I know that 2020 was quite the year, and we had to make a lot of changes in our digital marketing strategies, so today we’re gonna cover seven social media trends for 2021.
1. Telehealth
The first one being telehealth. Telehealth is not going away, we’re going to have to continue the awareness that your practice is offering telehealth consultations and make sure that your patients feel safe and comfortable doing that, so continuing those posts, letting them know the process, and making sure that it is user friendly for them to schedule that telehealth consultation.
2. Patient’s Journey
Number two is sharing more about the patient’s journey, getting those testimonials because again, going back to having your patient feel safe, and if they are… If it’s a telemedicine or telehealth experience, we want to make sure that you’re telling the story of what that’s going to be like, how is it going to work for them, and also recognizing when a patient starts with you and what they came in for and being able to document that journey and that process that they’ve had and allowing them to tell their story, so really pushing that with them.
This could be written testimonials are great, but if they’re willing to do a thirty second to a one-minute video recording testimonial, that is amazing. And if you are able to tie their process into your social media posts, not using names, but situations, symptoms, being able to talk about their success, that is a great way to be able to implement that into your social media posts for 2021.
3. Videos
The third thing is videos, and we talk about this all the time, videos are not going anywhere, so it’s really important to make sure that you have that video strategy for 2021. This can be a series, so you can talk about, let’s say, January you can put together maybe a weight loss series and you answer questions about weight loss, you discuss maybe an eating plan, different recipes, and you’re putting out a video every week, and these don’t have to be long videos, these can be five to 10-minute videos. Maybe a little bit longer. These can be trying out Facebook lives, YouTube lives, you can schedule a YouTube live so people can sign up for it, similar to a webinar, but then it’s a live event. Going into then more interviews, so you can interview may be one of your doctors, you can have someone interview yourself, you can interview a patient, but really figuring out how you’re going to get more videos into your social media strategy is really important.
4. Repurposed Content
Number four, re-purposing content. So we are always, always, always working on content, this is our blog post, this is old social media posts and going back through your blogs and either, one, updating old blog posts and then re-purposing them onto social media pulling… If that content’s still relevant, then pulling pieces out of that blog post and also being able to create new images. If you’re using Canva, which we’ve talked about a lot in our previous blogs, if you’re using Canva, they have really cool new features of creating your own little animated social media image, or even they have video options on there as well, so creating a new eye-grabbing image or video to go along with that re-purposed content.
5. National Observance Days
Number five, looking at your national observance days, so this is something… Look at the ones that matter to your practice, to the local ones, the smaller ones… It could still be Breast Cancer Awareness month, it could be autism awareness month. Things that mean something to you on a personal level, and align with your practice’s mindset.
6. Industry News
Number six, industry news. Continue to share industry news. This can be from different resources, we always have our clients put together a list of resources between 10 and 15 different websites that they trust, that we can monitor and be able to share that content out to their social media platforms. So making sure that you have that, what we call that approved list to be able to share industry news, and this kind of breaks down into that 80-20 rule. 80% of the time, you should always be educating your audience, sharing news, giving them something that is… That they’re gonna be able to take something away. And then 20% of the time is about you, it’s about your practice, which goes into our last one, our tip.
7. Humanize Your Brand
Number seven, humanizing your practice. Really sharing with your audience what you guys are about, what are your core values, what are your missions, who is… Who are you… Maybe you’re the practitioner, maybe you’re the marketing department, but who’s behind the scenes, how does it work? And really showing your audience, so highlighting maybe a staff member, a nurse, a doctor, a practitioner every week, having a picture of them, or maybe a quick… That could be a part of your video, a quick little, “Hi, I’m so and so, I’m so excited to be working at” blah, blah, blah, and it gives that face connection, so they feel like if they are coming into the office that they know who’s going to be there, who’s going to greet them. If they are scheduling a telehealth consultation, they know who’s going to be on the other side of that screen, and it builds that loyalty and it gives them that comfort. So I think being able to humanize that brand and really get on a personal level is going to build those connections with your patients even more.
So these are just seven different social media trends that we see for the healthcare industry. If you need help putting together your social media strategy for this year or want to discuss different topics that are going to be a good fit for your practice, please schedule your free 30-minute consultation today. Thank you
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Copy-of-7-Social-Media-Trends-for-2021.png12602240Amber Irwinhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngAmber Irwin2020-12-30 06:00:242021-02-26 08:57:597 Social Media Trends for 2021
When people talk about social media, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are usually the first thing that comes to mind. A lot of healthcare professionals and organizations use these social media platforms to reach a growing number of potential patients online who are looking for medical information.
While Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can undoubtedly help them achieve their goals, there is one platform that most healthcare professionals tend to forget — Youtube.
Youtube is one of the biggest social media channels in the world, with over 2 billion active monthly users. If your goal is to educate your audience and attract new patients, Youtube would be a great place to start.
If you’re still on the fence about starting your own Youtube channel, don’t fret. We listed down some of the best medical Youtube channels out there. Hopefully, you can use them as an inspiration to start your own.
Doctor Oz was one of the first healthcare professionals to create a Youtube channel back in 2006.
