When you decide to gain more followers and use social media to grow your practice you have to acknowledge that you will have to let your guard down a bit and come out from behind-the-scenes. Being on social media opens you up to being an influencer and that means that people want to know you and who you are behind everything that you do. Now, I?m not saying that you have to share your entire life online and always let people know what?s going on but you do have to understand that hiding behind your practice and logos will not get you the results that you want from your social media marketing efforts.
Today, I want to share with you a few ways that you can gain more followers by show potential patients and your community who you are behind-the-scrubs as a healthcare provider without having to share every area of your life. Before I jump into the ways that you can do this, there?s something that you must do first. The first thing that you need to do is figure out what?s off limits for you and what are you not willing to share.
I think what makes it overwhelming showing who you are online is when you feel like you?re sharing something that you?re not comfortable with sharing. Thats when it doesn?t feel like fun anymore. But, if you set boundaries and get clear on what you?re not willing to share online, then you can easily come up with content to share that doesn?t include the things that you don?t want to share online. So, do you not want to share your family? Maybe you don?t want to share where you live? ?Whatever it is, get clear on what that is first so that you don?t feel pushed beyond your boundaries as you create content for your social media marketing.
Alright, now that we have that planned out, let?s talk about how you can start to show more of who you are and why people should care not just about you, but your brand and you as a whole as well.
1 | Tell Your Story
The best piece of content that you can share to let your potential patients and those who are following you into your world and allow for them to get to know who you are is to share your story. Your story is what has led you to be great at what you do as a healthcare provider. So, share what made you choose your career. Also, share the not so pretty sides of your story. Your audience wants to know that you?re human and someone they can relate to.
Nobody wants to follow an account where everything is always so perfect. ?This won’t help you gain more followers. Especially now-a-days. ?People really want to feel like they are following someone who is authentic. So it’s okay to share some of your struggles. In fact, it will help more people than you expected! It will also let your audience see deeper into your life, and they will turn from being just any follower, to an active member of your tribe. . .because you will feel relatable.
2 | Show Who You Are
Do you have a very specific way that you make your coffee, a fun workout you do before heading to work, or do you eat the same lunch on a daily basis? Yes? Share that. On the surface, you do the same thing as every other healthcare provider that does what you do. I know that?s hard to hear but it?s true. But, the one thing that makes you different from everyone else is YOU. Everyone is using social media in some way at this point to grow their practice. So, you have to figure out what makes you different and how you share that online.
The only way to do that is to show who you are to your audience. ?Trust me, they will eat it all up. . .and the ones that don’t. . .well they weren’t part of your tribe to begin with.
3 | Take Your Followers On A Journey
The final way that you can show who you are to your potential patients and your followers is to just take them along for the ride. Take them along for your day, and/or your education. Show them why you?re different, how you greet patients and everything in between. Again remember to know what?s off limits first and respect the privacy of those around you but show up and show them who you are and allow for them to be on the journey with you.
Taking your current followers on this type of journey with you will help you to gain more followers overall. ?People want to be involved in your life and see what you are up to. And by showing your journey, you will in fact, gain more followers, and get your current followers more engaged with you.
These are just a few simple ways you can gain more followers by showing potential patients who you are behind-the-scrubs as a healthcare provider. I hope that you see that it doesn’t have to be complicated and it can be fun. I think that you need to be intentional with your social media content but not so strict that it feels like it?s another job. Figure out the best way to incorporate it into your everyday life and workday.
As always, I have created a cheat sheet for you. It’s going to help you share your story with your audience. ?You can download it for free below!
