At the risk of stating the obvious, nearly everyone is on Facebook. What may be less obvious is that the precise demographics who need your medical, mental health, and other healthcare services are checking their Facebook accounts every single day. If your ads aren’t in front of them, when they need the services you offer, they will likely choose another provider they have seen on Facebook.
Let’s break this down and digest it.
1. The people you need to reach are on Facebook
According to Pew Research Center, about 7 of 10 adults, or 69%, are on Facebook. Aside from YouTube, no other social media platform comes close to Facebook in this demographic. What’s more, is that 7 of 10 of these adults visit the site at least once a day, and nearly half (49%) visit multiple times a day.
This means your prospective patients are spending a lot of time on Facebook and they’re most likely seeing ads from your competitors. At the very least, they need your services and don’t know how or where to find you online. Facebook ads can direct them to your website or provide a button for them to contact you via email, a contact form, or by phone.
2. Both men and women have a significant presence on Facebook
When it comes to adults on Facebook, both men and women under the age of 65 frequent their Facebook accounts on a regular basis. If this is your target audience for medical services and treatments, then you can appeal to 77% of women in the United States and 61% of men through Facebook advertising.
And, even if you’d like to reach people over the age of 65, about half of this demographic spends time on the social media platform, as well.
3. Facebook collects data based on your audience’s preferences
If a person searches for “mental health services near me,” or “telehealth counseling,” Facebook uses the information to show them ads that pertain to this particular interest. Is your ad one of them? As a healthcare organization, telehealth provider, or medical practice, if you’re not advertising on Facebook, you are missing out on connecting with your ideal patients.
I know what you’re thinking: “But, I have lots of content on my Facebook business page, so future patients are finding my organization organically.”
Unfortunately, organic reach is on the decline. So much so that the average reach of the organic content on your business page is only about 5%. This means that less than 20% of Facebook users are seeing your organic, non-promoted content. Ouch.
That’s a whole lot of effort for a very minimal reach. It also makes the case for boosting your practice’s Facebook ad budget and promoting more relevant content to your audience.
So, now that you’re aware how important it is to advertise your healthcare organization on Facebook, where do you start? Do you need to hire a marketing team? Can you do it yourself? Let’s take a look at the process and see if it’s something you or a team member can take on.
A consistent, creative social media presence strengthens your brand, builds trust, and generates new revenue.
Learn more about healthcare branding here.
Organic reach vs. paid reach on Facebook
If you need a little background on the difference between organic and paid reach, learn more on this Facebook page. For our purposes, we’ll say that organic reach is unpaid content on your Facebook page, and paid reach is content you promote through targeted ads.
Reach
Paid ads for your healthcare practice on Facebook enables you to target a specific demographic and reach a much larger audience than you can with a post to your business page. With Facebook ads for your healthcare organization, you decide which parameters to set, including location (i.e. patients within a 10-mile radius of your practice); age groups, gender, and interests.
Target
Essentially, you can target—for instance—men and women, ages 21-55, who are interested in health and wellness, diet and weight loss, healthy living, and mental health, living within 10 miles of your organization. Or, if you want to attract more people to your telehealth services, leave the mileage undefined and apply the other parameters.
Budget
Then, specify a budget and a schedule for your ad. Facebook helps you get your healthcare organization advertisement, including any special offers you want to include, in front of the right audience at the right time.
When you’re first starting out, you or a member of your team can get a Facebook ad campaign going in no time.
Start advertising your healthcare practice on Facebook today
With nearly 3 billion active monthly Facebook users – the largest social network in the world – your healthcare organization needs a presence and an active ad campaign. In a few simple steps, you can be up and running with your first ad.
Use this to your advantage by combining relevant page content that links back to your website, such as blog posts and weekly health tips, with targeted paid ads. Reaching both an organic audience (albeit a small one) and a paid one is an ideal way to strengthen your brand and build trust from your social media presence.
Many practices see an increase of 25% or more reach when they run paid ads and a similar increase in phone calls to the business as a result of paid ad campaigns.
Now is the time to use social media to your advantage to get your services in front of your ideal audience.