He has a popular daytime television personality whose show is now on its 12th season. He has also appeared as a health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show for five seasons. Being a celebrity doctor it wasn’t difficult for him to grow his channel. As of writing, he’s racked up over 1.5 million subscribers and over 230 million channel views.
Dr. Oz uploads snippets of his show on his Youtube channel. Each episode has segments on health, wellness, and medical information, including true crime stories and celebrity interviews.
Dr. Mike is a board-certified Family Medicine physician. He has been rocking the social media game for a while now, with over 9 million followers across all channels. He’s the perfect example of a physician who’s leading the way on Youtube.
Dr. Mike taps into his expertise and discusses a wide range of health topics. He also offers tips on how to reduce cancer risks, improve nutrition, and how to live a better life. His videos aren’t all about health tips. He also reacts to popular medical shows and points out discrepancies. This makes him relevant to everyday users.
With his charismatic vibe and undeniable wit, it’s no wonder that Dr. Mike is now considered as a celebrity influencer.
He now has Youtube 6.5 million subscribers 450 million views since starting the channel in 2016.
Dr. Dray is a board-certified Dermatologist and skincare expert. She’s a skincare enthusiast with a passion for skin and a healthy lifestyle. Her channel is an absolute goldmine of skincare advice and educational videos.
Considering the number of skincare products available on the market, it can be difficult for the average user to decide which ones to buy. Dr. Dray makes the process so much easier, as she uses her channel to review skincare products and give product recommendations. She also talks about the ingredients, costs, benefits, and more of each product she reviews.
Dr. Dray’s channel has almost 1 million subscribers and 70 million video views.
Dr. Josh Axe is a doctor of natural medicine, chiropractor physician, and clinical nutritionist. He specializes in how the right nutrition has a positive influence on people’s health.
His passion is to help people eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. If you’re looking for tips on how to cure common ailments using natural remedies, then you should definitely follow Dr. Axe.
Dr. Axe started his channel in 2010. His channel has grown since then, with roughly 2 million subscribers and 160 million channel views.
Youtube still presents a huge opportunity for you, even if you’re a specialty doctor. Let’s take Dr. Eric Berg as an example. He’s a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He’s also the author of the best-selling book, The Healthy Keto Plan.
Dr. Berg uses his Youtube channel to educate his audience about keto, intermittent fasting, as well as the use of his products. He started his channel in 2006. As of writing, he has over 4 million subscribers and 230 million channel views.
Dr. Ed Hope is an Emergency Medicine Doctor and a Teaching Fellow in the UK. Initially, he created videos as a learning aid.
As a teaching fellow, he wanted to help medical students make learning easier. Today, his contents are centered on educating the public while keeping them entertained. Dr. Hope’s most popular video – a look at the medical scenes in Marvel film, Dr. Strange – garnered over 6 million views.
He created his channel in 2018, and he now has over 450,000 subscribers.
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/6-Doctors-blog.png12602240Kathlyn Angeles-Timbolhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngKathlyn Angeles-Timbol2020-12-23 13:30:172020-12-18 13:30:306 Doctors You Should Follow on Youtube
This blog talks about how to find content to discuss in social media as well as your blog posts as a way to increase patient engagement and to build credibility in your field, as well as how to really build that search engine optimization on your website. So there recently, just last week, there was a Google algorithm update. If you follow anybody who talks about SEO, they are talking about this update and about the volatility that a lot of industries saw especially healthcare. But I think the biggest thing that this volatility comes down to is that Google wants to show individuals the best content for whatever search they’re looking for. So Google’s algorithm updates are continually trying to weed out the websites that are following bad SEO practices, and that haven’t taken the time to update their website to make sure that it’s fulfilling all of the most recent and up-to-date SEO protocols.
I wouldn’t worry so much about this algorithm update. Another one is going to happen again. Everything that you change now might change again. So instead of focusing on the minute details, as long as you have proper SEO in the back-end structure of your website, and for that, please feel free to reach out, we can run a couple of reports for you, make sure that that is all set up correctly. But instead of really focusing on that and worrying about that, worry about the content that you’re putting out there, and that you’re putting together. So I had a great call today with a new prospect, and he runs a few websites that put out exceptional articles, interviews, information for his clients, and really his goal is to empower them to be able to make informed decisions. And that is the whole goal of his website, however, we recommend any website, any service-based website, or even product-based website, seeks to fulfill the same goal and the same mission.
This individual and I were talking about different ways that he currently is finding his blog topics, and he brought up one place that we actually haven’t really mentioned or dived into in the past. So we’ve talked about doing Google searches and we’ve talked about doing, taking notes when you are speaking with prospects or speaking with some of your clients and some of your patients about what those general questions are that they’re always asking and always looking for answers for it, but he gave a great idea to look at Facebook groups. And he said that he is a part of numerous Facebook groups within this niche part of healthcare that he is a part of, and he pays attention to the topics and the discussions and the questions that are happening there, and his assumption is if somebody or multiple people are asking the same question in multiple ways, that that information is not easily accessible on Google. It’s not easily accessible online, on the sources for information where these people are used to going. So what this individual does is he finds the expert that talks about that specific question, and he reaches out to them and does an interview on his website about that topic.
