Facebook is a platform where you can work on building a thriving community for your health practice. Beyond simply earning likes and followers, Facebook engagement can help you extend your reach to people who aren’t aware of your practice but require your service. Also, an engaged audience is one that understands the value you bring to the table and may potentially become your patients or send you referrals.

Which Actions Indicate Facebook Engagement and Extend Your Health Practice’s Reach?

We will begin by examining the actions that indicate you have an engaged audience on the platform. This could be receiving likes and followers as we mentioned, but also shares, comments on your posts, check-ins to your location, or tagging your practice into a post.

These actions matter because they extend your organic reach on the platform. As soon as a person engages with your practice’s profile in any way, it becomes visible to their online community as well. It’s additional coverage for you at no extra cost.

How To Increase Engagement On Facebook

Moving onto the how.

As a starting point, lay the groundwork for engaging content by ensuring that everything you share is valuable to your patients and not self-serving. You can then develop a strategy to boost interaction with your practice based on the following points:

Time Your Posts Carefully

Posting at times when your followers are active on the platform will mean that you get more eyes on the content you share. According to Sprout Social, most people check their social media as they arrive at work or during their lunch break. However, they are less likely to be on it very late in the evening or on Sundays.

Keeping this in mind will ensure that you get maximum traction out of your post, rather than it sliding down the newsfeed unseen.

Vary The Type Of Content You Share

Some allied health professionals make the mistake of not getting enough variety in the content they share. While your audience is looking to you for the latest insights or tips in your space, it doesn’t mean that you can’t add even more value and give the content a fresh take. A couple of ideas include:

• Setting up a practitioner Q&A to answer common questions patients may have
• Sharing patient success stories to celebrate their treatment milestones
• Uploading informative videos of basic stretches or exercises patients can try at home
• Featuring staff profiles so that patients can get to know the people at your practice
• Inviting patients to join a workshop you are hosting
• Cross promoting your allied health partner network so that patients have recommendations on complementary service providers
• Creating a poll to ask patients if there is something specific related to your industry that they want to know more about

Actively Respond To Comments

It takes more than posting great content to see engagement on your profile. Patients want to know that someone on the other end is listening too.

Take the time to respond to comments and answer questions that people ask. Being responsive will put you in better stead for engaging in interactions that can result in patients seeking out your services.

Analyze Popular Posts

Once you have enough variety and are seeing some Facebook engagement on your posts, analyze which are the most popular with your following. Keeping your finger on the pulse of what is encouraging interaction can help you better shape your content and posting strategy going forward.

Be Active In Professional or Industry Groups

Join groups set up by professionals in your industry and actively post in them, either answering patient’s related questions or putting forward your professional opinion to other health care providers. For example, if you can provide insights as to where a patient can contact a support worker, or give recommendations to other professionals on NDIS software they can use, people will come to value your input.

This helps to elevate your image as an industry professional and can result in patients seeking out your services when they need it, or allied health partners sending you referrals.

Final Thoughts

Consistently posting quality content can boost Facebook engagement and elevate awareness around your health practice and services. Utilize the platform as a tool to let patients know that you are ready to treat them should they be seeking the service.

Speaking of sharing useful content, download our free e-book on 5 Ways To Better Manage Allied Health Cases to get tips on how to better manage your case-load. With the right tools to support you, you will have more time to spend on treating and reaching out to patients who would benefit from your expertise.

If using iinsight has lowered your administrative workload, freeing up some of your time to follow our blog, you will be familiar with the terms local SEO and a Google My Business listing, otherwise known as a GMB listing.

For brick and mortar businesses that serve the surrounding community, the GMB search results provide valuable information to people seeking business contact information, location details, working hours, reviews, and more. Google knows that a person searching the term occupational therapist near me intends to find a nearby health care provider rather than explore allied health websites.

Having a properly optimised listing increases the chances of Google serving up your practice’s details to a very relevant audience. You can rank for the local 3-pack, get a highly visible knowledge panel, as well as become visible across Google’s suite of services, including Maps. Let’s talk you through creating an optimised GMB listing for your allied health business.

