Photo courtesy of Fotolia,
Greater online reach: more website visitors and a larger network
Healthcare institutions all have to cut back, so how do you keep your head above water when it comes to your name recognition and the recruitment of clients or patients? On social media you can increase your name recognition enormously, without investing in expensive offline campaigns whose reach you cannot measure. You will see that the number of visitors to your organization's site increases and that your network of referrers and potential partners only grows.
Knowledge of your target groups
For a marketing and communication department and for managers, patients or clients are often far removed from daily practice. On social media, you get to know your target group better: how do they respond to your tweets and what do they think of the care that is provided? You are in direct contact with them. They can ask you a question and you can ask them. This offers many opportunities to further improve your marketing and communication – online and offline – and make it more effective.
2. Negative comments on social media are a threat
Yes, that knowledge of your target group is great, but by showing yourself so openly to the whole world, you make it very easy to express a complaint or negative reaction on Facebook or Twitter. That's right. But those reactions are also there when you're not on social media. There are enough possibilities, think of Google and ZorgkaartNederland.nl , where people can leave reactions about and ratings of healthcare institutions and their practitioners. Well, that misunderstanding is off the table.
care card netherlands
And it is even stronger: on social media you have much more control than on paraguay mobile phone number list other websites. You can respond directly to messages, and in this way show your understanding and service. Does it not stop there? Then you can continue the conversation with this critical or dissatisfied patient or client on the phone or via email.
By the way: my experience is that there are not many negative reactions at all. If you show yourself honestly and positively on social media, you will actually provoke positive reactions. And you will build a network that can support you in case of possible negative feedback from a follower.
3. Managing social media takes too much time
Why would you actually use social media as a healthcare institution? An important question that should always precede your first tweet on Twitter or update on LinkedIn or Facebook. I see many healthcare institutions that have not thought about these questions. Result: the investment of time yields nothing. That is a shame. Because only if you use social media purposefully, the investment of time yields more than the cost.
Do you want more reach on your website or is your goal to attract people to your information meetings? And who do you want to reach, are they referrers (doctors, therapists), your clients or patients or another target group? Focus: know which media you use for what. And you will see: your investment will be worth it. And it is also a lot of fun.
Photo intro courtesy of Fotolia