He then follows our process that we’ve talked about a lot, where you transcribe the video, do a quick edit, make sure that it does have the headers, things that increase readability such as bullet points, bold words, italics, and then he publishes it and make sure that the video is embedded of the interview as well. Then he goes ahead and shares that interview, that article on to social media, he shares it in his newsletter and post it other places online as well. And so this is just such a great strategy, and such a great way to find topics to discuss. So the first step here is diving into Facebook and finding groups that people are part of, where your target market is. So if you focus on, oh goodness, family care, for example, you might be able to find different groups that have mothers in them, or that talk about exercise for children or diets for children, maybe it’s picky eaters. And so you dive into these groups and you see what topics people are talking about, and you’re going to find at some points in time, everybody is asking the same questions. So take that as your opportunity to jump on and to answer the questions for them.
These individuals will be forever grateful that you have provided them with the information, and it helps build that know, like and trust factor if you continually do this over and over again. So let’s say there are no groups on Facebook where people are asking these questions, you can always jump on over to LinkedIn and join groups, or one of my personal favorites and one that we’ve talked about in the past, is jumping over to Quora and seeing what questions people are asking, and then also you can get some ideas for the answers by looking at the discussions of the comments back and the people answering these questions. One of the things that we enjoy seeing frequently is when you answer a question a little bit differently than anyone else has answered it, let’s say there is a common mindset about one specific procedure that you offer, a service that you offer. Maybe take a little bit different stance, as long as it’s still truthful and you’re not making any health claims or health assumptions, you can answer it, however, your training really aligns.
You don’t have to follow the mold that everybody else has had. And the reason why we do this is because that helps you set apart. And Google actually through its algorithm can recognize when people are creating new fresh content or when they’re just regurgitating what somebody else is saying. So today, I want your biggest takeaway to be that you can rely on other people and you can rely on your target market to come up with topics for you to discuss. By doing this, I believe that you will get ahead of the curve when you look at Google Trends with keywords, and that you are best positioning yourself not only to withstand future Google updates, but also to truly connect with your target market and potential clients, potential patients online. So if you have got any questions about how to best write the blog post or a process that you can put into place to make sure you are always staying ahead of these trends and finding the topics that are going to relate to your target market, please feel free to reach out. Head on over to socialspeaknetwork.com, click that free consultation button, and of course, be sure to subscribe to our channel. Thank you.
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Blog-Topics-for-2021.png14402560Caitlin McDonaldhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngCaitlin McDonald2020-12-17 15:56:572021-02-26 10:05:04How to find topics for articles and social media posts in 2021
Everybody loves prizes and freebies. And when it comes to social media marketing, there is no easier way to win over your target audience and grow your following than running contests and giveaways. After all, it’s the season of giving, right?
Capitalize on the holiday season by running a contest or giveaway. When done right, it can serve as a free advertisement for your brand. This is great, especially if the nature of your contest is to encourage people to share your post, which can help you build awareness. Soon, you’ll have a very strong following.
Here are 7 holiday-themed contests and giveaways you should try to boost your social media presence.
Photo contest
Ask your followers to submit their best holiday snaps to your social media page. Put the photos together in one album and feature them on your page.
Consider adding a voting component to add a little extra buzz around your contest. Get your community involved by voting for their favorite entries. This type of contest works well in helping you grow your following. In most cases, participants would share the photo with their family and friends, and ask them to like their photos.
Video contest
Video contests are similar to photo contests, except that people are asked to submit a video instead of a photo.
During this time of the year, people inundate their social media accounts with videos. Capitalize on this and ask your followers to send in their videos. It can be videos of them singing carols or showcasing their holiday spirit. User-generated submissions like these make great content for social media.
Photo caption contest
A “caption this” prompt is a fun way to encourage followers to comment on your photo and engage with your brand.
This type of contest is great for getting feedback from your fans on how they feel about a new product, what your new slogan should be, simply to get interesting user-generated content. Don’t forget to share the winning caption to your social media accounts.
12 days of Christmas giveaway
As the title suggests, 12 days of Christmas giveaway means you’ll be giving out prizes for 12 consecutive days.
For best results, it is best to talk about your giveaway at least a week before the event. Let people know what items you’ll be giving away, how many winners there will be each day and other details. This will help build excitement and anticipation. Plus, it will give people a reason to visit your page each day.
Holiday recipe contest
Everyone is busy preparing their holiday menu by now. Help your audience fill in their menu by asking people to send in their tried-and-tested recipes.
Ask people to share recipes for their favorite holiday dishes. You can also host a family recipe showdown. Another idea would be to ask for specific recipes each week. For instance, you can ask for Christmas cookie recipes this week, and then vegetarian side dishes the following week.
Fulfill a wish contest
People tend to feel generous and thankful during the holidays. Leverage the holiday atmosphere to help those who are in need while engaging your audience.
Give your fans and followers a chance to do something nice for others. Ask them to nominate one person, who deserves to have their wish fulfilled and the reason why they chose that person.
A giveaway like this doesn’t just make you look generous, but it also makes fans feel good about themselves for nominating a friend. It’s a great way to improve your brand image, as well as gain the trust and loyalty of your audience.
