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How important is video marketing? We ask the experts

How important is video marketing_ We ask the experts

In our most recent podcast, we interview G. the Creative Director at B.Co Agency.

With over 11+ years in design and creative visuals, I have been able to study and learn the creative industry and the impact of having proper marketing tools. With my role as the Producer and Creative Director at B.Co Agency, it is my mission to continue to study, learn and produce for companies big and small to help their clients take action! My goal is to produce visual tools that can exponentially grow the company’s byways of video marketing.

 

Well, we have, as you all know, we talk about videos a lot and how important they are to your digital marketing strategy, especially after our wonderful year of 2020. I think people really realized how important they are and you have to have them. So we brought G on, we have some questions we’re gonna ask him today.

Tell us a little bit about you and your business – 

 My name is G, it’s short for Gagan. I have been in the creative industry for over… I wanna say 11 plus years now, and my background has been graphics and web design. But seeing how marketing was going and where my team was building, we started a video production company. And I’ve been in that industry for going on six years now. We just had our fifth year anniversary last month. So yeah, my company’s name is B.Co Creative Agency. And yeah, we do story-based advertising, we do a lot of commercial work, we do YouTube, Vimeo. We do videos for tech companies, we do videos for sports companies. We do… A huge range of our clients, but primarily focused on the tech world, on healthcare and startups and things of that nature. So yeah, that’s us.

Why is video so important to a client’s digital marketing strategy?

My personal philosophy and B.Co’s personal philosophy are always in four parts, in how I kind of break it down. And we’ve turned a lot of our clients away because they don’t have these four elements before they work with us. And those four elements are branding, website, content creation, and advertising. We kind of build that marketing house with our partners that we have, but those things are essential for the success of our clients. So branding, which… Branding and website are absolutely foundational, so if our clients do not have that, we actually partner with other marketing agencies such as yourself to handle that part of it. So without good branding and a good website, your content creation, which is where we play in the marketing world of video, that video cannot go as far without the proper foundational elements when it comes to marketing. So with that in mind, you’re doing yourself an injustice if you don’t have the proper content strategy. And the video is the most efficient and easiest to consume, the easiest to consume marketing tool out there to reach your clients.

Video is more important than having reading materials or photos, and it’s still the most effective way to market your audience to understand your messaging. And I believe it was Hootsuite who put out a stat from last year stating a survey that said about 70% of consumers would rather watch a video about your product. So to answer your question, if you’re trying to reach your audience in the most effective way then a video is absolutely, enormously important.

Yes, definitely. I liked how you start with the foundation because a lot of people jump in, they don’t have that strategy behind it, and they wanna create a video. With that one video, they want 50,000 views overnight, and it’s just not gonna happen. Unless you have a million dollars to spend on ads, and even then it may not happen.

How often should you update your videos on your website? 

This is actually a really hard question to answer. Probably the right answer is, it depends, but I know people probably don’t like hearing that. Because it’s so specific to your industry and whatever campaigns you have out, you know what time of year you’ve been posting things, right? It depends also on what type of videos are on your website and where exactly. For example, an intro video about your company might last longer than say your fall collection of your clothing line would. There’s a time limit on it. I would say, as a blanket statement, you should update your videos on your site as often as you can or need to. I personally do not believe in evergreen content, even though some… Again, some videos might last longer than others.

The questions to that question I would ask are, are your clients changing, are your client’s interests changing, are your audiences consuming the same video over and over again and not seeing… Or you are seeing a drop in a wash rate or conversion? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then the answer is probably it’s time to update your video and your marketing agency or your marketing experts that you trust should have access to your analytics and they should be able to tell you when time is due for a new video.

 Is it okay to record your own videos for social media use? Do you think there’s a difference between video quality on social media and website? 

Generally speaking… I actually get this question asked a lot. Generally speaking, I believe not only is it okay, but sometimes even needed. Having you record video from your perspective gives you and your company character and personality, but I also believe your customers need to know that you are legitimate and your product or service is worth it, and that’s why you are a professional. So there has to be a mix of the two. The heart of this question usually stems from, do I need a video production company in the first place? Can I do it myself? And my answer to that is usually, “Yeah, try it.” If you need it to be cost-effective, then do it. Equipment is more and more affordable nowadays, but I would also say the majority of businesses or professionals who have come to us usually have tried to film themselves or have worked with less experienced video production companies. And currently, that’s where I’ll leave it at for that question there.

At what point or what types of videos should they really think about hiring a professional company like yourselves? When do you know it’s that time?

When you sent me these questions over, hiring a professional videographer is how you worded it, and I kinda wanted to… Part of it, as I believe I have probably answered this question above as well, but I wanna preface my answer by defining the difference between a professional videographer and a video production company or agency. And a videographer, by definition, is one person, and a videographer is someone who usually operates a camera. But what about an editor? What about a scriptwriter? A lot of people do these things all in one. There are a lot of one-man bands out there that wear a lot of these hats, which is great, and no knock against anyone who is hustling and grinding in that way, but generally those relationships are not long-lasting and because they are usually looking for the next gig or cannot stretch their capacity to make the types of videos or content that you might want out. What’s gonna happen when you have to operate two cameras? What’s gonna happen when you need a faster turnaround and this person has multiple projects asking the same thing?

Think about this. When you see credits to the next show or movie that you watch, granted a lot of businesses are not creating Hollywood blockbusters, but think about how many tasking experts are out there that need to complete this show or movie. There’s a reason why a commercial or show or movie have teams and teams of people. If you’re expecting a videographer to handle 0.01% of those tasks, you are sacrificing something somewhere. 

Whether that be speed, cost, quality, or output, those one-man bands that are producing at a high level are very rare. So the difference in working with a video production company is that you are working with the video team. We are a production company. We hire for specific duties before we ever roll the camera, and they range from director level to editors or animation teams. And we’ve already taken the time to connect with the assets or resources to produce at a high level, or get your message across and connect with your audience. So to answer your question, so when to hire, it is when you have tried it yourself when you have worked with the one-man band, and the message is not coming across as needed or when you need your product or service to be thrown out in a wider net when you are ready to spend advertising dollars. These are just some of the whens you should hire those professionals, but the real answer is as soon as possible. Because most likely your competitors are doing video, 50% of your audience is online daily and 70% of America is online weekly. And those numbers are specifically during the pandemic. Video is becoming more and more of a need rather than a nice to have, due to the ease of access of info, and you want to get your message out there again quickly and in the most effective way.

