- By Courtney Jenison
Having an effective healthcare social media marketing strategy is crucial for businesses seeking to gain recognition. Social media platforms don’t necessarily affect Google’s ranking because Google does not rank a website higher if its social pages have thousands of likes and followers. Yet, having many followers on social media platforms can indirectly boost Google rankings via increased brand search, authority, and traffic.
This article examines the effectiveness of intertwining healthcare social media marketing strategies with SEO best practices.
The Role of Social Media in Healthcare Marketing
Pairing SEO best practices with a healthcare social media marketing strategy can benefit healthcare businesses on these fast-paced platforms. Social media offers an opportunity to communicate with many instantly, and research shows that social media can improve patients’ access to healthcare information. There are various ways to use social media marketing to direct traffic to online healthcare content. Let’s look into effective ways to optimize SEO efforts related to healthcare social media marketing.
SEO Best Practices in Healthcare Social Media Marketing
Healthcare social media marketing poses some challenges that a blog or website does not. When setting social media marketing goals, healthcare content marketing managers should consider these SEO best practices.
Know Your Audience
Where does your audience hang out: YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram? Deciding which audience you are addressing will depend on your marketing goals and patient demographic. Is your platform geared toward Endocrine patients? Or do you run a Pediatrician clinic? Both could benefit from healthcare social media marketing.
Don’t Forget Keywords
Consider which words and phrases your audience searches for. Getting help from keyword tools like Semrush or Google Ads Keyword Planner can be beneficial. Social media is a part of many people’s daily lives, offering regular exposure to content. Diligently using keywords will pay off since there are endless opportunities to catch your audience.
Strategic Alignment of Healthcare Social Media and SEO
Healthcare businesses should not underestimate the significance of applying SEO best practices in healthcare social media marketing. Be diligent in promoting the brand as authoritative and experienced.
Content Creation for Healthcare Social Media Marketing
What should you post as a healthcare social media marketer? Social media can be an incredible patient education platform. There are many opportunities to create videos and infographics. Try to address trending topics in the news or answer frequently asked questions received in your clinic. And stay relevant. Is your audience younger? Don’t throw a PubMed article at them; instead, summarize it.
Healthcare social media marketing can promote physical community. Remember to educate your audience about your business’s daily details. Posting regularly about hours, holidays, and special events, such as blood drives, can also be beneficial.
Additionally, it’s essential to write with expertise. Using healthcare professionals such as nurses to create content affects SEO. Expertise is an indicator of quality content, which aligns with Google’s E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines and increases your rankings.
Practical Tips for Successful SEO Integration
Staying true to your brand message and goals will build a trusting audience.
Consistent Brand Messaging Across Platforms
A clear brand message is crucial for any healthcare social media marketing strategy. Consistency in brand messaging across all platforms goes a long way. Healthcare education has great potential to be personal and, thus, valuable. A person’s health is often seen as their most valuable asset.
Likewise, your brand message communicates your values and brand goals. You gain a following from others valuing your content.
Analyzing and Adapting Strategies
Flexibility and adaptability prove favorable in healthcare social media marketing. Regularly evaluate your process for optimizing posts with hashtags and links. Try different techniques and note how the action performs. Be alert of the time of day followers respond to social media marketing attempts. Does your audience appreciate your content? Are they resharing the valuable resources you’re providing? Consider investing in an analytics tool to aid you in reaching your healthcare social media marketing goals.
The goal is quality content that increases traffic to your site. With increased traffic, brand authority increases, thus improving search engine rankings.
Common Challenges and Solutions
Like everything worth doing, incorporating SEO best practices into your healthcare social media marketing plan will likely present challenges. Below are some of the most common challenges and their potential solutions.
- Identifying your goals. Focusing on your goals will encourage avoiding unrealistic expectations and scope creep. Be realistic about your goals, budget, and target timeline. Consider reviewing such goals quarterly.
- Knowing what to post. Consider repurposing your website content for social media. Does your pediatric clinic commonly see teething children? Write a blog post about the signs and symptoms of teething. Then, create a complimentary Pinterest infographic explaining how to treat teething at home and when to bring a patient in to see a healthcare professional.
- Monitoring your efforts. SEO is an ever-changing climate. Keeping up with the latest algorithms and marketing trends is necessary to stay in the game. Consider tools that track performance, such as Google Analytics or SEO software.
Summing It All Up
Knowing and applying SEO best practices can help you reach your healthcare social media marketing goals. Although there are challenges and disclaimers, the benefits are plenty. Social media can amplify brand voice and authority, and intertwining a healthcare social media strategy with SEO best practices can prove effective at increasing your healthcare business’s ROI.
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FAQs
What is the importance of integrating social media with SEO in healthcare marketing?
Healthcare social media marketing has the potential to boost your SEO indirectly. Gaining and maintaining a consistent and authoritative presence on social media can pay off with higher site traffic.
How can content be optimized for both social media and SEO?
Content can be optimized by instilling relevant keywords to gain and maintain authority, thus winning traffic to your site.
What are some common pitfalls in aligning social media with SEO strategies?
Subpar content might be a pitfall in a healthcare social media marketing strategy. When posts are half true or potentially misleading, you can lose followers. For instance, you say, “If you only eat one food this week, let it be blueberries.” That statement might sound catchy, but it isn’t sustainable. Instead, write, “Adding blueberries to your diet can significantly increase overall brain health.” This sentence is much more accurate and sounds less likely to be a fad.
How do you measure the success of an integrated social media and SEO strategy?
Monitor the correlation between social media engagement strategies and site traffic. As mentioned, consider a social media analytics tool.
Can small healthcare businesses benefit from this integration, and how?
Healthcare social media marketing can benefit by increasing visibility. A large team is not needed to maintain a social media presence. By integrating social media, you are potentially expanding your audience. Research shows Gen Z is more likely to use social media for health material.
References
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Hubspot Blog. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-analytics-tools
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Google Ads. (n.d.). Choose the right keywords. Retrieved January 27, 2024, from https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/
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Jiao, W., Chang, A., Ho, M., Lu, Q., Liu, M. T., & Schulz, P. J. (2023). Predicting and empowering health for Generation Z by comparing health information seeking and digital health literacy: Cross-sectional questionnaire study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e47595.
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Semrush Blog. https://www.semrush.com/blog/google-search-algorithm/
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About the Author
Courtney Jenison
Courtney Jenison is a nurse writer who specializes in nutrition and women’s health. Courtney has a decade of experience serving patients as an RN, most recently as a Couplet Care and Lactation nurse. As a nurse writer she leverages her clinical experience to reach readers with evidence-based healthcare content.
