The Top 10 Social Media Marketing Tips for Doctors

In order to attract new patients, doctors have to find ways to engage with people in the community and position themselves or the practice as the go-to office in their area. While there are countless digital options from Google Ads, search engine optimization, websites, and display ads, nothing beats social media marketing in terms of local targeting, cost and engagement.

More and more doctors have embraced social media as a means for patient outreach because it’s become an effective way for prospective patients to get to know the doctor before they ever step foot in the door. Other doctors have avoided social media because they either don’t use it personally, aren’t sure how to use it correctly, or find it too time consuming. Unfortunately, these doctors are quickly seeing their online presence overshadowed by the doctors who are learning and embracing social media as a means to get more patients.

So what’s the best way to use social media and which platforms should doctors focus on? Depending on your target market, the best places for social media marketing in healthcare currently are Facebook and Instagram. Facebook has 2.853 billion users in the US (as of Oct 2021) with 68.4% of them being between the ages of 25-64 years old. Facebook allows users to post videos, photos, GIFs, and long copy. It’s also a great place to stream patient education webinars.

Instagram is probably the second most important social media platform for doctors with 1.386 billion active users in the US. As far as demographics, Instagram typically has a younger fan base with 31.4 percent of U.S. Instagram users are between the ages of 25-34 years old and 25.7% are between 18-24 year old.

Tik Tok and SnapChat are also up and coming social media platforms currently geared more towards teenagers and young adults so unless doctors are trying to target those age groups, our recommendation is to stick with Facebook and Instagram as your primary platforms.

The goal of social media marketing is to produce content that users will engage with, meaning they will like, comment, watch a video, and share it with their friends. This engagement increases exposure to the business. If the content isn’t engaging, then Facebook and Instagram deem the content not relevant to the audience and it falls out of the newsfeed.

Too often we see doctors who have hired someone to do their social media or ask a staff member to take charge of it and they treat it like a set-it and forget-it marketing initiative. This is a complete waste of time and money. Paying someone to put stock photos or add the practice logo to an image doesn’t create engagement. Remember, the goal of social media marketing is to be “social”. Patient’s want to get to know the doctor and the staff. They want to know what it’s like to come to the office and view the doctor as an expert in the local area.

So we’ve put together ten social media tips for doctors that are proven to increase engagement on Facebook and Instagram.

1. Post photos of the doctors or staff with the various equipment in the office such as diagnostic tools, lasers, radiofrequency technology, ultrasound, and aesthetics equipment. These photos will perform much better than stock materials from the manufacturer marketing portals.

2. Recognize staff birthdays and work anniversaries. This helps the staff feel appreciated and in turn they will share the post to their personal Facebook and Instagram profiles and stories. These posts also get a lot of comments.

3. Post at least one “Story” per day. More than 70% of Instagram users view Stories on a daily basis and doctors receive up to 37% of all their impressions from their Stories. A few ideas for Stories are a quick update on what's new in the office, time sensitive promotions and a featured service or treatment of the week.

4. Celebrate Holidays: Don't forget about the fun ones like Best Friends Day and Doctor’s Day!

5. Use polls and surveys to boost interaction: Ask followers to choose among several options. For example, “which do you like better, A or B?” Always include an image with the so it stands out in the newsfeed.

6. Show the personal side of the doctor: Vacation photos, workout photos, family photos all show the human side of the doctor and staff and help patients feel like they can connect with the providers.

7. Post testimonials: Once a week post a testimonial from a patient with a graphic and their quote or even a video testimonial. Be sure to include the Google review link so that more people can easily leave a review.

8. Monday Motivation: Post a motivational quote each Monday. These types of posts get a lot of shares so it’s a great way to get organic exposure for the practice.

9. Videos! Video posts receive 38% higher engagement rates than photos. Simply record on your phone (hold horizontal). A few ideas for videos are an office tour, explaining a patient FAQ, talking about the “Health Month”, TikTok, Boomerang, or Slo-Mo Videos, why you became a doctor, and the office mission and what makes you different.

10. Give a shoutout to one of your favorite local businesses and tag the business. Think about businesses that serve a similar demographic and highlight them in stories and posts because in turn the business will usually follow the office back and reciprocate!