I think you bring up a great point as far as that team because if anyone has tried to edit their own videos, oh my gosh, it’s painful and that alone is a lot. It’s just as you’re hiring a digital marketing team, it’s not just me at Social Speak. We have a whole team of people that have that special niche in what they do. And so video production is no different, and I think that that sometimes can get people… They can be a little scared to jump into it because as soon as they hear the video, they think of dollar signs. But when you break it down to those videos that they are producing, if it’s able to bring them in patients or clients or customers in their door, then it pays for themselves. I think that’s something that people really need to think of. With video being as big as it is, and it’s not going anywhere, and I think the pandemic really showed that it’s even more important because that’s how people are connecting. If you’ve been putting it off, the time is now to do it.

How do you think that these videos help streamline a company’s brand? 

As you mentioned, we’ve talked about some of the elements already based on the stats that are out there. Again, 50% of your audience is online daily and 70% of America is online weekly. But to streamline, by definition, is to be the most effective and your consumers want an easy way to consume. Whichever company takes it easy or makes it easy, rather, or is more visually engaging or a company is effective in conveying their brand messaging is going to win. And to be quite honest, video can do all of that. To have videos in your strategy, I would say is streamlining your business [chuckle] and your brand itself. To have video is to streamline. To be more effective, to reach your audience, isn’t that what you want to do?

Yes. It really adds that, again, going back to that question, one of the foundations. You have your website, you have your social media. You start with your logo and your brand colors and all of that and then add the video into the mix, it really allows your brand to step outside the box and just live its fullest potential, adding in these different types of videos.

Right. Absolutely. Actually, this is one point I wanted to go back on. You mentioned dollar signs in the previous question.

My immediate thought process was also, what is the opportunity cost of not having video? Again, those competitors are out there doing it and going back to streamlining, those things go hand-in-hand. You wanna get, again, your message out and show the product or service that you have to the world. That is the most effective way and if you’re not doing that, then you’re missing out on something there.

How has the pandemic affected the filming process and is it something that businesses need to worry about? 

This definitely is a topical question, obviously. The film industry has taken a hit because filming is such an art form that it thrives off collaboration. The fact that you have to gather and film, the pandemic has made filming obviously very difficult. And we were stuck in that same wave early last year as well. And I was lucky enough to have partners who had specific insight early on the pandemic which led us to think about how to counter that. We have certain protocols now that help us gather and film, but what inspired us to make these protocols were actually Apple. They were continuing their famous keynotes but converted to videos instead of having live audiences attend. People who know me personally, I’m a huge fan of Apple, so, of course, I watched their pandemic presentation, their latest, greatest releases. But what intrigued me was their end credits which also specified how they filmed their pandemic keynotes.

I looked at those and thought of those precautions that they took. To be quite honest, they’re not hard or difficult to execute. So our protocols essentially became the same as Apple’s. We took those and the ordinances that were made by our county in Santa Clara and our industry, and merged those with those of Apple’s. And out came B.Co’s protocols. So I guess my final advice would be, when you are looking to hire a video professional or a production team, to be safe is, ask for their safety protocols. The last thing you want is your marketing efforts to kinda lead to health problems [chuckle] which that obviously is not what you want there. So there are plenty of other high-stress situations specifically that comes to marketing, but COVID should definitely not be one of them.

As people are recording and doing their own videos, I know the iPhones are of great quality, we use Zoom a lot for our interviews. What types of tools or tips can you give people that are recording on their own?

This goes actually not even to people who are doing it themselves but even the camera operators or directors that are coming up, is focus less on the equipment that you have and focus more on the story that you’re trying to tell. Because, as you mentioned, literally every camera phone that’s out there has a great and amazing camera on it. So it’s hard to mess up on the camera, the lenses that you have at your disposal. The only thing, if it does come to equipment and it does come to what it looks like in front of the lens, is definitely focused more on the lighting aspect of it. If something is less lit, then it’s just harder and less appealing. You want something that is either dramatically lit or well lit. Generally, those, from what I have experienced, go further as far as likes go on your Instagram. I think there was another stat by Hootsuite that said people are more likely to like a clearer, more well-lit picture versus the opposite. So focus on the story and make sure you have good lighting and yeah, use your phone. Absolutely.

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6 Ways to Use Pinterest for Your Healthcare Marketing Plan

6 Ways to Use Pinterest for Your Healthcare Marketing Plan

For most people, Pinterest is nothing but a big visual search engine. It is a platform users turn to when looking for  DIY projects to tackle, put-together outfits to wear, or recipes to make. But a lot of people fail to realize that Pinterest also provides a great opportunity, not only for businesses but also for healthcare providers and organizations.

Pinterest isn’t the first platform you’d think of when promoting your practice, but it can introduce your practice to a whole new audience. Plus, it can help you drive traffic to your website, generate leads, and even attract new patients.

So if you’re still not using Pinterest for your healthcare practice, now is the best time to get started.  Here are 6 ways to use Pinterest for your healthcare marketing plan.

Create pin-worthy images

Pinterest is an image-sharing platform. It is filled with appealing eye candy. So if you want to get gain some traction on the platform, then you need to create eye-catching and attractive images.

Unlike other social media platforms, Pinterest’s images are tall and vertically-oriented. The ideal image size is 1,000 x 1,500px and an aspect ratio of 2:3. Also,  including texts in your images can make a difference. Not only will it make your pins more enticing, it will also help users know exactly what your pin is about at a glance.

Educate your audience

According to Hootsuite, two-thirds of Pinterest users are women, and the majority of them are mothers. As moms, they are always looking for new ways to keep their kids healthy. If you’re a pediatrician, you can use the platform to educate them and promote healthy eating. You can share kid-friendly recipes, suggestions for making living a healthy lifestyle fun, or help moms identify health concerns in kids.