Ugly sweater contest
The holiday season is the time to let loose and have fun. What better way to do this than to let people wear their favorite ugly sweater.
The ugly sweater has become a ubiquitous feature of the holiday season. Ugly sweater contests are popular during the holiday. Why not take it online with a holiday sweater contest?
To enter, participants are required to submit photos of themselves wearing Christmas or winter-themed sweater or sweatshirt. The one with the most number of votes wins.
Hosting an ugly sweater contest can help ease a little bit of holiday stress and add some fun and creativity to your social media marketing campaign.
Final thoughts
The holiday season is one of the most important times in your marketing calendar. If you’re looking to ramp up your following and grow your brand simultaneously, then you should consider running contests and giveaways.
Not only will it help drive traffic to your social media pages, but it will also help increase brand awareness. Remember, sometimes you have to give to be able to receive.
If you need help with your holiday social media marketing campaign, feel free to get in touch with us. We’ll help you make the most out of this seasonal spike in engagement.
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Contests-and-Giveaways-Blog.png12602240Kathlyn Angeles-Timbolhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngKathlyn Angeles-Timbol2020-12-09 09:16:062020-12-07 19:24:307 Holiday-Themed Contests and Giveaways to Attract New Followers
Hello everyone. Happy Wednesday. I’m excited to talk about Googling yourself today in today’s blog. If you listen to our podcast on Monday, the first two questions that we had spoken about were, why is it important to Google yourself and your practice and how do you fix the information that is out there if it’s incorrect or outdated.
This is something that people sometimes tend to overlook. You don’t realize that if you are a practice owner or if you’re a physician and you’ve been at multiple practices that your information is most likely out there on the web. It’s important to make sure that as a physician or a business owner, you know exactly what is out there and that it’s the correct information, sometimes we’ll get, our phone number will update or our address will change locations, maybe we add a service and we forget to add that to our online content. So in today’s blog, we are talking about Googling yourself, and although that seems kind of silly, it’s actually really important, and you wanna make sure that you are Googling your name, you wanna make sure you’re Googling your name with your abbreviations, you wanna make sure that you are Googling your practice name, your hospital name, wherever you are working because there’s going to be a listing for both your business and you personally.
You want to make sure that you know what is out there, and when you do find something, if a Google listing comes up, you wanna make sure it’s the correct information. So sometimes we’ve had maybe different marketing people work for us, or in the beginning, we may be set up three different Google My Business pages or three Facebook pages, and that happens, but let’s talk through how to fix that. So when you Google your practice name, most likely what will come up is on your Google search, you will have the websites that come up that list your name on them, and then usually on the right-hand side of your screen, if you’re looking at your screen, you will see most likely a Google business listing. And this could be something that you have put together. This is something that Google may have put together. And on the search side, a lot of times those are different directory listings or different websites that you are on, it could be your social media account. So you wanna go through and take inventory of each of those sites that come up that lists either your name or your practice name, and you wanna make sure those are correct.
Now, you can have, Vitals may come up, WebMD, Healthgrades, a lot of different directory listings could come up for your name and practice, so you wanna make sure that, that information is current and that you own that directory listing. So if you click on that website and it pulls up your listing for your name or your practice, there should be a button that says, “Claim this listing.” And you wanna make sure like with Healthgrades and Vitals, it’s one email per listing, so if you are the marketing director of your hospital and you have seven doctors that work there and you’re trying to do this for each of them, it needs to be their email address, so we recommend the physician’s email address with each listing because then that doctor can go there and update it whenever they need to. So you’re gonna go to claim the listing. If you’re the business owner, the same thing, claim that listing, put in your business email account, and then you will have to go back in and create the account, go in and edit the information. And with Google, if there are multiple Google listings that come up, you’ll want to see which accounts that you’ve created and edited that information, if there are accounts that other people or other companies have created, then you can either claim them, you could have them make you an admin, so you can merge pages together, so you only have one Google My Business.
Same with Facebook, depending on if you have a couple of Facebook pages out there, you may be able to just delete one if it’s an old one, or you can merge them, so just making sure you are aware of what is showing up when people are Googling you. The other tool that we use a lot is a Moz, M-O-Z.com. There is an annual fee to this, I think it’s $129 a year, but this makes sure that it keeps all of the information about you or your center current and up-to-date across all different online directories. It does not cover Vitals, WebMD, or Healthgrades. So those are ones you need to do individually, but it does help with the Google listings and other directories that are out there.
One more thing that you kinda do before the end of the year, it’s important to do this once a quarter. You don’t know, and especially if you’re being featured in a different online magazine, Googling yourself. You could also set up Google Alerts, and if you just Google Google Alerts and you put in your… You can set up an alert if you… Any time something goes online about your practicing or your name, you would get an email and you can have a weekly email, a monthly email, you can even have a daily email if you want it to, but this just allows you to say, on top of what’s going out there that has your name on it, or your practices name.
Just to make sure that, that information is current and correct and that it is all consistent amongst all different platforms. So if you have questions or you need help cleaning up your Google search and making sure everything is on the same page, please let us know, and request a free 30-minute consultation today. Be sure to follow us on iTunes.
