Are Social Media Tactics same for Healthcare Sector?

As recent as a few years, social media has witnessed a paradigm shift in its course. Today, it has powerfully emerged as a prolific route to access information on real- time basis, find different services within a vicinity, order products and more. With the turn of technology, social media has become more visual and profound.

The number of Internet users in India has shot up from 50 million in 2007 to 100 million in 2010 and more than 300 million in 2014, making India the world’s second-largest Internet market. (Source cited below). These insights have encouraged various organisations to undertake diligent social efforts to connect with such users on the digital forefront. Today, more and more organisations of all shapes and sizes integrate the power social media in a business plan to be present where their prospects are.

Currently, this large- scale use of technology has significantly impacted the healthcare sector. It has ambitiously taken the centre stage to boost and transform the entire segment. Social media has opened prolific exits to communicate and connect with a broader set of audience. Mentioned below are a few such cost- free social exits/ tactics that will certainly help you to match the way you market your business with the way people look for healthcare services.

Twitter

Twitter has initiated the concept of one-to-many communication. It has empowered doctors to reach out to a large number of online users in a rapid way. Doctors who cannot physically reach patients in different cities and towns today, communicate with them in a virtual way. They easily tweet from their twitter handle to leverage relevant information and advice to the user. Furtherance, the user can tweet back in case any doubts, making it a two- way conversation.

Similarly, it connects various e- medical retailers with consumers for buying and selling purpose.

CareOnGo uses twitter to track live tweets and find the relevant ones. Once, one of our customers had posted "Down with fever, can't stop sneezing" We contacted him and delivered him medicines with doctor's prescription. It is a great way to remain close to our customers and reach out to them quickly.

Facebook

Facebook is one platform that entails the largest number of users among all other social platforms, across the globe. Today, many doctors and patients are Facebook friends. Similarly, many druggists are friends with consumers who regularly buy medicines and other medical equipment’s online.

Many physicians, health coaches and professionals regularly write blogs/ articles related to various ailments, diseases, cures and more and post it on their Facebook wall. It serves as a great opportunity for users to gain knowledge, influencing them to stay connected.

Besides this, today even users are increasingly comfortable sharing symptoms and treatment experiences online with physicians and health specialists.

Facebook has proved a great medium for our health app, CareOnGo to connect with users. We were able to cater to a customer whose father who was not feeling well and she was not in the same town. She had posted about this on Facebook. Our Social Media team tracked this post and connected with the girl post which we facilitated the delivery of medicines to her father’s address within an hour.

This example is an ideal proof of the powerful role social media plays, in helping business’s connect with their customer’s and cater to their needs in an efficient way.

Instagram

Ever wondered if a photo- sharing community can help you to reach your target audience?

Yes, Instagram is a rapidly growing platform that can help you in this endeavor. It empowers you to connect with audience through pictures. A picture is worth many words therefore, upload one that encapsulates your message well and grabs quick attention. You can share quick tips, remedies, price chart of medical equipment’s and more in a picture format. Moreover, incorporate hashtags to help your picture reach every front and corner of the community.

Today, you can also link your Instagram account with Facebook and Twitter, paving the way to enhanced visibility across platforms.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a mainstream social ground that is well- equipped to make you meet your prospects. It gives you an open arena to join relevant groups to connect with people at a rapid pace.

You can post a write- up or upload a picture and simultaneously share it across groups and communities to achieve highest levels of visibility. In case, you are a druggist, you can easily hunt for specific groups where people regularly order for medicines online. Likewise, in case you are a dietician, you can simply identify a health conscious community and circulate your suggestions to reach the right set of people.

Social media powerfully facilitates online communication between patients and physicians. Alongside, it offers a great e-marketplace to order for medicines, medical equipment’s and more. To summarize, it completely caters to all your medical needs, efficiently transforming the healthcare landscape.

Besides this, today most social media platforms offer an incredible opportunity to advertise. Put this enormous respite into practice to undertake optimum utilization of social platforms.

This article is written by Ms. Ritu Singh, Co Founder, CareOnGo