If you’re an OB/GYN, you can promote good breast health with pictures of what to expect during a mammogram. Or if you’re a cardiologist, you can create a pin on the importance of a stress test, and how to prepare for the said test. Simple pins like these can help take some of the anxiety out of such tests and would help your audience understand the importance of these tests.

Create boards centered around your specialty

Pinterest isn’t just about sharing your content and images. It’s an excellent platform where you can expand the idea of what your brand is.

Create boards that are centered around your specialty and make sure that it resonates with your audience. If you’re an OB/GYN, you could pin educational resources related to prenatal care, fertility tips, and gynecology information. If you’re a yoga instructor, you can create boards about yoga poses, yoga outfits, meditation, and healthy recipes.

The key is to create boards that interest your target audience. The more users engage with your content, the more likely will Pinterest see you as a great pinner. As a result, your content will be more visible in searches. Win-win.

Drive more traffic to your blog

Do you have an updated blog that you post content to? Pin your posts! Doing so can help drive traffic to your blog.

To capture the attention of your audience, the visuals need to stand out. It’s a great way to entice readers to click through your blog post. Keep in mind, though, that you don’t need to pin every blog post on Pinterest. Consider pinning blogs on topics that already have an audience on Pinterest.

To really maximize your pin’s potential, you also have to focus on your copy description. Provide enough information to entice a pinner to click through your blog.

The main goal is to draw people’s attention to your boards, get people to share your posts, and attract clients who are looking for your services. Keep these tips in mind when creating content for Pinterest. It won’t be long before you start seeing them coming to your website to find out more about what you offer.

See what topics are trending

One of the best things about Pinterest is that it gives you an opportunity to see and understand topics that are trending at the moment.

Pinterest acts as a search engine all on its own. Simply type in the keywords on the search bar to see what’s showing up on Pinterest already. Before you start creating pins and driving traffic to your website, it’s a good idea to look around on the platform to see what shows up. You can also check what your competitors are doing in the space.

According to Entrepreneur.com, pins related to trending topics see an average of 94% increase in click-throughs. Use the platform to find trending topics and use the information you gathered to position your products and services.

Promote your event

Pinterest might not get as much attention as compared to other social media channels. However, it remains to be a powerful platform for getting your content discovered and connecting with your audience. That said, this image-centric platform would be a great place for promoting upcoming events.

You can do this by creating boards specifically for your event. Make sure to include all relevant information, including the venue, behind-the-scenes photos, freebies, etc. Also, keep in mind that pinners are planners. In fact, 75% of pins are saved 1 to 2 months before an event. So make sure that you start pinning your event-related content months before the big day.

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Content Consistency is KING

Content Consistency is KING

We are always talking to you about planning out your content, the importance of having a content calendar, researching your keywords, and it all comes down to consistency. With digital marketing, consistency is king, and this goes hand-in-hand with your social media posts. If you are trying to grow your social networks and you Google how to increase, or how to grow your Instagram followers or your Facebook likes, one of the first things that come up is consistency.

Social Media Consistency

Consistency can look different for each company, that could be maybe two posts per week, three posts per week, or a post every day, and you have to really decide what’s gonna be the best for your business, and if you’re just getting started, maybe starting out with only two or three posts per week, and as your followers grow, increasing that to maybe four or five posts per week. You also need to look at your audience to see when are they engaging with you? So what days of the week? Maybe Mondays are really not high engagement, but Saturdays are or Sundays, so maybe the weekdays are really when you want that engagement going on.

Also, think of is when your office is open. If your office is open Monday through Friday, it may make sense to just be posting Monday through Friday, and not the weekends, if somebody is not there to be able to monitor that activity. But you really need to have that content consistency with each social media platform. We always tell our clients to make sure that starting with, if you’re new to social media or you’ve had accounts but you haven’t really been actively using them, look at the ones where your clients are first. So if your patients or clients are on Facebook and Instagram, start there, and then maybe grow into LinkedIn, if you think Twitter would be the right fit, Pinterest. You don’t have to do them all, but you need to do the ones that you are managing the right way and have that consistency with your social media posts.

Blogging Consistency

A few years ago, even a year ago, having those cornerstone blogs were really important, and these cornerstone blogs could be 3000 to 5000 words, and not saying that blog content would be great on your website, but we were finding it was harder for our clients and us to put together such a big blog post, and it was taking up a lot more time where we weren’t having that consistency with these blogs. SEO is always changing and growing, and we really do follow Neil Patel and the foundation he has built. And so one of the strategies he has mentioned is doing smaller blog posts, so what we call micro-blogs. And this can be if you’re doing an Instagram post and you’re writing a long Instagram post already, you can just add to that and create a blog post. And again, that consistency is huge, because you’ve spent all this time, money, and energy on building this amazing website, and if you’re not feeding it, Google is not gonna see it. So these blog posts at that organic SEO to your website, and each time you are updating that blog post, Google is indexing that content.

Really work on what that micro-blog can be about, maybe you have one overarching content topic that you wanna talk about, and then you’re gonna write three or four or five little blogs that can be 750 words or even 500 words they can be short, sweet to the point. Maybe even thinking of asking a question. What questions are you being asked in your practice and addressing that one question?  Go to Google just to search, start typing in that question and seeing what Google suggests, and then write your blog post based on that question, because people are clearly searching for that. So the more clear and niche you are on this micro-blogs, and if you did one per week or two per month, again, having that schedule that works for you, that you can stick to it. That is key.

Video Consistency

This also goes into our video marketing. Videos are huge. We have a podcast coming out with a videographer and his crew in LA, and it is really important, and I know you know this because if you listen to us, you know that we’ve been talking about video marketing, but it’s easy to do one video and then say, “Okay, I’ll do another one.” And a week goes by, two weeks go by, and you haven’t recorded the other video. So having that plan and being able to… If you’re doing these blog posts, add a video to the blog. Your social media strategy, have one video per week. Be consistent, and if it’s easier to take one hour a month and have a couple of different change of outfits and record six videos. These videos don’t need to belong, they can be a variation of one-minute videos to five-minute videos, maybe up to 10-minute videos, depending on the topic you’re talking about, and really just put them all together so you have them. You’re able to put them into your blog post, you’re able to use them on social media, put them on to YouTube, and there’s that consistency.