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Importance-of-Googling-Yourself-and-Your-practice.png7201280Amber Irwinhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngAmber Irwin2020-12-02 08:00:032021-02-26 10:28:12The Importance of Googling Yourself and Your practice
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/National-Podcast-Week-The-importance-of-keeping-your-content-up-to-date.png7201280Amber Irwinhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngAmber Irwin2020-11-30 17:39:252021-02-26 10:26:29National Podcast Week - The importance of keeping your content up to date
The holiday season isn’t just important for retail businesses, it is also a great time for healthcare providers to revamp their digital marketing strategies.
Most people who have put off elective procedures are now scrambling to slip in final treatments and appointments before the year ends. Since they are typically seeking non-urgent care, they have the luxury of shopping for healthcare. By staying active on social media, you stay on top of mind.
There are many ways you can promote your practice to reach these patients in the coming weeks. Hopefully, these holiday marketing tips will help you get your gears turning and start driving results your way.
Festive social media content
Create a set of fun holiday-themed polls for your audience. Nothing sparks engagement like asking for people’s opinions about certain topics. This will help increase engagement and encourage other people to join in on the conversation as well.
Also, consider creating a series of holiday tips that would benefit your audience. If you’re an orthopedic surgeon, you can share some injury prevention tips. Remember, a lot of accidents happen over the holidays. If you’re a dentist, you can create a series of healthy teeth tips. If you’re a nutritionist, you can share some healthy holiday recipes.
Film a holiday marketing video
This is a great time to spread some holiday cheer and capture that cheer on video. You can upload your videos on Youtube, Instagram, or Facebook.
When creating video content, it is important to think about the nature of your business and the message you’d like to send off to the world. If you’re a pediatrician, you can dress up like Santa and share stories and tips with the little ones. You may also record your holiday greetings for your fans and followers. If you love decorating your office, you may also share a video of it.
Holiday email marketing
Studies suggest that email marketing is one of the most effective tools for brand awareness, retention, and new customer acquisition. Plus, it’s easy to implement and super affordable. Use this to your advantage this holiday season.
Send out a newsletter to patients to recap the year. You can make this as simple or extravagant as you want. But make sure to make it personal.
You can also share healthy tips with your email subscribers. You may offer tips on how to stay healthy through the holidays or share healthy holiday recipes. Now is also a good time to remind patients to book last-minute appointments, so they can take advantage of deductibles before the year ends.
Host a social media contest
Contests and giveaways are a great way to create buzz around your practice. With the majority of people spending more time at home, they’ll have plenty of time to play games and engage with holiday-themed contests.
For your holiday contest, you have the option to do one big giveaway or many small ones. If you wish to go with the latter, consider doing 12 days of Christmas giveaway. Post one prize over a span of 12 days. Since the contest lasts for 12 days, people will anticipate your posts, creating hype for the last days with the larger prizes.
Invite your audience to submit their New Year’s Resolutions
The end of the year is the perfect time to reflect on how the entire year went by. This is also a great opportunity to think about improving certain aspects of our lives, including our health.
As we bid goodbye to 2020, encourage your fans and followers to share their resolutions for the coming year. Hopefully, it will encourage them to improve their health habits. You, on the other hand, can use this as an inspiration for your content.
Give back to the community
There are lots of people who are facing hardships right now due to the pandemic. The holiday season is all about sharing and giving. Use your platform to highlight the act of charitable giving.
Highlight a cause your practice is involved in. If you don’t have a cause you support, consider finding one. You can talk about the charity you support on social media and let your audience know that a certain amount of proceeds from your revenue during the holiday season will go to charity.
Today we are going to be talking about website security. This includes how to keep your website up-to-date, as well as what to do if you do find that you have malware on your website. We are specifically talking about WordPress websites here, and I will be sharing my screen, so if you are listening to our podcast, please head on over to socialspeaknetwork.com and check out the related blog post or over to YouTube just to watch the video. The first thing that we are going to be talking about is backups and tools to utilize for backing up and why it’s important. Then we are jumping into updating your WordPress files, removing unused themes and plugins, adding a layer of security, and finally, if you’ve been hacked, what to do.
Use GoDaddy Pro, FileZilla, or Your Hosting for WordPress Backups
The first piece of this is, whenever you are talking about updating a WordPress website, you should make sure that you have backups of some sort enabled. So this could be manually going into your hosting account, downloading a copy of the database, as well as taking a copy of everything from the file manager and storing that on your computer, or you could utilize a plugin such as BackupBuddy to take a backup, or you could signup for a backup plan through your hosting account. And this might be included in your hosting, a lot of times hosting providers have backups actually included within their hosting plans, or you can do what we do for all of our websites that we manage, where we have another layer of protection through GoDaddy Pro.
This is a tool that is through GoDaddy, and I know a lot of you listeners and a lot of our clients have chosen not to work with GoDaddy for a variety of issues. There are plenty of other hosting companies out there, and we thoroughly enjoy working with a lot of them. This tool, however, is a free tool and it allows us to easily see all of the websites that we manage in one central location and see which plugins need to be updated, themes that need to be updated, and to do the backups directly through there. So we are going to be talking about GoDaddy Pro a lot. So, let me actually just jump in and I’m going to share my screen.
