Digital Marketing for Healthcare

Why You Need to Connect with Patients Online STAT

Digital marketing for healthcare has quickly moved from a “nice to have” to a “must have.” Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, people were increasingly looking online for their medical needs.

Since the pandemic, connecting with patients online has become even more critical. People are very accustomed to searching the internet for anything and everything they want to know, buy, or book, making digital marketing for healthcare a key growth strategy. An incredible 97% of consumers turn to the internet for researching products and services.

More and more people are going online to research physicians, ailments, and treatment options. And it’s not just young people turning to Doctor Google. The Baby Boomer generation is also medically techy, with 57% researching health and wellness information online for either themselves or a loved one.

No matter what subset of the healthcare industry your business is in, you have to meet your patients where they are – and that is online. There are three main ways patients are digitally researching their healthcare needs:

• Search: Google and Bing
• Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube
• Online reviews

Paid Search for Healthcare Organizations

Show Up On Page One When Patients Search Online.

A solid digital marketing strategy for any company starts and ends with search. Why? Because when people go to either Google or Bing to search for something, they have what we call “high intent.” They aren’t passively scrolling through social media; they are actively looking for something they want, whether that be information, a product, or a service.

When potential patients are looking for your services, you need to be there to meet them. Furthermore, you need to show up on the first page because 75% of people will only look at the first page of search results. Paid search ads are the only way to guarantee your business shows up on the first page.

And there are more benefits to running ads on Google and/or Bing. With paid search ads, you get to choose the keywords and phrases you show up for. This ensures every lead is a qualified lead. Also, you only pay when people click on the ad, that’s why they’re called Pay Per Click Ads (PPC).

With Soud Marketing’s paid search ads, you get:

• Guaranteed placement on the first page of search results
• Quality leads and traffic to your website
• Total messaging control
• Ability to go as big or small as your budget permits

SEO for Healthcare Organizations

Show Up In Organic Results When Patients Search Online.

While paid ads are the top choice for top placement, organic search results still matter. A strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy will help your website rank higher in organic search results for the keywords and phrases that matter most to your business.

SEO is especially important for healthcare organizations because patients are often researching ailments and treatment options before they start looking for providers. You want your site to be a trusted source of information for people who are looking to educate themselves on topics that fall within your service capabilities.

If you are a local business, optimizing your local SEO is a must. Local SEO strategies work to get your business to show up in Google’s local 3-pack when someone searches for your line of work. The local 3-pack is the list of three businesses that appear right under the map when people search for businesses in a particular area or “near me.” There are several elements that determine which businesses show up in the local 3-pack, including the business listing, photos, and reviews. An effective local SEO strategy must address them all.

With Soud Marketing’s SEO service, you get:

• Website optimization
• High quality content that expands reach and enhances rank
• Online business listings and citations to target 3-pack ranking

Social Media Marketing for Healthcare Organizations

Reach Patients At The Exact Points They’ll Be Most Receptive To You.

Healthcare groups tend to use social media less than other industries, but social media plays an increasingly important role for patients. In the U.S., eight out of 10 internet users look up health information online, and 74% of them use social media.

An effective social media strategy involves much more than just throwing up an occasional post and hoping it goes viral. Organizations must provide genuinely useful and informative content that can catch patient’s attention at a variety of points in their shopping cycle, from researching health issues and looking up local providers to deciding when/where to book an appointment.

These days, an effective social media marketing strategy must include social media ads. The algorithms on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels continue to change and gaining traction organically is getting harder and harder. Social media ads provide a guaranteed way to get specific posts in front of specific groups of people.

Social media channels provide excellent targeting capabilities, allowing us to get the right message in front of the right audience at the right time. You can target based on demographics like age and location, as well as interests and behaviors. Social media ads are an excellent way to find new patients (discovery) as well as retarget individuals who have shown an interest in either your services or your competitors (nurture).

With Social Media Marketing, we provide an array of strategies and tactics that reach across a variety of social channels, including:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn (if applicable)

Online Reviews for Healthcare Organizations

Put your best foot forward when patients are scrutinizing you the most closely.

In our very digital world, online reviews now play a critical role for businesses. In fact, 42% of internet users say reviews are one of the most important things that impact their decision about a company or product. And healthcare organizations are in the top three industries where consumers are most likely to read reviews.

Proactively asking for and managing online reviews can have a positive impact to leads and business generated online. Good reviews don’t just strengthen your online presence, they also create powerful and persuasive messages as happy patients do your bragging for you.

Soud Marketing can help you:

• Determine where you need to get reviews
• Implement strategies to get more reviews
• Use reviews to build trust