Social media isn’t just the future of healthcare marketing - it’s the present. Companies who fail to embrace social media will fall by the wayside, while those who get on board are likely to see their prospects grow. However, social media is more than just posting goofy pictures. If you really want to see your digital marketing ROI soar, you’ll have to bolster your site with compelling content and aggressively promote this content to your followers.

Why Content Matters

One of the fallacies about social media is that people assume it automatically leads to bigger business. That’s not entirely true. Social media can, and often does, lead to increased awareness of a brand. That’s a great thing. But without something backing that up, it does nothing to boost the bottom line.

That’s one major difference between traditional advertising and social media marketing. With print advertising, you’ve got to deliver the goods up front. If you don’t create a killer ad off the bat, readers will skip right over your ad and move on to something else. With social media marketing, you can stop and get people to take notice even if your message has nothing to do with your products or services. In fact, you can generate a large number of followers while offering nothing of real substance.

The problem is, followers can’t truly be monetized. All of the followers in the world don’t mean anything unless you’re driving them to your website and giving them something worth sharing. If you don’t, not only do you have an inflated level of significance, but those followers will quickly abandon you. This will put a serious damper on your digital marketing ROI. Worse, the credibility of your organization will be diminished, ensuring that people don’t take you seriously the next time you have a new innovative product to offer. 

Providing Value

Think about what makes you follow a company’s social media accounts. A funny picture or observation might get you interested in learning more, but you’re not going to stick around unless there’s something in it for you. That could be a money-saving offer for some companies, but in most cases it’s a steady stream of content that moves you.

That’s the logic you should incorporate as you evaluate your company’s social media strategy. At its core, social media eliminates the barriers that separate people, enabling you to communicate with the entire world in one fell swoop. Given that massive platform, it’s in your best interest to make sure that message is as engaging and informative as possible. Why give someone the ammunition to not take you seriously?

Social Media in Healthcare

There’s great opportunity in the world of healthcare social media. Many patients turn to the Internet before they call their doctor, and a company that provided timely and relevant information to their followers would have a major leg up over the competition. Healthcare companies have potential to alert followers to potential health concerns before they arise; they can also help people treat and life with conditions they already have.

Take a look at Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who’s appeared in many health-related documentaries. Sure, he might be best known for his appearances in other people’s movies, but his Facebook page is full of relevant information and links to his website. Instead of promoting these movies, he’s driving people to his own site, where he has tons of information available and tons more that can be purchased.

Is Dr. Furhman the best example of a healthcare social media success story? He’s certainly one of the more notable ones, largely because most healthcare companies have completely missed the boat with social media. They’re bypassing a great opportunity to reach people, but more importantly, they’re missing the chance to drive a massive amount of traffic to the content they provide.

Bottom Line

Social media and Web content have a symbiotic relationship these days. People can’t find the content without social media, and the social media piece doesn’t hold water without being backed by powerful content. It’s clear that in today’s marketplace, the key to a high digital marketing ROI is a strong social media presence that informs, inspires and leads to top-notch content on the company’s website, which is where the real action begins.