Start small, start with one per week and work your way up. Then this also goes into all this hard work you’re doing on the digital front, you want to make sure that you are having something where you’re collecting names and emails. In your ads, are you providing a freebie for your audience, are you collecting their name and email, and in return, they’re getting a handout that you’ve put together, maybe it is 10 easy ways to naturally lose weight, or if you are a pediatrician, maybe it is 10 healthy snacks or five healthy snacks for children under the age of 10, something along those lines. Think of these conversations that you’ve had with your patients and with your audience and what do they need and put together something that you can market to them.

Newsletter Consistency

You’re providing a value to them, but then you’re also being able to collect their name and email, be consistent with that newsletter, so they get a welcome email, and then once a month they’re getting a newsletter email from you, so you’re staying top of mind, and in that newsletter, you’re putting valuable content. In that newsletter, you can reuse some of the blog posts, you can do a customized video that’s introducing you and your staff to them if they’re new, so they have an idea, they really feel like they are building this know-like trust factor with you. So they feel comfortable when they’re coming in the door, and especially now with the pandemic going on and still having to take those protocols, video is more important now than ever because people aren’t just coming in, they’re doing their research, they’re trying to figure out where they really wanna go. So having that consistency with the newsletter is really important.

Podcast Consistency

If you’re taking it one step further and you have any podcasts. Again, all of these tools are a great way to get in front of your audience and grow your client base. That’s all digital marketing is. Building those relationships, nourishing those relationships and turning those relationships into paying patients or clients, and all of these tools have a specific way to help do that, and so it’s important to make sure you know how to use them for your advantage, but that you’re not overwhelming yourself either.

If you need help really honing in on this digital marketing strategy and what that consistency looks like for you in your practice, we would love to sit down with you on a video chat and go over what are you guys currently doing, how can we implement new things and help with building that consistency to make sure that your efforts online are working for you?

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Tiktok 101: 6 Tips for Healthcare Professionals and Organizations

Tiktok 101: 6 Tips for Healthcare Professionals and Organizations

Tiktok is a video-based social network that allows users to create and publish short videos. The app has been downloaded more than a billion times worldwide and is now considered the trendiest social media platform.

Some of you might be rolling your eyes right now, thinking it’s not suited for you. Sure, it isn’t a serious platform. But as of now, it’s the social media platform with the most opportunities to go “viral”. It provides a great opportunity for you to build a solid online presence and position yourself as an industry expert.

Here are some tips for marketing your practice on Tiktok.

Choose a username that reflects your practice

Your username is one of the most important aspects of your social media account. When you create a profile, make sure that your username is catchy and easy to remember. If possible, try to drop subtle hints about what you do.

Dr. Kim Chronister, a licensed clinical psychologist in Beverly Hills, is a great example of a healthcare professional who’s also an influencer on Tiktok. She’s known as @drkimchronister on the platform. She’s killing the keyword game by making it obvious of her expertise.

Create content that drives traffic

The key to going viral on Tiktok is to create content that your audience finds valuable. So ask yourself, “What are the problems your target audience is looking to solve?”. Now create video content that would help them solve that problem.

You can leverage the platform to attract new people to your Facebook group, get more Youtube subscribers, revive your Instagram account, or drive traffic to your website. You can say something like, “if you want to learn more about this, check out my Instagram or visit my website.”

Engage with your audience, especially the younger ones

Once people learn about your profession, they’ll start asking you health-related questions. Some will even ask for tips and advice. You can use the platform to answer these questions and provide solutions to their problems.

Dr. Jones, known as @MamaDoctorJones on Tiktok, is a gynecologist who uses the platform to educate teens about sex education.  Her contents are engaging, and her willingness to be a bit silly on the app helps her get her message across.

In one of her popular videos, she talked about what you should do if a condom breaks during sex. The video has racked up over 11 million views. If the teen demographic doesn’t get adequate education about sex, then you can use the platform to provide reliable information.

Keep the “duet” feature in mind

While scrolling on Tiktok, you might notice two videos appearing side-by-side on the screen. It’s called a “duet”.

Duets allow users to collaborate, respond, or interact with other’s videos. You can create a video with a colleague or an influencer. Or better yet, invite your audience to join you on screen. This is a great strategy if you’re looking to grow your following.

Address misinformation

Living in the digital world, we have access to a wide range of information. Unfortunately, not all of this information is reliable.

With so much information available online, it can be difficult to separate the facts from fallacies. Tiktok is a great way for doctors and other health professionals to reach their younger audience. Use it to educate people about illnesses, general health, and much more.

Rose Marie Leslie, a medical resident better known as @drleslie on Tiktok, shares valuable information about vaping or birth control on the platform. With studies showing that vape use is at an all-time high with teens, Dr. Leslie often talks about vaping and vaping-related illnesses.

In one of her videos, she showed the chest x-ray from a patient with vape-related lung injuries. Dr. Leslie said that she’s been receiving tons of messages from teens who have stopped vaping after watching her video.

In another video, she debunks douching and other scented vaginal products as “a load of medical bologna”. She emphasized that these products can actually increase the likelihood of yeast infection and bacterial vaginosis.

Use Tiktok to humanize your brand

Many of the content on the platform is funny and entertaining. This is why a lot of professionals are hesitant to create an account on Tiktok. But you don’t necessarily have to dance or crack jokes to capture the attention of your audience. You just have to show them your human side.

Remember that your audience are humans and they want to speak with real humans too. People are more likely to trust you if they can connect with you on a more personal level. Make an effort to talk to them as you would with a friend.

By letting your personality shine through your videos, you become more approachable and relatable in the eyes of your audience.

Final thoughts

More and more healthcare professionals are flocking to Tiktok to teach teens and young adults about health issues that matter to them.

As of now, there is very little competition on the platform. This presents a massive opportunity for you to reach a wider audience at a relatively low cost. So if you’re looking to build a solid online presence on the platform, now would be a great time to start.

