The healthcare industry — and certainly the sleep industry — is fraught with competition. To attract new patients, it’s essential to have a strong social media presence. In fact, social media is key in retaining your current patients, if your competitors are posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. Social media boosts your brand, as your name and message are regularly seen by your targeted demographic.
Your social media posts will reflect your dedication to providing valuable sleep/health information. Your commitment to helping people live their best lives must be inherent in your messages.
But beware the easy mistakes that can damage your reputation. When your energies are primarily focused on running the business, keeping up with social media, marketing, and online content is like having a second job. It’s just too much for many business owners to manage well.
Expert social media requires more than a weekend afternoon; it requires day-to-day monitoring to ensure optimal communications with prospects and patients.
Social Media Mishaps To Avoid
Facebook is considered the top-priority social media outlet for healthcare practices, including sleep industry businesses. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others can also boost your stories, services, your brand.
On all these platforms, you need to avoid these common mistakes:
Last-minute errors: Without advance planning, you’re working on tight deadlines — and risk making editorial mistakes. Grammar errors, misspellings, or an ineffective photo are the result of last-minute efforts. These errors are committed in haste, and are embarrassing when a patient posts a comment about it. The label “unprofessional” is hard to swallow when it’s a public comment.
For sleep industry companies, the best social media marketing includes an editorial schedule. When you plan your social media posts, you save time in the publishing process. You’ll know the upcoming topic and what should be done — so there’s no last-minute rush. You’ll have time for proofreading so there won’t be embarrassing mistakes.
With a social media publishing plan, you’ll produce higher-quality sleep-focused content — with effective images that attract your demographic and showcase your sleep topic effectively. Your social media efforts will be both professional and effective in retaining and accruing patients.
Inconsistent publishing: Regularity is key to social media publishing for the sleep industry. You must identify the channels that best fit your audience, then set the publishing frequency. When you start publishing, you must keep it rolling regularly. Your patients and customers will expect to see your messages, and you want to meet their expectations.
You’re providing a valuable service to your sleep-focused community, keeping them informed about sleep-related topics affecting their health. Show your commitment with regular publishing, and enhance the impression that you’re well-organized. You’ll add to the online conversation on important topics, guiding patients to the medical attention they deserve.
When appropriate, you can publish a special post that meets your sleep patients’ needs. If you’ve implemented new protocols or changed hours, this certainly is necessary. Your patients will appreciate the updates.
Using the wrong social media platforms: The sleep industry is best portrayed on social media that blend text and images. Medical news and insights, including sleep tips, are best shared on Facebook and Twitter. People expect to see high-quality health content on these sites. It’s also worth considering platforms your multinational customers may be using such such a WeChat or Yandex.
Sharing “off-brand” messages: While you may be tempted to post political or humorous messages, these don’t reflect your professional practice. Expressing your personal opinions in social media risks offending patients and prospects.
If you’ve taken on your business’ social media, you must treat it professionally; you must take it seriously. Don’t risk your reputation. Hiring an agency to handle your social media eliminates this risk. Your posts will be created and post by others (with your approval), so you’re not exposed to potential disasters.
Feeling overwhelmed: Improving your social media is certainly a positive move. But many people find it overwhelming. You may have a good start — listing sleep-focused content categories, a few blog topics, the social media platforms best for your sleep-focused brand.
But do you really have time to do all that? Do you know the best practices in using those platforms, their rules for content?
If writing and publishing aren’t really your skillset, this can be a lot to juggle. You want your efforts to bring in new patients — as well as catch attention from your peers, even media. If you can’t create high-quality blog posts every week, in addition to your current workload, you need help.
Somnowell Marketing can help
Somnowell Marketing has a team in place to professionally execute your social media posts. The burden will be off your shoulders, with a pay-off in sharing information from respected sources, and ending any rumors or misinformation. Your online content and social media posts are an investment in your sleep business’ reputation — and that’s undeniably priceless.
