In today's digital landscape, healthcare marketing has transformed dramatically, particularly with the rise of social media. If you're a healthcare brand ready to embrace this change, then understanding how to effectively use social platforms is crucial for engaging with your audience. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore key strategies to help your healthcare brand make a significant impact online, leveraging insights from industry experts Dasha and Martini.
Martini passionately emphasises the importance of social media for healthcare brands, pointing out that an impressive number of opportunities lie in this space. As the healthcare industry grapples with modernisation, leveraging social media platforms is no longer optional—it's a necessity.
Dasha outlines a framework that is surprisingly simple yet effective: healthcare brands should aim for **11 touchpoints across 4 platforms** with **7 hours of accessible content**. This may sound overwhelming, but breaking it down can lead to effective and meaningful engagement.The 4 Platforms to Focus On
1. LinkedIn: Ideal for reaching decision-makers and healthcare professionals, LinkedIn helps establish credibility within the sector.
2. YouTube: A versatile platform for delivering both long- and short-form video content, suitable for educating consumers and professionals alike.
3. Instagram: Perfect for visual storytelling, it allows for quick engagement with potential patients through compelling graphics and short videos.
4. TikTok: Known for its explosive reach, TikTok offers a unique opportunity to connect with younger audiences through entertaining and relatable content.
Dasha and Martini delve deeper into the quantity and quality of content required to succeed. While it may seem daunting at first, effective healthcare marketing relies on creating a considerable volume of content. According to Martini, a healthcare brand may need to create approximately **10,000 pieces of content** to truly see results from digital advertising and engagement. This includes blogs, videos, social media posts, and emails.
Short-Form Video"
- Create engaging videos under 60 seconds for platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. These should be quick, informative bursts that captivate your audience's attention within moments.
Long-Form Video:
- For platforms such as YouTube and LinkedIn, longer videos provide in-depth insights and knowledge sharing. Aim for comprehensive videos that explore subjects relevant to your audience.
If producing thousands of pieces of content feels overwhelming, start small. Dasha suggests beginning with **15 short-form videos** and a few long-form videos. This foundational content can be created in as little as half a day of filming, allowing you to roll out a consistent posting schedule across all platforms with relative ease.
Imagine posting short videos every other day and a long-form video weekly. This steady stream of content will build engagement and awareness over time, leading to significant results.
One of the most vital aspects of healthcare marketing is consistency. Dasha and Martini emphasise that simply starting the process can yield immediate results. With a structured approach, clinics have gone viral as soon as one month into their campaigns. The key is regular posting and constant audience engagement.
By the end of the second month, many clients can expect increased visibility and interaction, solidifying their position in the digital healthcare space. By the third month, brands typically have a clearer understanding of their audience's preferences, allowing for refined strategies moving forward.
Effective healthcare marketing isn't just about producing content; it’s about connecting with your audience. Whether they are patients seeking treatment or healthcare professionals looking for referrals, content should be tailored to meet their needs and answer their queries. Using simple language that resonates with a broad audience can greatly improve engagement.
Combining strategy, consistency, and audience understanding is key to achieving success in healthcare marketing. As Martini states, you're not just competing with other healthcare brands, but also with the vast expanse of content available on the internet. By embracing strategic social media practices, you can achieve remarkable engagement, brand awareness, and ultimately, conversions.
Full Transcript:
Martini
We're clearly very big believers in socials for healthcare brands. If a healthcare brand came to us and they said, hey, I'm ready to go all in on social media, I hear what you guys are saying. What you said It makes sense.
Martini
What would we recommend them to do?
Dasha
I think we have to start this with 4, 11, 7.
Martini
Yeah.
Dasha
So we need for you to have 11 touch points with customers across four different platforms and there needs to be seven hours worth of content available for them at any time for them to reach you.
Dasha
So most, most healthcare brands that come to us, they haven't even started on.
Martini
That two blog posts.
Dasha
But it's not even about blog posts.
Dasha
They've maybe got some Instagram graphics.
Dasha
How long do I look at an Instagram graphic for?
Dasha
3 seconds less.
Martini
So, so, well, let's do.
Martini
That's do we did the calculations right.
Martini
On average, very roughly speaking, people look at a social media post for two seconds and that's generous because actually it should be.
Dasha
And that's also including video content.
Martini
Including video content.
Martini
They're going to look at a long YouTube video on average, say three minutes and they're going to engage with an email, let's say 15 seconds.
Martini
What we did a calculation is if that's the average watch time for these media placements, well, how many placements would you need to actually create?
Martini
And what we, the figure we came up with was roughly about 5,400 of these placements.
Martini
So you might need 300 videos, 500 social media posts, 100 emails.
Martini
But actually I think to be safe, especially with how fast the pace of culture is moving at the moment and sort of health care has been quite an old archaic industry, I think it's worth putting in a buffer factor 2.5x.
Martini
So that means you need to make 10,000 pieces of content digitally for you to start really seeing how digital advertising can work.
Martini
And I argue that if you people will invest this much into paid ads, you should.
Martini
So is so worth investing to social, organic.
Dasha
Okay, so and, but then, but then that sounds really.
Dasha
To be honest, from an outside perspective, that sounds very daunting if a brand is coming in and hearing it.
Dasha
So how do you boil this down?
Dasha
So because you also, you don't have to wait that entire span of time in order to see results.
Dasha
Like with a clinic that we're working with at the moment, we worked with them for two months and they went viral within the.
