The Executive Suite: Using social media and blogs to market your medical practice

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Using social media and blogs to market your medical practice

Marketing a practice wasn’t likely part of your medical education but being able to market yourself is an important part of running any business. Beyond traditional advertising there are other ways you can market your practice and connect with your patients, potential patients, and colleagues.

Boost your social media presence

You may be on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram, but is your practice? Also, if you have social accounts are you sharing them on your website or advertising them in your practice?

You can set up company pages that describe your practice, they also connect all your employees. You ought to at least set up the page, add your logo and basic information. It’s also a great place to share videos, articles or other information for potential patients. Need examples of what to do? Check out WellSpan Health and CommonSpirit Health.

Facebook

You can have a company page on Facebook as well. It’s a great place to share photos of company events, community service, or employee milestones. It also allows you to connect with patients and employees in a more casual environment. Also, if you’re looking to bring in new patients, look at Facebook promotion options. You can target your audience and spend as little or as much as you like to reach more people. Check out Multicare Health System and Orlando Health for good examples.

Facebook and most of the other platforms offer options for paid promotion of your posts if you are wanting to target your posts to a particular audience.

Instagram and TikTok

If sharing what you do through images and video makes sense, Instagram and TikTok or other photo and video sharing apps may be worth spending time on. Instagram and TikTok are usually less formal and may utilize casual videos with helpful information or just be for fun. Check out what OhioHealth is doing on TikTok and Sentara Healthcare and Cleveland Clinic on Instagram.

YouTube

YouTube is great for longer form videos or as a repository for all of your video content. For example, in our business we share physician spotlights on different elements of working locum tenens. Others that have good YouTube pages are Johns Hopkins and PeaceHealth.

Share your expertise

As a physician you are an expert in your field. You may have written research papers or submitted to medical journals, but have you looked for other ways to share your expertise? Company blogs are a great place to share information on what your practice is doing, your latest service offerings, or medical topics that would be relevant to your patients. Sharing that expertise through blogs is another way to bring attention to your practice and establish your credibility. Check out Adventist Health and St. Luke’s for great examples of healthcare focused blogs.

Not interested in writing a regular blog but still have thoughts you want to share. Many online healthcare publications accept submissions on a variety of clinical and non-clinical topics. Check first with the sites you regularly read and then expand out looking for sites that match the audience you are trying to reach. Also, professional specialty organizations often have opportunities for their members to submit articles, so that is another place to check.