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Laser-Like Social Media Focus Works Best for Independents

 |  By jfellows@healthleadersmedia.com  
   October 16, 2013

Social media channels allow a healthcare provider great reach for a fraction of the cost of traditional media such as billboards, newspapers, magazines, print, and television. But "spraying and praying" all over the Web is not a good strategy.



>>>A post from the Compass Imaging Facebook page

By now, using social media as a component of a hospital or health system's marketing strategy is a no-brainer—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, etc., are platforms that are here to stay.

While it may be difficult to draw a straight line from Facebook impressions or YouTube views to patients through the door, it has become clear that if an organization is not actively using social media, it is missing an important marketing opportunity. The question is no longer, "Are you using social media?" Instead, it's, "How many social media channels are you using?"

The last question is an important one. Social media channels allow a hospital to be in front of more people for a fraction of the cost of traditional media such as billboards, newspapers, magazines, print, and television, but "spraying and praying" all over the web will not work without knowing your target audience.

Back to basics
Compass Imaging, an independent, freestanding outpatient imaging center with two locations along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi, relies heavily on its referring physicians. About three years ago two things happened, Tony Giardina, director of marketing for Compass, tells me.

"A huge percentage of our referring physicians were getting bought up by hospital systems, so we lost a big percentage of our business," he says. "So we started to think, 'Do we go to commercials? Do we do billboards?' "



>>>Another example of Compass Imaging's online presence

At the same time, he says the practice saw the explosion of businesses using Facebook, and "we didn't want to be left behind." That enthusiasm led Compass to think it should be on every social media platform available, but Atlantic Health Solutions, a physician referral consulting firm that has worked with Compass on its marketing strategy since 2004, advised against it.

"Compass is on the Gulf Coast, and in that area, we found that referring physicians were active on Facebook, but not so much Twitter," says Sara McFarland, communications and social media specialist at Atlantic. "So we focused on increasing their presence on Facebook."

Focus on your audience
McFarland collates the monthly social media metrics reports for Compass. Since they began focusing on building its Facebook presence, website traffic has increased year-over-year. For example, from July 2012 to July 2013, unique website visitors went up by 37%. The increase extends to their Facebook impressions, as well.

"The biggest takeaway is 'Don't overdo it,' " says McFarland. "If you're just doing a little bit here, and a little bit there on every social media channel, then you're not really providing value. You're not going to see a return on investment."

Solely focusing on Facebook might seem like it is too narrow, but it's a smart move based on sound research McFarland did to make sure that Compass would capture the attention of its targeted audience.

"We're seeing a direct correlation between Facebook clickthroughs and website traffic," she says.

The singular focus on one social media platform was a strategy that Giardina says he initially didn't believe would pay off for Compass.

"I honestly didn't think anyone was going to care," he says. "We weren't crazy about it (Facebook), but we did it anyway. We've come a long way, for example, we promote health fairs we participate in and nine times out of ten people at those fairs say they found us on Facebook."

Physician referral tool
Compass also uses its Facebook page to engage with its referring physician offices, using a strategy that keeps the referrals coming in and relations on good terms with individual offices.

Each week, Giardina says, it features a local physician office on its blog, which is also posted on its Facebook page. It's a way to get content for the Compass blog, but it also builds relationships within their community.

"We try to do someone new every week," says Giardina. "If we are getting a lot of referrals from a doctor's office, we'll feature them. Or, if someone says it's slow, then I'll say, 'Hey, I'll do a write up for you on our blog,' and it helps them, and it helps us."

It's rare for a patient to come in on their own without a physician referral, though since Compass stepped up its presence on Facebook, those types of patients are on the rise. Giardina says before it focused on engaging with patients on Facebook, it may have had one person per month come in. Now, he says it's more like two or three new patients per month.

"It's hard to gauge the direct return on investment, but lets' just say we get two patients—one for an MRI, one for a CT – with not a lot (of ad spend) on Facebook… that return is phenomenal."

For independent physician offices or freestanding facilities like Compass, it is tempting to invest significant resources, whether it is time, money, staff, or all three, in social media channels. There are so many and they are simple to use, but smart marketers know that the value of social media comes from knowing if the target audience using it.

"Before Facebook we were focused on word-of-mouth referrals," says Giardina. "Social media is the new digital word of mouth, and it has helped our visibility tenfold."

Jacqueline Fellows is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.

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