The Practical Practice Blog #1 | Social Media Content Ideas
Welcome to our new column series created to provide quick tips, ideas, and insights on marketing, sales, patient engagement, practice management, and more that you can use immediately!
Our first column touches on a hot topic-social media. Whether you like it or not, social media is here to stay, and understanding it is vital to the health or your practice or clinic. Social media platforms for business represent one fundamental thing: Getting attention. Acquiring underpriced attention is key to using social media to grow your business.
Do you have trouble coming up with original social media posts? When you have a lot of things on your plate, it’s easy to feel uninspired or struggle to come up with fresh content ideas. Today I am going to share 10 Social Media Content Ideas for Your Practice to help inspire your social media posts.
Choosing themes for specific days of the week will make it easier to come up with content for your social media accounts. Recurring themes also create consistency for your clinic and give your audience something to look forward to. You will notice that we post this Vlog every Monday—which we have themed “Marketing Monday”. You could start a Fun Fact Friday and post an entertaining or inspiring fact.
Consider creating themes like:
- Monday: Motivation Monday, Music Monday
- Tuesday: Tuesday Tip, Trivia Tuesday, Tuesday Treat
- Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday, Wednesday Wisdom
- Thursday: Throwback Thursday, Thursday Thoughts, Thankful Thursday
- Friday: Follow Friday, TGIF, Friday Fun
- Saturday: Selfie Saturday, Saturday Swag, Social Saturday
- Sunday: Sunday Funday, Sunday Selfie
These themes are all popular hashtags, so make sure you include the hashtag when you post on Twitter and Instagram. Make up your own themes that are relevant to your practice.
The key is consistency! Post that thematic content regularly.
#2: Celebrate a Funny or Unusual Holiday
Did you know that April 9th is “Name Yourself Day” or that October 8th is “Octopus Day”? Every day of the year boasts at least one unusual holiday that your audience has never heard of. Have fun posting about these holidays on your social media profiles and be sure to include the hashtags for each holiday. Check out daysoftheyear.com where you will find all of the world’s weird, funny, wonderful, and bizarre holidays.
Get creative and have fun, and your audience is sure to respond by commenting, liking, and sharing your posts.
#3: Pose an Engaging Question
People love sharing! An easy way to encourage engagement from your community is to ask a question. Get people talking by asking them to make a prediction, such as “Who’s going to win the Super Bowl this year?” or by giving them two options and asking what their preference is and why. Many social media platforms include a poll feature that makes it easy to analyze results and respond to your followers.
#4: Ask Followers to “Fill in the Blank”
A fill-in-the-blank post like “The last TV show I binge-watched was __________” or “My go-to dinner is __________” will help inspire conversation on your social accounts.
Now the last couple ideas may seem trivial or irrelevant to your clinic. Keep in mind, your patients…well…they are human. Engaging your patients in dialogue that is not always about healthcare deepens their relationship with you.
Showcase one of your patients (with their permission) on your social media platforms and on your Hearing News Network screen in your waiting room. (Don’t have this network in your practice? Call us, and we can tell you about it.) Relatable, real stories inspire others. Again, with their permission and participation, tell their story. This is a great example of positive social proof.
#6: Spotlight Your Team
Make more meaningful connections with your patients and prospects by spotlighting your team.
Share photos, fun Q&A’s and insights so your audience can get to know them and their role in your company. Let your fans get to know your employees on a personal level.
#7: Share Relevant Third-Party Resources
Have you come across something on social media that your audience would find interesting, entertaining, or useful? Sharing is caring! Posting useful articles or video from credible sources makes you a resource for your patients and enforces the concept that you truly care about your patients.
If you’re a local business, plug an event that’s happening in your community, such as a fundraiser or a high school football game. This is a way to show goodwill and demonstrate that your business is invested in your community.
#9: Add Video
Adding video into your social media mix is a great way to diversify your content and grab your audience’s attention. Custom videos related to your industry can be expensive and time consuming. But services like HNN2Go or KIC2Go™ makes it easy! You can browse a library of hundreds of hearing health and dental videos and add them to your social media pages easily.
#10: Encourage Reviews
Positive reviews do wonders for your practice and your SEO. Use your social media followers to gain more positive reviews. Be sure to let your followers know where they can leave their reviews.
Content creation doesn’t have to be overwhelming or time-consuming. Creating a go-to list of ideas is a surefire way to keep your social media content calendar full.
Michele Ahlman
Michele Ahlman is President and CEO of ClearSounds.com, a provider of devices for people with hearing loss, and Clear Digital Media, Burr Ridge, Ill, which has created the Hearing Health News Network (HHN). HHN is delivered via wired or wireless Internet to your waiting room and features a playlist of hearing-related items to benefit your patients.
Correspondence to: Michele Ahlman at [email protected].
Showcase a patient? Is that easy to do than say? Because people might prefer not to reveal their illness out in the open. How will you tackle those situations?