In today’s digital age, healthcare organizations (and all businesses, for that matter) need to have a strong online presence to stay competitive and meet the expectations of patients and customers who are increasingly using the internet to find new providers and services.
Optimizing your online presence
An optimized and audited online presence can help you attract and retain patients, enhance your reputation, and improve your overall performance. Here are some strategies that you can use to optimize and audit your online presence.
Develop a comprehensive website
The website is the centerpiece of your online presence, so it should be well-designed, informative, and easy to navigate.
A comprehensive website should include information about your services, providers, and facilities, as well as patient resources like appointment scheduling, online bill payment, and patient portals. You should also ensure that your website is optimized for search engines, so patients can easily find you when searching for healthcare providers or services.
Utilize social media
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can be incredibly valuable tools for building your online presence and engaging with patients. You can use social media to target ideal customer/patient pain points, highlight success stories, and provide valuable health information. You should also encourage patients to leave reviews on your social media pages, as positive reviews can help attract newcomers.
Implement search engine optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages. By using keywords, meta tags, internal links, and other SEO strategies, you can improve your website’s visibility and attract more traffic. It’s also important to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, as more and more patients are accessing healthcare information on their mobile devices.
Invest in pay-per-click (PPC) ads
Online advertising like PPC ads can be a powerful tool for reaching new patients and promoting your services. Platforms such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads allow you to target specific demographics and geographic areas, so you can reach the patients who are most likely to be interested in your services. You should also consider investing in retargeting ads on these platforms, which are served to potential patients who have visited your website but haven’t yet made an appointment.
Auditing your online presence
Your online reputation is crucial to attracting new patients and retaining existing ones. That being said, you should be regularly monitoring each of the aforementioned items to address any issues before they become a major problem.
Conduct a website audit
A website audit can help you identify any issues with your website that are hindering the user experience, such as broken links, slow loading times, or outdated content. You should also ensure that your website is compliant with healthcare regulations like HIPAA, and that it provides a positive user experience for patients.
Review your social media accounts
Your social media accounts should be regularly reviewed to ensure that they are up-to-date, HIPAA-compliant, and engaging for patients. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
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- Are my posts receiving likes and comments?
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- Am I responding to messages, reviews, and comments?
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- Are my pictures compelling (and not stock)?
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- Am I consistent across all platforms?
If you answered “no” to any of these, it’s time to make some changes. And as always, make sure you’re responding promptly to any and all patient inquiries or feedback.
Evaluate your online advertising campaigns
Online advertising campaigns should be evaluated regularly to ensure that they are generating a positive return on investment (ROI). You should track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per acquisition (CPA) to determine the effectiveness of your campaigns and make any necessary adjustments.
Optimizing your online presence is crucial to attracting and retaining patients in today’s digital age. But juggling all of these factors and conducting meaningful audits can be very complicated if marketing is not your specialty.
At Bizzuka, we’re all about optimizing and auditing. In fact, these are two key steps in our 6-phase marketing framework, OPTICS ™. Join our OPTICS ™ Accelerator digital marketing course to learn how to fix the biggest blind spots that are killing the effectiveness of your internal healthcare marketing team.