Medical practices can exhibit dedication in a number of key ways, but we pay particular attention to consistency of messaging for each of our clients. Consistent, cohesive messaging is an enormous factor in branding for any clinic and especially for our clients. Each of our Social Media Architects creates a social strategy tailored to their clients. These strategies are not implemented by a panel of people; each architect is in charge of each social campaign. By design, this keeps the message unique and uniform in every way possible. There is no confusion or miscommunication behind the scenes of a marketing department.
To put some things into perspective let’s take a look at some statistics:
- Approximately 52% of all marketers found customers through Facebook
- 67% of business-to-business companies with a blog create more leads than those without
- 87% of small businesses say social media helped their business
- 85% of business say at running least one social channel is very important to them
While this information highlights the importance of social media departments in general, it also hints at how important it is to have a good set of individuals running these campaigns. As with anything in life, a half-assed attempt at something is often times more detrimental than not doing anything at all. If your campaigns are muddled, confusing to patients, incomplete or poorly conceived, it is easy for a potential client to infer that the business on the whole suffers from poor management. Think of it this way: if you were to walk into a restaurant to find no host waiting for new patrons, a menu missing prices for some of the items, filthy tables, and entrees missing half of the meal, you would walk out. The same will happen with a poor marketing department.
Mixed Messages
So far, we have only described a bad marketing department, the other side of the equation is a bad marketing message.
Let’s look at another hypothetical:
You own a medium-sized dermatology clinic and receive a complaint from a customer who has posted the same complaint to Twitter and Yelp about being overcharged. You have hired 4 people to run your three primary social media channels: Twitter, Yelp, and Facebook. The marketing department does not communicate to each other that they have received a complaint and begins to proceed in handling it in distinctly different ways. On Facebook, the customer is told that there are no refunds for services rendered but then is told on Yelp that they can receive credit.
Which is right?
These situations are not uncommon or unique. If you have tasked one person to handle all social media marketing, you will have a much more concise and complete message on the whole. The fewer chefs in the kitchen, as it were, the easier it is for you to apply your brand and communicate exactly what is is that you stand for.
More importantly, a large social media budget does not directly translate into having a large team. Unless you are a sprawling business employing hundreds, there is no need for a dozen social media specialists. Dedicate a select couple to ensure that posts are well made, published on time, and responses to your fans are timely. There are many costs involved in running multiple social marketing campaigns, personnel is not always the first expense. Money can be spent intelligently to maximize the ROI of any undertaking.
Here at Incredible Marketing, we pride ourselves on our talented Social Media Architects, but all of our educators can provide insight on marketing specific to your practice. Give us a call at (800) 949-0133 or schedule a one-on-one.
Erving
Incredible Marketing