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Punctuation and Writing Styles – Best Practices for Digital Content

Punctuation and digital content writing tips

In this blog post we are going to be diving into some tips and recommendations that we follow for punctuation, mechanics, and general style guides for your digital content creation.

We’ve found over the years that there are a lot of different preferences for writing styles online, and though you want your voice to reflect your brand and speak to your target market, there are some things that we consistently see businesses doing online that they potentially shouldn’t be doing.

We are focusing on websites, blogs, and social media, rather than white papers, research articles, and other technical guides. However, many of the points discussed can be brought into this type of writing, as well.

Also, it is important to note that digital content does differ drastically from print, scholarly articles, and research. Additionally, this isn’t a complete guide, but top tips to step your writing up a notch.

Punctuation in Digital Content

Periods (.) – These mark the end of a sentence, but the reason I bring them up is the age-old question of one space or two after a period. For years the APA style guide was the only guide to recommend two spaces after a period to help with readability. However, in 2019, the guide was changed to one space. Long before this, our team recommended one space after a period in digital content for the pure reason that if you have two spaces and the screen-size changes, you may find that a space begins the following line of content. This will not occur with one space.

Periods or Commas and Quotation Marks – A common question we are asked is where should a period or comma go when quotes are involved. This is a little trickier because American and British writing rules and use of double (“ “) vs single (‘ ‘) quotation marks differ. We are in the US, so follow the American Quotation Marks rules. In general periods and commas go before closing quotation marks.

Single Quotation Marks – in the US, single quotation marks are used to quote someone within a quote of someone else.

Question Marks or Exclamation Points and Quotation Marks – If a question or exclamation applies to the quotation itself, place the question mark or exclamation point inside the quotation mark. If it applies to the whole sentence, place the punctuation marks outside.

Examples:

Can you believe the ending to “Inception”?

Vs

Last night I watched “Inception.”

Vs

I shouted to my dog, “Come here and get a treat!”

Semicolons (;) – in general, don’t use these unless you are 100% certain you know what you are doing. Semicolons join two independent clauses without a conjunction (eg and). They are more meaningful than commas but less so than a period. In general:

  • if you find yourself using semicolons, switch to periods instead
  • If you want to use a conjunction like and or but use a comma
  • If you are writing a list and the items within the list include commas or sentences, a semicolon is used to divide the items listed. In digital writing, bullet points tend to be easier to read.

Commas – commas indicate small breaks or soft pauses in sentences. They separate words, clauses, or ideas. Places to use commas include:

  • In a list of three or more phrases or words please be consistent with your use of the Oxford comma or Serial comma – the comma before the and of the last item in a list. Including it or not is fine, just be consistent.
  • If your sentence has an introductory phrase, such as “before running ads,” use a comma.
  • There are lots of times to use commas and a lot of times where commas should not be used. Again, Grammarly outlines these cases in a lot more detail!

Writing Mechanics for Digital Content

Abbreviations – Typically blogs and digital content tends to be more informal, so we are okay using abbreviations as long as the reader is familiar with what the abbreviation refers to. For acronyms, we do recommend writing the full name the first time it appears on a web page or blog post and including the abbreviation in parenthesis. If the acronym is not often used by your target market, however, it may be more advantageous to use the complete name consistently for SEO.

Spelling – The big thing here is to make sure you are using American English vs British English consistently and that you run your content through a spell-checker. Grammarly has a free chrome extension that works with your WordPress blog and email. This can help if you swap a homophone, for example.

Capitalizations – One of the most common grammar-discussions we have is when a specific word, not at the start of a sentence should be capitalized. Many clients have an urge to capitalize words to draw attention to them, but bolding or underlining the word would actually be more appropriate. Below are a few considerations:

  • Headers – keep consistent with headers. Are you going to capitalize every letter, every word, or nouns, verbs, adjectives, and proper nouns (conjunctions and prepositions such as of and the are uncapitalized)?
  • Names of Services or of Your Business – if it is a name of a service or process that you follow, this can and should be capitalized.

Style for Digital Content

Parallelism – Another one of my biggest pet-peeves is parallelism. Any time you have a list, please make sure each phrase has the same grammatical structure. If a list of two or more phrases uses a noun, make sure all are nouns. If there is a gerund (word ending in -ing), make sure all of them are gerunds. Grammarly has some great examples that show how you can adjust sentences so there is parallelism, here.

Tense – Big things to think about here are if you are speaking in a passive voice, first-person, active voice, etc. In digital content, specifically marketing collateral, an active, first-person voice can be the most impactful. Write from your first-hand experience using “I” rather than “He/She/They.” For active vs passive, consider the following examples:

  • Active: I wrote the book.
  • Passive: The book was written by me.

Both are correct, the active tense just has more of a punch!

General Sentence Structure – I asked a couple of my favorite copywriters for advice and pointers to put in this blog and both had additional comments on sentence structure.

Amy Colo, a copywriter who focuses on keyword research and SEO, made sure to mention how important it is to find a balance between a conversational tone and making sure each sentence includes only one thought or idea. Rather than using conjunctions or trying to fit everything into one sentence, which often creates run-on sentences like this one, it is advantageous for readability and comprehension to only convey a single thought or idea in each sentence.

Additionally, to increase readability even more, keep paragraphs short.

Having a paragraph that is only a sentence or two can be much more impactful than a longer paragraph that we are taught to write in school.

(How many of you read the two lines above this more closely than the run-on sentence before?)

Heather Bowen-Ray, another one of our go-to copywriters in health and wellness, made sure to emphasize two points:

  1. Altering your sentence structure and sentence length can make your content more interesting to read.
  2. Breaking grammar rules is okay! Rules are meant to be broken and if breaking a rule when it comes to grammar makes your headline or a service description more impactful – do it!

Heather focuses heavily with clients on creating style guides. If you don’t know where to start with copywriting and marketing, definitely reach out to her for help in creating a style guide.

I hope this post has been helpful and informative. If you find that you need help with your content writing for blogs, websites, newsletters, or social media, we would love to chat! Please reach out to us for a free 30 minute marketing consultation.