GoDaddy Pro Dashboard
Here we have the GoDaddy Pro dashboard for our website, for Social Speak, and I do feel kinda bad because I did have 11 updates for our plugins and one theme that I needed to update on our website, but I already recorded this video and realized I did not have any sound turned on. [chuckle] So you’re not going to be able to see me actually update our website here, but that’s okay. We all make mistakes, right? At least it’s all up-to-date now. But directly within the GoDaddy Pro dashboard, there is this backup link here, so if you were looking to update your website head on over to GoDaddy Pro and link it up to your website, your WordPress website. Now, if you do have a GoDaddy account for your hosting, you can do daily backups for free. If you do not, then you can do monthly backups for free and then upgrade if you do need to clone your website or restore a backup or download the backup or anything like that. But typically for a small website that isn’t really being updated frequently, a monthly backup is fine, and updating the plugins and theme files monthly is fine.
Daily and Monthly Backups for WordPress
Here though, I did just want to show you that we have the option for daily backups. We have some clients who are posting multiple blog posts, or updating multiple pages, adding new resources every single day, and so for them, it’s really important to have this daily backup. For those websites, we also do recommend having a backup plan in place directly through your hosting account as well, and that’s just because sometimes if the website has completely broken, it’s easier to update directly from the source rather than from a third party tool. Those plans though, can cost, I don’t know, $5 to $15 to $25 really, depending on what service and what hosting company you are working with.
The first step, again, of making sure that your website is secure and up-to-date is adding these backups. The next step is making sure that all of your WordPress files and theme files are up-to-date. The issue here is that if something hasn’t been updated recently, it opens the doors for hackers to go in and install malware. You want to make sure you have the most up-to-date PHP, and that also causes old themes and old plugins that haven’t been updated not to be compatible anymore. So this can be bad for a lot of different things, including for search engine optimization, and user experience on your website, something might just break. So you want to make sure everything is up-to-date.
I’m going to quickly jump to another website here. This is just another website that we have here, and as you can see, there are two plugins, one theme, and then the WordPress that all need to be updated. So, I’m going to just do a safe update, takes a backup, does the update and then turn, does another snapshot, another backup with the most up-to-date files that are there. So this is kind of that easy way of doing that.
Keep WordPress Plugins and Theme Files Up To Date
Now, when I did that, you noticed that there was just one, two, two different plugins that needed to be updated. Now, if a plugin is really old or a theme is really old, it might not be supported anymore and the theme developers or plugin developers might not be updating it anymore. So a plugin that we recommend in selling on your website is this plugin condition. And so, what this will do, and I’ll zoom in on the screenshot here, is it will actually have a notice for the last time something was updated. And so, this one here, this numbers plugin, for example, was updated a year ago. So most likely this might not be as compatible with WordPress as a newer version of some sort of user enrollment management plugin. This might be a plugin that they are not keeping up with anymore.
Additionally, in this screenshot right here, you see that this plugin is not even being used. It’s not active on the website. So, as you’re going through your plugins and your themes and updating them, take note if there are any that you’re not actively using. So here, I would actually recommend selecting all of these plugins that are deactivated and deleting them. These are very clearly plugins that you are not utilizing on your website, you do not need that functionality, so get rid of them. Make sure that the website files remain clean and concise so that it removes any opportunity for the hackers to get in and for malware to get on your site.
The same thing goes with themes as well. So here, let’s see if I can jump over here, I probably can. So here we only have the Enfold Theme on this website, however, when you are installing a WordPress website, oftentimes it also installs the 2020 theme, the 2019 theme, the 2016 theme, and WordPress will install a lot of themes on that initial installation. You want to make sure that you delete all of those extra themes. So in GoDaddy Pro, again, you don’t need FTP access or anything like that, you can just go to themes, you select the theme, and then you delete it. This will keep those theme files nice and clean and remove more of a chance of malware being able to get on to your site.
Remove Unused and Risky Plugins
A lot of times we see a plugin like this one, file manager plugin. Basically, this creates an FTP connection directly through your WordPress dashboard. And so, it allows any administrative user who has access to your WordPress dashboard to have access to the actual file manager on your website. And we’ve seen that this plugin in particular, but other plugins like it, have opened the doors for hackers and for malware to be installed on your website. So we highly, highly, highly recommend that you remove this sort of plugin from your website. So, I mean, even just looking at the reviews of it, hacked, hacked, hacked, hacked. Highly unsafe, avoid malware.
Consider a Security Package from Your Hosting Company
We actually had this problem with this plugin in particular before as well. Would be a great thing to do if you’re just building the website, but remove it immediately if you can. So if you are looking to add a layer of security and protection onto your website, we recommend registering for a website security package through your hosting account, and again, depending on what hosting plan you have, this might already be included, but GoDaddy, for example, has one where it includes a firewall, so any site visitor has to go through the firewall and then they can view the site. And so, this just allows it to make sure that no files are being adjusted by folks who shouldn’t have access to the website in the first place.
