Patients have more options and decision-making power than ever before. With so much information just a digital click away, these patients no longer feel the need to visit the closest hospital in their community for non-emergent procedures and appointments.
Instead of just going to the local hospital, they now can choose the hospital/provider they feel is the best. They decide who is the best by their digital front door (website), third-party validation (reviews), and digital community (social media).
Here are 3 ways to create a strong digital ecosystem for your hospital:
1. Evaluate the Online Patient Experience
In the past, simply having a website was enough to impress prospective patients. But now, a website is your hospital’s new front door. It’s the first thing patients often see when they are in research mode, and if it’s not optimized for their experience from start to finish, it may be the last time a person considers your hospital for their healthcare needs.
2. Leverage Social Media (the right way)
We’ve seen too many hospitals and healthcare practices rely on “organic” social media for a large part of their digital healthcare marketing strategies. Organic, for platforms like Facebook and Instagram in the beginning, was amazing. However, they have now become pay-to-play platforms. This means if you want your audience to see the post you have worked so hard to create, you need to put some boosting dollars behind your post. The ROI of this is increased engagement on posts, increased followers, and increased 3rd party validation (likes, comments, shares). Posting content is an important part of the research and brand building process, but this only 15%-30% of the lead generation process. If you are wanting to increase leads to your hospital, you need to focus more on digital advertising on these platforms while you are creating organic content. Remember, it’s no longer about doing one thing. You need to be doing them all.
Paid advertising on social media is a better way to reach the right people who may be looking for your healthcare services, even if you’re not already connected.
3. Track Your Marketing Strategy and Correct the Problems (Asking where they found you no longer works)
You should continuously monitor how your marketing strategy is performing. This information is how you determine your ROI. You also need to continuously monitor the process in which leads are captured and contacted. This information helps you understand where the value is, who your leads are, where they came from, and why they did or didn’t make an appointment.
One of the current hangups we have noticed with most lead generation campaigns is after the lead provides their information, or would like someone to call and discuss a potential appointment, they are not contacted until a few days or weeks later. In a world of instant gratification, this no longer works. By this time, they have moved on to someone else who could answer their questions right away or could see them at the earliest time. When hospitals correct this problem, they almost always see an increase in their scheduled appointments.
There are many ways to track the lead information. We suggest using multiple sources to track and compare this information. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Duo’s See Through Tracking dashboard
- Google Analytics
- Google Ads & Facebook Ads platforms
All of these strategies, when done correctly, can improve your patient messaging, content, lead generation, processes, and brand awareness. If you’re not sure where to get started, you can call 435-264-1819 to get advice from one of our marketing experts.