Punctuation and Writing Styles - Best Practices for Digital Content

 

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List Building: How to Get Your First 100 Email Subscribers

List Building: How to Get Your First 100 Email Subscribers

Let’s face it. Most visitors won’t buy your products or use your services on their first visit. The majority of them are just looking around. They’re not even sure your offer is what they really need.

Just because they aren’t buying anything, doesn’t mean you have to ignore them. Remember, these are potential customers or clients. And it is a good idea to capture their email address and start building a relationship with them. How? Through their inbox.

Having an email list gives you the opportunity to talk to communicate directly with your audience. You can even use it to pitch your products or services.

But the question is… How do you build an email list?
Here are some tips to help you get your first 100 email subscribers.

Who are you looking to attract?

This is one of the most important things you need to determine when building an email list. You need to have a clear understanding of exactly the type of people you want on your list. Otherwise, you won’t be  able to craft a message that resonates strongly enough to spark interest and gain trust.

Create a valuable resource and give it away for free

Let’s face it. Your visitors won’t just give you their email address for no reason at all, even if they like your brand. After all, it’s a personal thing. So you need to find a way to convince them to give it to you.

One of the most effective ways to do this is by offering a lead magnet. It’s an incentive you offer to visitors in exchange for their email address. It is usually a piece of digital, downloadable content like an ebook, PDF checklist, swipe file,  whitepaper etc.

When creating a lead magnet, ask yourself: What’s the one thing that would be useful to my audience? The goal is to come up with something that would make people excited. Once that’s done,  people will be more than happy to provide their email address.

Create an opt-in landing page

Now that you have created a powerful lead magnet, it’s time to start creating an opt-in page.

An opt-in landing page is a standalone web page that is created for the sole purpose of getting visitors to sign up to your email list.

Avoid super long opt-in landing pages. The longer the opt-in page is, the higher the chance visitors won’t read it to the end.  Every word and element of the page should support that single objective — getting them to sign up to your list. If it doesn’t, lose it.

To increase sign up rate, make sure that your CTA button stands out from the rest of your page. Use a larger font, contrasting colors, and prominent positioning.

Choose an email marketing platform

An email marketing platform is a necessity, especially if you’re serious about building your email list.

Not all platforms are bundled with the same features. Choose a platform that will help you incorporate email personalization and segmentation, plus automate email delivery.

If you’re completely new to email list building, MailChimp would be a great platform to get started. For startups and small businesses, ActiveCampaign is a great option. It allows you to segment contacts based on their stage in the sales funnel.

Make signing up as easy as possible

Capturing information is good. But if you’re asking for too much information, people may end up feeling skeptical about how their information will be utilized.

Limit the form to a few fields. Or better yet, just ask for their name and email address. Every additional field gives them a reason to change their mind.

The goal is to get people to sign up, right? So make it as easy and simple as possible for them to do so. The easier the process is, the more likely are they to subscribe. Plus, the less information you ask, the more people will sign up.

Drive traffic to your landing page

Now that everything is set, all you need to do is to drive traffic to your landing page. One of the best ways to do that is by running a paid traffic campaign.

The good news is that you don’t have to spend a huge sum of money on ads. In fact, Facebook allows you to started with as little as $5 a day. However, paid ads alone isn’t enough to grow your subscriber list. Make sure that you promote and share it across your social media platforms.

Conclusion

Building an email list not an easy task. And when you’re starting from 0, getting that first 100 email subscribers could be a daunting milestone. Don’t worry. It’s not as challenging as it seems. Just follow the tips above and you’ll be able to get your first 100 subscribers in no time.

With the right strategy and solid approach to A/B testing, you can see a significant growth in your email list.

List Building: How to Get Your First 100 Email Subscribers

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,

How to Leverage Facebook Groups for Your Medical Practice

How to Leverage Facebook Groups for Your Medical Practice

You probably belong to at least 3 Facebook groups, right? But have you ever considered creating one for your practice? If not, then you should.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to leverage Facebook groups for your medical practice. Read on to discover how to use Facebook groups to support and grow your practice.

Build a community

Your practice or organization most likely has a Facebook Business Page. We highly recommend that you create a Facebook group in addition to your page as a way to engage with your audience on a more personal level.

People who will join your group are likely your most loyal patients and followers. They’re spending their free time reading your posts and sharing them with their family and friends. With Facebook groups, you have an opportunity to engage with them directly and show them that you care.

Establish authority as a thought leader

If you want to build authority as a thought leader, a Facebook group is a great way to get serious.

The key to building thought leadership is to blog regularly. Make sure, though, that your blogs are relevant to the industry and add value to the reader’s lives. Your Facebook group is an excellent place to share your blog posts as well as articles on trends and issues that impact your industry.

Thought leadership also requires staying up-to-date on the latest news and trends. Is there a newsworthy topic or a new law affecting the industry? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinion within the group.

Beat Facebook algorithm

It’s no secret that Facebook rewards engagement. In fact, Facebook pushes the post back up to the top every time someone reacts or comments on the post. The more people in your group are posting and interacting, the further your reach in the newsfeed will be.

To keep the flow of content going, regularly post things that will spark interaction among group members. Another idea is to ask open-ended questions. If they’re a really chatty bunch, let them dictate where the conversation is going. Ideally, you’re a benevolent leader who chimes in with support or wisdom when needed.

Provide value to the community

Most people turn to the internet for medical information. Some would visit health sites, while others would go around asking people for advice.

Suppose someone in your group asks specific questions about their condition and treatment, the best thing to do is to send this person a private message and invite him/her to your practice to discuss their question in person. This will help keep their information safe and ensure that you do not violate HIPAA.

Of course, you can still answer to the best of your understanding without sharing or asking for additional private information. You can also share some health tips, advice, as well as some helpful articles to further educate them.

It is a good idea to have rules in place about what is and isn’t appropriate to post. You want to keep the patient’s information private, while still fostering a sense of community and belongingness.

Create a sense of exclusiveness

Everyone wants to feel special, right? Private Facebook groups can provide just that. You have the option to keep the group private and hidden to emphasize exclusivity, keep the community tight-knit, and to keep the quality of discussions high.

