Social media is an integral part of your marketing strategy, but how do you measure success on social media platforms? Many people look at the number of followers as the single determinant of social media success, but (big buzzer sound) that is wrong.
Did you know accounts pay for followers or buy ads that target heavily populated countries just to gain followers? If you scratch the surface, you’ll see that not all accounts with lots of followers are successful. What you really want to look at is the number of views and likes on a post, how much engagement within the comments section and how many shares of that post.
Engagement determines success on social media platforms (ding ding!).
Whether you’re on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or all of the above, engagement is king (or queen). In your captions, ask a question so people are more apt to leave a comment and engage you back. The social media platforms love engagement and will boost your post if you’ve captured people’s attention. Remind your followers to share the information you’re sharing so that you can widen your reach. This widened reach will then bring you new followers but, more importantly, more engagement.
Running social media platforms can be quite time-consuming so it’s important to hire someone who will engage and who understands that what you’re posting reflects very strongly on your practice. Be careful to perfect the messaging so that it’s consistent with who you are and the healthcare messaging you want to deliver.
For example, if you narrow your scope to a specific political view, be prepared to gain the engagement of only like-minded people and lose those who disagree with you. Some healthcare practitioners choose targeted political messaging because they believe it is congruent with how they want to practice. If that’s you, go for it. If you want to reach a wider audience, keep your messaging apolitical.
The most important tool in social media platforms (and every other digital marketing strategy) is consistency.
- Don’t post 3 things one day and ghost your followers for a month.
- Choose a timeline that works best for your schedule and stay consistent with it, whether it’s daily, weekly or monthly.
- This also reinforces engagement (king/queen) because your followers learn what to expect from you and it unconsciously builds trust with you, which reinforces… yes, you got it… engagement.