If your site has been hacked, they also have this great plan… Well, I guess all of these plans do this, but the security plan, this Express plan, basically puts your site at the top of the line to have an engineer go file by file and remove all of the malware and then keep you up-to-date on the progress. If you’re just kind of worried about it and you don’t really know that you have malware on the site, the deluxe version is a great choice, and this is kind of a reactive sort of plan. The Express plan is more of a proactive plan, where it has all the bells and whistles, and again, puts you at the top of the list.
Monitor Website for Malware with Google Search Console
You can also monitor your site through the Search Console, as well as through, on pro sites, there’s the security plan as well. And so, whenever you want to add a new thing to the site, a screen like that will come up and a monthly check is free, and then if you want to do the premium one, it costs less than a dollar a month. So, very, very worthwhile. Some hosting plans, this website, I believe, is hosted on Bluehost, but some hosting plans, such as all the ones on GoDaddy, the security check is free. So you don’t actually have to even pay for the essential plan per month, you can just add to GoDaddy Pro and activate it for free.
One thing that we have found, however, is that malware is getting more and more advanced, so you’re not necessarily going to be able to even tell that you have malware through these scans. The scans might show everything correct, but if you click a link from Facebook on a mobile phone and it’s your first time visiting the site in a month, you might be redirected to another site, for example. Or if you click from Chrome versus Safari, versus Firefox, you might experience the malware. So it’s important just to make sure that everything is staying up-to-date and as secure as possible so that there’s less of a chance of even having to deal with malware, to begin with.
This time of year is a great time to really make sure that your site is protected and as up-to-date as possible as you’re moving into 2021. We do, however, recommend for next year, going into your website at least monthly and making sure all the plugins and theme files and WordPress files are up-to-date. Again, you can utilize GoDaddy Pro as an option, as a tool, to make sure that you also have the backups running and the security monitoring going on, but you can do it manually as well.
Contact Our Team For WordPress Website Help
If you have questions about how to do website maintenance, please don’t hesitate to reach out, or if you’re looking for support and someone to help with this website maintenance, we are here for you. We have very affordable plans for website maintenance to help you keep your site up-to-date and clean, as well as working its best so that you’re putting your best foot forward. Please head on over to the socialspeaknetwork.com, click that free consultation button and we’ll schedule a 30-minute call just to get to know you and your needs, and then we can figure out if we are a good fit for you. Of course, if this has been helpful, we’d love for you to subscribe down below and follow us on iTunes, as well as YouTube and check out our blog. Alright, thank you so much and I’ll see you next time.
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/wordpress-website-malware.png14402560Caitlin McDonaldhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngCaitlin McDonald2020-11-18 13:55:362021-02-26 10:37:31Website Maintenance and Malware for 2021
Instagram has grown to a whopping 1 billion monthly active users. The competition on the platform is palpable. If you’re wondering how you can shine in this overcrowded space, you’re not alone.
Growing your Instagram following organically can be a challenge, but it’s not impossible. In this blog post, we’ll share with you some foolproof ways to take your Instagram game to the next level.
Get to know your target audience
The number one rule for marketing is to know who you’re posting for. You’re not supposed to please everyone. If you do, you’ll end up pleasing no one. Remember, the only truly valuable Instagram followers are the people who care about and engage with your brand.
Start by getting to know your audience well. Once you do, it will be easier for you to create content in a way that would appeal to the right people.
Don’t compromise on content
Today, people use Instagram not just to connect with their friends, but also to connect with their favorite brands and shop online. In fact, 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business account. That’s a lot of people who could potentially see and engage with your brand. followers to pause and engage with your posts.
Content is the lifeblood of your Instagram account, so make sure that you create interesting posts that will capture the attention of your target audience. Remember, there’s a lot more noise on Instagram feeds these days. If you want to stand out, then you need good quality content.
Consistency is key
If you have no plans of spending money and still curate a high-quality audience that will connect with your brand, then you need to post consistently.
According to a study that was conducted by Buffer, profiles that posted seven or more times a week gain more followers faster than those that post less frequently.
Start by planning your content strategically. Curate your Instagram feed and schedule them in advance. This will not only help you reach your target audience at peak times, it also ensures that everything fits together visually before you post.
Also, creating a consistent brand story and aesthetic is a must. You want to give your grid a consistent look and feel. Your posts should easily be recognizable at a glance.
Embrace Instagram Stories
Instagram stories are great because they help you stay top of mind for your audience. It allows you to maintain visibility in your followers’ feeds and gives you an opportunity to be creative with your content.
There is so much potential with Instagram stories to engage with your followers and attract new ones. Plus, there are plenty of fun features to experiment with such as chat stickers, questions, poll, filters etc. Utilize these features to keep your content fresh.
Use quality hashtags
Hashtags could be your best bet for growing a fast following on Instagram. Use hashtags in your posts or stories to expose them to people who aren’t still following you. The right hashtags can expose your image to a larger and more targeted audience.
Find out what hashtags are most popular among your target audience and your industry. It’s also a good idea to create a unique hashtag that reflects your brand. Don’t forget to use them in your posts and stories.
Collaborate with influencers
One effective way to grow your reach is following is to collaborate with influencers in your niche. Don’t be afraid to reach out to see if you can work together.