Allied Health Professionals’ Simple Guide To Creating A Google My Business Listing

1. Claim and Populate The Information In Your Listing

First off, you need to claim your listing. Do this by visiting the Google My Business website, where you click on the Manage Now button and will be prompted to log in to an existing Google account.

Even if you haven’t created a listing, someone else have may set up a profile for you. Start by entering your practice’s name to see if your details are already listed. If they are, you need to check the details for accuracy, as well as claim the listing.

On the other hand, you may have a clean slate to work from. In this case, you will need to click on the button that says add your business to Google. The next few steps will run you through business categories, listing on maps, NAP details (Name, Address, Phone number), adding your website URL, and areas you serve.

At this stage, it is important to check that any details, regardless of who input them, exactly match what is online elsewhere. For example, if you have used the word Street in your website address, don’t suddenly abbreviate to Str on this listing. The 3-pack ranking algorithm awards businesses that display consistent details online.

Completing the registration process will give you access to the dashboard where you control how your profile appears across the Google suite of services.

2. Get Verified

Before you can get complete control of your account, you need to verify your listing. This tells Google that you are the business owner, and gives you a bit more control over what goes up on your profile.

If you are unsure of what the status is, go to Manage Locations on the dashboard’s left-hand menu. After clicking, you will see whether or not it’s verified and take the necessary action.

Some businesses can action verification via email or phone, while others receive a postcard in the mail which has a code to verify the account.

3. Optimize The Listing

Even with a claimed and verified Google My Business listing, your work is not quite done. Now you need to add in a cover photo, your logo, write in your business description, create a post, connect direct messages, and encourage your patients to leave reviews.

All of these things signal to Google that your business is relevant, reputable, and in close proximity to the patient searching certain services. They also allow people to get a feel for who you are, adding a layer of trust to help you connect with them.

In Conclusion

For practitioners concerned with their online presence, an optimized GMB listing can give your business better visibility within the local community you serve. Consider the points we have brought up in this guide, as Google uses them to connect people with the services they search for online. Allocate the time you were going to spend on administrative tasks (such as devising an injury management system template before you signed up to use iinsight), optimizing your listing correctly instead.

As an allied health professional, optimising your business website for local SEO is of particular relevance. This is due to the nature of the service you offer and how patients select a health care provider from the results they find online. Although by no means the only consideration, it is probably fair to say that physical proximity will weigh heavily on their choice of professional.

There are several signals that Google uses to assess local businesses before ranking them for relevancy according to their area. In this post, we will walk you through what these are and how to implement them to make your website more visible to your target patient base.

How To Implement Local SEO For Your Website

No local SEO strategy would be complete without the foundations of keyword research and a Google My Business listing in place.

We will discuss the latter in greater detail in another post, but as an overview, it is important to have this profile to show up on Google’s suite of services, which includes Search, Maps, and the local 3-pack.

Aside from that, it is very relevant for your local ranking strategy to build up a community of local online businesses which firmly establishes yours as a trustworthy source of expertise in your area.

Keywords and How They Relate To Local Search Intent

You will know from reading our blog post on keyword research that it involves analyzing the language and terms people use to search for something specific online.

Narrowing it down for local SEO purposes means identifying lower funnel keywords which people use to search for services in a city, suburb, or near a landmark. Consider the search term physios near me or occupational therapists in Chatswood. This type of search usually signals greater action intent. Think With Google pegs the stats at ‘76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day.’

Knowing what these keywords are is just the beginning. The next step is to develop a content strategy and optimise your website’s service and blog pages around them.

Google My Business Listing and the 3-Pack

When you search for a service on Google, results will produce one or two paid ad listings at the very top, followed by a block with a map and Google’s locally ranking 3-pack. Thereafter are the organic search results.

We are interested in the 3-pack, as this is where the 3 most relevant businesses that answer a search query are displayed. While it may be difficult to rank on the top of the first page of Google for psychologist, provided you are sending Google the right signals, ranking for the term in the local 3-pack is a lot easier.

This is where your Google My Business Listing weighs in as you need a completed profile to rank in the pack. Your ranking will be determined by your listed location, business services, contact details, reviews, photos, videos, posts, hours, etc.