Dasha
Actually the first month that we worked with them, they went viral.
Martini
And another thing with their inquiries.
Dasha
Yes.
Martini
Just by getting started exactly, exactly.
Dasha
So I think that sounds daunting, but it's not as daunting as it seems.
Dasha
It's just, it's just a habit.
Dasha
You need to keep posting and then.
Martini
It'S going to, it's just, it's the numbers on thing.
Martini
And I think some people just starts.
Dasha
The ball just starts rolling.
Dasha
But okay, so, so we're starting off with those four platforms.
Dasha
So that's what we're thinking about.
Dasha
We're thinking maybe LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Martini
So that's because the reason for those is because you're able to target your potential clients and their loved ones and then use a platform like LinkedIn and YouTube to target decision makers like healthcare professionals that might refer clients on.
Dasha
But actually YouTube is also for the consumer.
Martini
They're all the platforms nowadays are so modern in that everyone is on there, it's not black or white.
Martini
Okay.
Dasha
And so let's say then we're thinking of a strategy to go with.
Dasha
And let's say we go video first because at the moment video is the fastest growing medium.
Martini
And so it's just more interesting.
Martini
I prefer to watch a video than read a text.
Dasha
And so that's the fact.
Dasha
And so then if we look at doing video, so we're then splitting that out and so.
Dasha
Okay, well actually we might want to do short form because some of these platforms optimised for short form, like TikTok and Instagram Reels are optimised for short form.
Dasha
So we're looking at videos that are vertical and they're less than two minutes long.
Dasha
And then we're looking at long form for YouTube because I actually LinkedIn as well, sometimes the long form horizontal videos work quite well.
Dasha
And so in that regard there's basically two types of content that we're creating.
Dasha
Short form and recreating the long form.
Dasha
Now let's look at how much we might want to create when someone first comes to us.
Dasha
I think it can be quite daunting to hear some of these numbers of how much content you can be putting out and how much you can be doing.
Dasha
And so a lot of the clinics that we start off with, with first just start off with, okay, I want to just be able to post like every other day on the short form and once a week for long form.
Martini
But bear in mind we come from world of E commerce where Companies are posting 7, 15 times a day.
Martini
Yeah, so that's like.
Martini
And bear in mind with healthcare, especially on these platforms, you're not competing with other healthcare brands.
Martini
You're competing with the rest of the Internet, so you can't take.
Martini
Well, I think it's worth noting that you obviously baby steps, but just note that you're competing with other brands in other industries as well.
Martini
You're competing for the attention against everybody.
Dasha
Yeah, but, okay, so let, but starting off with what like a brand usually would want and how to like dip your toes into this because I think once you see results even with this little amount of content, that's when it becomes pretty, you know, you just can't deny the fact that it's working.
Dasha
And so starting off with let's say 15 short form videos, we, we would want to film basically 15 videos of you speaking about your subject matter with video.
Dasha
Basically a healthcare professional, we film those 15 short form videos and we create those so that they can go across all of the platforms.
Dasha
So they can go across LinkedIn, YouTube shorts, Instagram Reels and TikTok.
Dasha
And then those are starting to get posted every other day.
Dasha
Next we then want to create some long form.
Dasha
So that's going to be your YouTube.
Dasha
So that's just some horizontal videos.
Dasha
Once again, just of a subject matter expert speaking about their subject matter from there.
Dasha
That's literally your foundation.
Dasha
I feel like people make it so complicated and they think that it's so many steps, but actually it would probably take like a half day of filming.
Dasha
At least for us.
Dasha
It takes about half day of us just coming in with a bunch of cameras filming one of your healthcare professionals.
Dasha
It can be the founder, it can be literally anyone.
Dasha
We always like will say what needs to be said and kind of say the questions.
Dasha
But actually healthcare professionals, once they get.
Martini
You talking about their subject.
Dasha
Exactly.
Martini
They can go on and on and on and on.
Dasha
Exactly.
Dasha
And it's, it's, it's a half day of filming.
Dasha
We come up with probably like 13 questions to ask, like if it's a fertility clinic, how long am I fertile for?
Dasha
If it's a mental health clinic, what's the worst thing for my mental health?
Dasha
I mean, maybe not that, but like just really, really simplified questions like that.
Martini
That's actually really fun filming as well.
Dasha
It is, it's really fun filming.
Dasha
Exactly.
Dasha
Because you're just talking about what you're already passionate about.
Dasha
If you work at this clinic, you're already passionate about the subject matter and you don't need to have it be really in depth.
Dasha
You actually want it to be like, I think the language of like a 7 year old so that everybody gets it, everyone understands.
Dasha
So one half day of filming.
Dasha
We film enough content for 15 short videos, less than 1 minute to post across all of your social platforms, plus four long form, long form videos, YouTube videos to post onto your YouTube.
Dasha
And that's you having gotten started.
Dasha
That's an entire month's worth of content that you can now distribute onto full platforms so that people can actually have a chance of hitting 11 touch points with you in seven hours of content.
Dasha
And that's just done repetitively on a monthly basis.
Dasha
By month one, we usually go viral.
Dasha
By month two, you're usually consistently going viral.
Dasha
So more than like, let's say it's just once a week, but even so, usually for us, you go viral more often than once a week.
Dasha
By month three, you know exactly what your audiences are speaking about.
Dasha
You've got an extremely good idea of which platforms are working, what content types are working on each platform.
