How to Use Social Media to Grow Your Dpc Practice
The use of social media to market a business has expanded greatly in the past few years. Most people will look for you on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms before they decide to choose a direct primary care (DPC) provider. There are some strategies involved in using social media to market your DPC practice that will guide you in successfully increasing your patient panel as you grow your practice.
Just like your direct primary care software, social media is easy to learn and to use for you and your clinical staff. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow you to create posts that thousands (and perhaps even millions) of users can potentially see. Social media is both a result and a way to address short attention spans in potential patients who may not read brochures, print ads, and other traditional marketing pieces.
One prominent social media platform, TikTok, is rapidly gaining in popularity for individuals as well as businesses to use those short attention spans to their advantage. In fact, DPC physician Kyle Adams, MD, writes that “the message to any business owner, DPC physicians included, is clear – If you’re not leveraging TikTok and other short form video platforms, you are missing out on a massive potential revenue stream.”
TikTok is a free, short-burst video app that allows you to upload any content (within community guidelines of course) for its millions of users to see worldwide. TikTok can be an easy and quick way to gain exposure for your DPC practice, but there are a few tips, tricks, and techniques to help make sure you are maximizing your potential in growing your patient panel.
- Create educational content that’s entertaining and not promotional. For example, you can capture your audience’s attention by giving them “fun facts” to entice them to learn more about you and your practice. Remember, though, especially when making video bursts, that if you don’t excite or grab their interest within the first 5-10 secs, you’ve lost their view and they’re on to the next video. Talk about some experiences you may have had within your practice or some interesting medical issues you may deal with in your practice to get their attention first.
- Remain true to yourself and your practice. Remember your DPC practice brand. It’s easy to spot when someone is trying too hard, and this will ultimately lead to mistrust from your audience. Be yourself, even if you’re a bit silly. Chances are your target audience will appreciate that much more and be more interested in watching your videos, and enrolling in your practice, as you show your true personality!
- Document interesting aspects of your DPC practice. Maintaining adherence to HIPAA regulations, relay something interesting from your daily experiences with patients. Perhaps you diagnosed an infection and can give a quick assessment of preventive measures patients can take to avoid having that happen to them. While these types of diagnoses may have become normal to you, keep in mind most people are not in the medical community, so these “new” stories will fascinate them.
- Use hashtags but use them correctly. We all know people who use too many hashtags and put them on everything. However, here it will actually work to your advantage. Using hashtags and using them correctly will essentially tell TikTok or Instagram who should see your content and who your target audience should be.
- Post frequently. Posting a few times a week will help build your audience and will increase the chances of people seeing your videos. Make sure you stay active on the platform so that your videos will circulate more frequently, and more people will see them.
- Be prepared for negative reactions. No matter what you say, how right the information is, how amazing your delivery is, or how awesome your videos are, there will always be people who will disagree and leave negative comments of your videos. When appropriate, you can respond to the negative, but stay focused on the positive.