You can create a group that is dedicated to your email subscribers. Each subscriber gets a link once they opt-in, so they can join the group. And since it’s a private group, only those who are inside the group can see who’s in the group, the posts, etc.

People can request to join, but you’ll have to screen them first before they can enter. Having some sort of fo qualification for admittance to the group naturally builds a stronger community. People feel like they’re a part of a special club.

Patient support group

People who are dealing with chronic illness, mental health issues, and other conditions can benefit from a support group.

By meeting and talking to people with the same condition as them, they will realize that they are not alone. That they aren’t the only person in the world who is experiencing the same problem. Plus, it gives them hope, seeing others in the group who are further along their road to recovery.

A support group can be their safe haven. Here, they are free to share their feelings and life circumstances within a safe and supportive environment.

As a healthcare professional, you are free to offer tips and advice to help patients deal with certain issues. You can also recommend some books and other resources that will further educate them.

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Local SEO for Health Centers and Businesses with Multiple Locations

Local SEO Tips

In this blog post, we review the steps to make sure you are optimized for local searches for your business or health and wellness center with multiple physical locations.

Local SEO for Multi-Location Businesses Includes:

  1. Creating a page specific for that location rather than having every location only listed on one page
  2. Adding content specific to that location on this new location page – Claiming a Google My Business profile for each location
  3. Adding other directory listings for the locations
  4. Optimizing on-page settings such as the meta description and page title
  5. Linking to the location page from the content created by your specialists in the blog
  6. Building reviews for your locations
  7. And More!

Listen to the Podcast:

In today’s podcast and blog post, we’re going to be talking about search engine optimization for businesses and healthcare centers that have multiple locations and share the same website. So we’re going to go through some of the dos and some of the do-nots, as well as how to take this step-by-step list to the next level. So let me just pull up my notes so I don’t forget anything.

The first thing that you’re going to want to do is take a look at your website. Now, if you have one location page on your website and it lists off all of the locations there, that’s a great start. However, if you then have all of the location information such as the specialties, the directions, the hours it’s open and everything like this, all on that same page too, you’re going to need to do a little bit of refreshing in 2021. So what I want you to do is call up your web developer or whoever opens up… Excuse me, whoever manages your website, and ask them to build out a specific page on your website for every single location.

The Content on your Location Pages and URL Structure

Now, the reason why you want to do this is because you want to show Google where to send local traffic. It’s said that nearly 50% of all searches are local, so you want to make sure to have that local content and that local specific page on your website. So an example that I wanted to show you is actually Rogers Behavioral Health, and they have locations all through the United States. So here’s their website, and if you look, they have all of these locations. So a few things I wanted to show you is for them, I would potentially have this top menu also link to the main Our Locations page. And here, they have a database where you can search for the locations. They have a lot of different locations. However, you can click on any of these locations and it pulls up a page specific for that location. Now, here, if you take a look, their URL structure is how we recommend it’s set-up. All of the locations are with locations is the top page, a parent page, and then the location name. You could take this a step further and have locations/California/Los Angeles, for example, but this is a great structure to have your URLs and to set up those permalinks.

If we scroll down on this location page, you’ll see that the content between the pages (I have Minneapolis up here as well) isn’t the same on every page. So if you find yourself creating a location page for all of your locations and adding the same content to it, I want you to stop right there. Before you create the location pages, please take the time to create content that’s specific for that location. You can even talk to the managers, for example, or the specialists that you have at the location, and have them help put together the content for you.

Make sure your location page reflects that specific location

The big difference is how they list the services for that location. So Los Angeles, for example, has OCD and anxiety and depression recovery, whereas this other location has also eating disorders and trauma. Then you’ll notice they have a slideshow of that location. So this gives people peace of mind that they know where they’re going, they understand sort of what that next step is when they reach out to your center. And also you can have a video. It looks as though this one, maybe the video isn’t loading or my Internet is slow, but you could have a video for that specific center as well or location as well. Here, we also recommend having the doctors or the specialists who are at that location listed off with a link to their bio as well. So you want to give your website viewer everything that they need to know about that location listed right here on this specific page. Here, we have the hours, as well as the Google Map nested right in here as well. So these are all great things that you should include on that specific page for your business when you have those multiple locations.

Add Meta Data and Unique Content to Each Location Page

The next thing that you need to make sure of, and this one I kind of went through some of the elements for making sure that it is structured and optimized for local SEO, so having that unique content, having the headers here, listing off the directions and how to call them, all of these are great things to have for search engine optimization. But taking it a step further, we also recommend making sure that the meta description and the meta header are correct for that location too. So you want to highlight the location’s information and make that the meta description truly reflects what the specialties are of your specific locations. If you have a WordPress website, we typically use the Yoast SEO plugin, however, there are handful of other ones that do the job really well for your website on page SEO and kind of that behind the page SEO.

Create a Google My Business Page and Directory Listings

After this, the next thing that you want to do when you are optimizing your website for search engine optimization for multi-locations with your healthcare center is making sure each of them have a Google My Business page. Now, you probably have set this up, so just go and make sure that all of the settings are correct, and we’ve talked about how to do this in the past. The Google My Business page, you should have one for every single location, including your corporate location. That’s okay. However, if you have a virtual office or an office that’s just temporary, there’s no need to create a new listing for that. It’s more of a hassle to remove a listing than to just make sure that your listings that you want to be up are accurate.

Use Moz to Manage Location Citations

We often use a service like Moz Local in order to manage and optimize other directory listings that include information on your locations. So we typically do use Moz. You do have to be a little careful with the settings as it can push information to profiles that you already have created, such as your Facebook page, or you can do this manually as well. One of the benefits of Moz with it’s pushing information through is that you’re sure that the same information exists everywhere, and that’s something Google likes to see. It wants to see that you are consistently showcasing your business, that is has the same address, the same hours, the same description, the same keywords, and then Moz also can push through images and videos for your different locations as well. I believe at this point, Moz is about $125 per location, but there might be bulk-buy discounts as well.