One survey suggests that 60% of users say they’d follow a brand on Instagram after seeing it promoted by an influencer they trust.
Run contests and promotions
If you want to boost your follower count organically in a short period of time, running contests is a great place to start. In fact, an Instagram contest or giveaway can help you grow your followers 70% faster than if you didn’t host a contest at all.
When running contests, make sure you’re giving away prizes that your target audience will feel compelled to have. Otherwise, you run the risk of attracting followers that don’t care about your business or the services you provide.
Spread the word
Most people have more than one social media account, so don’t silo yourself on Instagram alone. Talk about your Instagram account on other social media platforms as well. Think specifically about other social media platforms with the potential to reach a larger audience, like Facebook.
It is also a good idea to add Instagram links to your website. This is a great and cost-effective way to increase your fan base.
Final thoughts
There is no doubt that Instagram is a great platform for marketers and entrepreneurs. But with more than 25 million business accounts on the platform, it can be a tough battleground for those who do not have a well-planned growth strategy.
While it is possible to grow your Instagram followers organically, you need patience and consistency. Remember, building an authentic and engaged audience doesn’t happen overnight.
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/8-Ways-to-Grow-Your-Instagram-Following-Organically.png12602240Kathlyn Angeles-Timbolhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngKathlyn Angeles-Timbol2020-11-11 08:00:552020-11-10 17:57:418 Ways to Grow Your Instagram Following Organically
Healthcare is an increasingly competitive field, and reaching new patients require a strong digital marketing strategy. One of the best ways to attract new patients is through social media marketing.
Social media and healthcare are a powerful combination. It can be a key place to share breaking information, raise public awareness about health concerns, and combat misinformation. When using social media for marketing purposes, it is important to keep in mind that social media marketing is more than just creating an account and then posting updates once in a while.
If you’re looking to do more with your healthcare social media marketing, we urge you to read on. Use these tips to start improving your strategy.
Facebook
Facebook is the undisputed leader of the pack, with over 2.3 billion monthly active users worldwide. Be sure to use it to your advantage.
Many healthcare providers we’ve worked with see great results with emotionally-positive images and videos. You want to ensure your images convey a positive experience and outcome for your potential patients. Also, use videos that feature your employees, a testimonial, or even a virtual tour of your office to interest prospective clients.
If you’re running out on content ideas, try posting information about preventive care. Remind your patients to get their vaccinations, mammogram, and annual checkups. Feel free to show your personality by posting photos of you and your staff engaged in healthy activities.
Facebook users rely on word of mouth recommendations and testimonials. They want to hear about other patient’s experiences before booking an appointment. Encourage happy and satisfied patients to spread the word by asking them to leave a positive review.
Instagram
Your bio is usually the first thing users see when they visit your profile. But with only a few short lines and one link available, you need to make it count. Write a bio to support your intended goal. You need to give your audience a distilled value proposition and impart to them why they should do what you want them to do.
Instagram is a visual platform that is designed for sharing stunning photos and engrossing videos, but it is a good idea to accompany your visuals with a great caption. Also, make sure that you post new and fresh content regularly. People may lose interest if you post duplicate content.
Try posting a variety of content to keep your visitors engaged. You can post a behind the scenes content, photos of your staff, branded quotes, or new services you’re offering.
Twitter
Twitter has the potential to transform your online presence and to help you connect with your patients on a new level.
A carefully composed Twitter bio can convert just as many visitors into patients. Your bio should aim not only to provide basic contact information but also to spark interest in your practice. Include your city and your website’s URL as part of your bio to make it easier for prospective patients to find you.
If you want to grow your Twitter following organically, you need to follow people on Twitter. Be sure to actively follow communities and patients who follow you. Research suggests that the number of Twitter followers you have starts increasing when you begin to follow people more frequently.
When posting on Twitter, be sure to talk to people rather than talking at them. Think of your audience as your friends and relatives. Your tone will go a long way toward defining whether your tweets welcome or alienate readers.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a uniquely purposeful platform for healthcare professionals. It provides an excellent forum for healthcare professionals to build trust and develop a position as thought leaders in their industry. Use LinkedIn to build new connections. Get social and start connecting with colleagues and other medical professionals. Join industry-specific groups so you can take part in discussions as well as interact with other healthcare professionals and prospective patients.
When writing content, be sure to tailor your voice to LinkedIn’s demographics. Instead of writing your posts as you would for Facebook, be sure that you’re gearing them toward the unique community LinkedIn offers. Remember, people who use LinkedIn are geared toward the world of business and professionalism.
Original content increases the likelihood of converting new leads. Write valuable, digestible content that educates your audience. Make sure, though, that you keep your content on-topic, professional, and authoritative. People want to hear your point of view as a professional, not something copied and pasted from your company blog.
https://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Best-Practices-for-Healthcare-Social-Media-Marketing.png12602240Kathlyn Angeles-Timbolhttps://socialspeaknetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/SocialSpeak-Logo.pngKathlyn Angeles-Timbol2020-11-04 07:00:152020-11-02 16:11:15Best Practices for Healthcare Social Media Marketing