You want to include as much detail as possible on your profile and ensure that everything is accurate. Although it may seem like a lot of information to collate and input, rest assured that it is not nearly as complex as filling out a case management template document with patient details, something you will be all too familiar with.

Network With Your Local Online Community

Another primary ranking factor for Google is website authority. The more authoritative it is, the higher it will rank on the search engine. To establish authority, a website needs to obtain backlinks from other sources. For local SEO, these sources are other locally based websites. This signals to Google that your health practice belongs in a specific area, along with the network of sites linking to it.

One way to get local backlinks is to list on local professional directories and link back to your website. Another idea would be to publish an article on a local news site and, again, send a link back to your own.

Finding Patients Online With Local SEO

What we have set out to do in this post is to show how relevance, proximity, and prominence are at the core of ranking your website locally. As proximity plays a major role in determining how many patients come through your door, making the most of this strategy is crucial.

Success in business is more than getting patients through the door. It is also about running it optimally and complying with the industry regulating bodies. To start your free trial of our industry-leading case management software for allied health professionals, click here.

Depending on the allied health service you offer, patient care may or may not be ongoing. Even if it’s not, maintaining a connection with the people you treat can lead to word of mouth referrals or them returning if they need your service in future.

The question is, how do you continue to build trust and rapport once patients have completed their appointment? Opt-in email marketing is one way to do this. With statistics to indicate that it drives 81% and 80% of customer acquisition and retention respectively for SMB’s, it can be a compelling tool when used correctly.

Email Marketing Tips For Allied Health Professionals

Receive Opt-In Consent

An easy way to capture consent is when a new client visits your practice. Include a section on the registration forms they are required to complete which asks whether they would like to sign up for email marketing.

Alternatively, place a pop-up or form on your website or blog, that invites visitors to join your mailing list. Should you have an authoritative lead magnet such as an e-book or definitive guide that patients would find useful, use it to request their email address in exchange for downloading a copy.

In any case, outline details such as the type of content patients can expect to receive and how often they will receive it. Also, let them know that they will be able to unsubscribe to your email marketing any time they choose to do so.

Create and Curate Content To Connect With Your Patients

Now that you know patients want to hear from you via email, it is time to put together some great content to share. Your goal is to nurture a connection with them, therefore, everything you send should add value to the reader.

Types Of Emails To Send

Welcome Email

As you know, first impressions count. That is why your welcome email should set the tone for the rest of your relationship.

When someone opts-in for marketing, automate an email that welcomes them to the family and lets them know they are in good hands. Outline your practice’s value proposition and lay expectations for communications going forward.

Regular Newsletter

A newsletter can consist of the latest news in your practice, as well as the industry in general. It can include successful patient case studies or a link to your latest blog post where you share professional tips. Use the space to forge meaningful relationships, and establish yourself as an authority in your field.

How often you send this out is of importance too – you want to be regular and consistent. Although, there is a fine line between too often where people feel spammed, and not often enough when they lose interest.

Find out what your peers recommend and test the frequency to see what works best. If people opt out, ask why they did so. From there, you can make adjustments where necessary.

Invites To Your Practice or Local Events

Use email marketing to let patients know that you are interested in their health outside of regular treatment. Send out personalised invites to any relevant conferences, workshops, classes, courses, or health-related events that you may be attending, hosting, or involved in. Not only will they appreciate the personal invite, but the event may also help them to be more proactive in pursuing their health goals.

Birthday Message

As you have patient’s details on file, why not send a short and friendly message to say happy birthday each year? It can serve as another way to let people know that they matter to you, as well provide a gentle reminder that you are still open for consultation should they, or anyone they know, need it.

In Summary

A big part of what you do as an Allied Health professional is to build relationships with your patients. From your professional image to an inviting practice and relatable bedside manner, winning their trust is a key aspect of providing exemplary healthcare. It is no surprise then that this should be echoed in your email marketing efforts.

Reputation and marketing aside, running a practice also involves staying on top of organizational tasks. Should you find yourself running short on time, try iinsight, our case and injury management software tailor-made for allied health professionals. It is intuitive, scalable, and secure, and will help you to manage your patient workload better.