Research Center, eighty percent of Indian adults search for online health information. In some cases, they may really worry about what they are experiencing and what it might mean for their life. Through social media, you can give them the answers they need by providing a service as well as building your trustworthiness in public. One way to do this is to share links

to blog posts, video clips, and other useful forms of content that inform and educate your audience.

2. Share meaningful patient stories

Another effective way to connect with your audience is by sharing patient stories. For example, to celebrate LGBT Health Week, NYU Hospital in US shared the story of Wendy Cole, who underwent gender-affirmation surgery at age 70 after decades struggling with feelings of isolation and trying to “fix” what she felt “wrong” with her. It was an incredibly important decision that required a lot of trust on the part of the healthcare professional, but Cole successfully took advantage of this rise of faith and found that she could inspire others as a result.

Cole’s stories make sense because they evoke a sense of opportunity and demonstrate that people don’t need to suffer from just health problems. By sharing this patient success story, NYU hospital was also able to communicate its values of inclusion and community. Demonstrating its commitment to equal LGBTQ health care, NYU hospital makes a strong statement that patients can seek care themselves and expect to be treated with dignity and humanity, whoever they are and whatever their experience.

3. Use light contact and humor

Especially in light of the wellness boom, healthcare organizations need not be limited to providing dry statistics on serious health conditions that can be alarming to people. Healthcare marketers have a great opportunity to make their social media marketing more human and accessible. This makes the experience of interacting with your brand more like a perky conversation with a trusted friend than an impersonal interaction with a faceless being. With that in mind, don’t be afraid to have fun every now and then.

4. Share appropriate information on events affecting public health.

When an emergency event affects the community you serve, social media can provide a great way for your organization to communicate how it is responding. For example, when violent storms and floods affected local communities in Tennessee, United Healthcare shared appropriate information on how members can take alternative measures to gain access to the care they need and launched an emotional support line after the emergency.

There Social media posts make it clear that the health insurance company is proactively responding to events affecting the community and that it takes action when urgent situations may prevent people from receiving services as usual. This type of communication can position your organization as a trusted resource for people to turn to in times of crisis and for daily preventive and ongoing care.