Focus on Growing Online Reviews for Each Location

The following thing that you should do for each location is make sure that you are getting reviews for that location. So this is a process where you can either get testimonials from your clients, from your patients directly when they leave, or send a follow-up survey with a link to then leave that review afterwards. Additionally, something that you can do is sign up for a service. Social Prime, for example, has a service where they actually text patients as they are leaving their appointments to leave a review. We recommend setting this so that it leaves a review on the Google My Business profile rather than focusing on other profiles. The reason why is because first and foremost, you want to make sure that you have a consistent stream of of reviews coming into Google, and that can help boost your local online presence.

Link your Google My Business Page to the Location Page on your Website

One other thing with the Google My Business page, rather than linking back to the website as a whole, you want to make sure that you’re linking to your location pages, so you want to direct people to the page where they can find out about that location rather than to the homepage of your website. The same is true if you decide to have different Facebook accounts, for example, for each of your locations, you want to make sure that those URLs link to the specific location page on your website.

Create Internal Links from Blog Content to Location Pages

Once you have this all set up for your different locations and you have the specific page on your website, you have the directory listing set up, and you have optimized everything, you want to make sure that then you take it a step further. As we always talk about, you want to rely on your specialists in order to create content for a blog post, for example. And we recommend always testing out doing these physician or doctor interviews or specialists interviews as an easy way to get that key worded content. From here, if a specialist is at one of your locations, as you are starting the blog post and writing it and doing an introduction, link back to that location page on the website. This helps Google to see who is affiliated with what location and make sure that you have those internal links going to the location page, which will help it grow in the organic listings. Another thing that you’ll want to do is if you currently are building backlinks into your website, make sure that you’re focusing on that location page as well. So whatever the specialists search is plus the location name.

I hope that this has been helpful. Please let us know if you have any questions about how to build SEO for your healthcare center or your business that has multiple physical locations. Again, my name’s Caitlin McDonald, I’m here with the Social Speak Network. And if you’d like to schedule a consultation to talk about the search engine optimization process for your own business, please head on over to socialspeaknetwork.com and click that free consultation button. We’re happy to sit down and chat with you. And of course, if you found this to be helpful, click subscribe on iTunes or Podbean, or of course, follow us on YouTube. Thanks so much and I’ll see you soon.

Local SEO for Health Centers and Businesses with Multiple Locations

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6 Timeless Keyword Research Tips to Boost Your SEO Content Strategy

6 Timeless Keyword Research Tips to Boost Your SEO Content Strategy

Keyword research can be laborious. The research process often takes hours, only to find out that just a handful of the keywords are worthwhile.

Sure, it is a time-consuming process. But it isn’t something that should be taken lightly. Why? Because SEO helps make your website more visible. And when done right, it can dictate not just the traffic you get, but whether or not that traffic converts. But how can you make the most out of your SEO keyword research?

Use these timeless keyword research tips to ensure you attract qualified traffic.

Focus on long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer, highly specific phrases. These are keywords that people are more likely to use when they’re closer to a point-of-purchase.  

Obviously, you’re going to draw less traffic with a long-tail keyword than you would with a more commonly used one. But since long-tail keywords are more specific, it will be easier for your site to be found by the audience for your particular niche.

With shorter keywords, competition for rankings can be fierce. Targeting longer, more specific keywords is a win-win. You get better search rankings, more qualified search traffic, and lower cost per click.

Check the on-site search queries your visitors are looking for

Sometimes, you don’t have to look too far to find what you’re looking for. The keywords you need are already in front of you. You just need to take note of them.

Some of your visitors are typing in keywords into your search bar because they are hoping that they’d find the answers they need on your website. Visitors are telling you what topics they want. Now, all you have to do is to create content around these topics.

This is the simplest, yet most underutilized technique. I want you to understand that those on-site searches are a gold mine of data just waiting to be looted.

Use Google Trends

Google Trends is one of the most powerful, yet underutilized tools for SEO. We highly suggest that you use it to your advantage.

You can use Google Trends to conduct keyword research for free. Just type in a search term in the homepage, and it will automatically give you a list of Google’s most popular keywords over the past year. In addition, Google Trends will also provide a list of relevant keywords based on your search term, along with the percentage of search volumes for each one.

This feature is powerful because it helps you identify which keywords are growing in popularity and which ones are becoming less popular over time.

Take advantage of Google suggest

Have you ever noticed that Google gives you suggestions when you enter words in the search box? You’d be surprised as to how accurate and helpful these suggestions are.

You see, Google takes note of everything we search for. It can provide you with a list of popular search topics in seconds. So next time you’re compiling a list of keywords for SEO, try using this technique. Let Google give you all the answers. Doing this will not only help you find interesting keywords, it saves you a lot of time too.

Compile a list of local keywords

While it is a good idea to rank on competitive keywords, you shouldn’t ignore the power of local keywords. This is particularly important when targeting audiences within a specific geographical area. In fact, 80% of consumers use search engines to find businesses in their area.

Focus on keywords you think your audience might use when conducting local research. Local searches may yield lower search volumes, but it’s more about driving traffic that is ready to convert. Remember, local searches tend to be from people who are looking and ready to convert.

Local keywords will not only play an integral role in optimizing your local SEO strategy but also help in driving patients to your practice.

Analyze your competitor’s winning keywords

When all else fails, emulate. If you want to take your SEO to the next level, then you’ll need to start looking at what your competitors are doing. This can work to your advantage as it can help you target consumers who are searching for these keywords. After all, the goal is to outrank your competitors, right?

To do this, you can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush. For SEMRush, it’s as easy as entering your competitor’s website. It’ll give you a list of keywords they are ranking for in an instant.

On top of that, SEMRush also provides the URL of sites that rank for each term. This allows you to further understand what pieces of content are working for your competition.

Final thoughts

The world of SEO has evolved significantly over the years. Google now places more emphasis on content quality than keyword density. But let’s face it. Keyword research still remains the cornerstone of any successful SEO strategy. Hence, it is important to do it well. The keywords you use will ensure that your content is relevant and easily searchable on Google. 

 

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7 Social Media Trends for 2021

7 Social Media Trends for 2021

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

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