2023 Healthcare Marketing Trends: 3 Tips to Boost your Healthcare Practice Exposure on Instagram
We’ve recently heard a lot more hospital marketing leaders discuss Instagram marketing. In the past, healthcare may have been slow to adopt social media marketing and advertising techniques. However, today’s healthcare professionals are open to experimenting with new platforms, as long as they are a good fit for their target audiences.
Not sure what Instagram can do for your healthcare company? You’re not alone. Many people believe that “Gen Z” and teenagers are far more active on the photo-centric social media platform than other groups. However, the following statistical data may surprise you:
- Just as many 25-34-year-olds use Instagram (32% of users) as 18-25-year-olds (32% of users).
- Teens account for only 7% of Instagram users.
- 15% of Instagram users (131 million people) are between the ages of 35 and 44.
All of those mentioned in the above statistics make important healthcare decisions for themselves and their families. And, if you have a solid strategy in place, you can reach these demographics through targeted Instagram marketing for healthcare.
How? Let’s discuss.
Build Credibility and Educate Patients
Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the internet—misinformation that can be especially dangerous for medicine. Instagram is a social place to connect with others and look for answers. However, those “answers” aren’t always based on science.
Doctors and medical organizations have a chance to address this issue while also building their brands. You can reach new potential patients while also educating the general public about important health issues by creating high-quality, trustable content and sharing it on platforms such as Instagram.
However, when your content is only promoted organically (without the assistance of advertising), it takes a significant amount of time to start building an audience. Healthcare professionals who want to grow their following organically will need to post frequently and find a niche. More importantly, followers don’t always translate into actual patients.
Attract New Patients with Instagram Ads
The truth is that unless you have a sizable following, patients will not see your posts organically. And those followers may or may not be qualified patients ready to schedule an appointment.
Fortunately, the Instagram ad platform permits you to target your audience with great precision. In addition, because Facebook owns Instagram, you’ll use the same platform to target specific audiences across both social media platforms based on age, location, interests, and various other factors.
Instagram ads are also significantly cheaper when compared to many other platforms, making it an excellent place to begin exploring the world of social media advertising. You can attract new patients while also spreading a positive health education message to your patients and community with the right strategy and a bit of persistence.
Recruit the Best & the Brightest
To grow on social and grow your practice, practitioners and hospitals need an excellent marketing strategy. This starts with hiring someone who knows what they are doing. Social media isn’t about posting a great photo or an inspiring story. It’s much more; it’s an experience. And a great marketing professional knows how to tap into that. However, if your Instagram page has a poor engagement or isn’t growing, it may be time to outsource your marketing. Hiring a marketing professional allows practices and hospitals to quickly adopt a resonating messaging campaign, stay up-to-date with online trends, and prepare you for future changes to that pesky algorithm.