Creating content on social media to attract more patients and fill your practice!

A few years ago when I started my Instagram??page, I thought I had it all figured out. I had a plan! I was going to post every day, and I was going to post really important information. A few months later, after I had consistently posted content on my page, I realized my account wasn?t growing. I spent hours and hours (and some more hours) creating content, finding and creating photos, all to come back to an account with little to no engagement, and a very small following of 148 people. I was so busy running a business and working on patients, that sometimes I wouldn?t have content and I would just post whatever I could find in hopes that someone would be interested in it (BIG MISTAKE). Months went by, and still, a small following with little engagement. Here I was, spending so much time on social media, and I felt like it was useless. I felt like I would never be able to make it work, and I felt like giving up. I wondered how others did it. How they grew their accounts, how they had so much engagement. It wasn?t until I took a step back, that I realized the problem and everything clicked.

I was creating content for myself. I was creating content that I thought was useful. I wasn?t creating content for my audience.?? I had to change my mindset of how I viewed my account. And now with over 75,000 followers on Instagram? alone, I?m here to save you some time. You need to make sure to consistently create good content that is useful to your ideal audience.

So what makes content good?

As a medical/dental professional, good content means you are educating, entertaining, or empowering. You are usually solving a problem, making someone?s life easier, or doing something to get them to take action. If your content is good, and someone can read it, consume, it and take action, you?ve got a fan for life.

You need to create content consistently. Whether it?s social media, or a blog post, make sure that will help your audience get real results. Sure, if you?re a plastic surgeon, you can?t give your patient a nose job through an Instagram? post, but you can give them make up tips of how to contour their nose to make their other features stand out, and make their nose look smaller/more the shape that they desire. These tips will allow your followers to see you as an expert. They may try some of your tips, see the benefits of your tips, and you can be sure they will come back for more. You become useful to them, while at the same time positioning yourself as an expert.

With that said, keep in mind that you can?t be everything to everyone. You need to make sure the content you deliver is of good value, but don’t try to create content that everyone will love. Like I said in the beginning of this post, you have to deliver the essentials that your ideal audience wants. When you figure that out, you can be sure every time you put out unique content it will be relevant to your ideal audience.

Now that you understand what type of content to create, it?s important to know that you will run into road blocks. Even I get stuck on content creation! Having a social media account for my business is literally like have another full time job! And sometimes, I could use a little help! So I?m going to be sharing some of my tips with you.

Tips on making sure you?re not stuck on content to create:

Develop a list of top 25 questions that come from your existing patients, friends, family, or current social media audience. Turn it into content?short video clips, Instagram? post, Facebook??post, you tube video, blog post. If you are just starting out and don?t have an audience, go to your competitors social media page and find out what people are asking them. This will help you figure out what kinds of questions to be answering. (Make sure you don?t copy other accounts, but it?s okay to be inspired by them)
youtube example
Search YouTube. Type in a few words and a list will come up about what other people have already searched.?? For example, if I jump onto YouTube and put in ?dental implants? a list pops up that says ?dental implant surgery,? ? dental implants before and after,? ?dental implant procedure,? ?dental implant cost,? etc. so now I have more ideas beyond the initial idea.
Repurpose some of your best content. It?s okay to take your older content, revamp it, and release it again!
Get inspired by mixing things up. Often times when I?m sitting down and trying to create content it?s hard. But once in a while I will be out at a coffee shop, or the grocery store, or watching a TV show, and something will pop up that I can create content around. So if you feel stuck, mix up your atmosphere and let the content find you.

My next tip is VERY important if you?re thinking of hiring someone for content creation!

If you are going to out source content creation because let?s be honest, being a business owner takes up so much of your time, then make sure you stay involved! Too many people expect their content creator to find the topics, do the research, nail the voice, and create all the calls to action. The challenge is that when you hire someone to write for you, they aren?t intimately involved with your business. They don?t understand your voice, they don?t see the questions you are getting, or the trouble your patients may be having, it will take a long time for a writer to nail that down. So if you aren?t involved, your content won?t have the impact you want it to have. So if your writer is just getting started, give them outlines, link to some articles that would be helpful for research, and give the call to action that you would want at the end of the content. Once you spend the time doing the proper training, then you can step back a little. But remember that what they do is a direct reflection of your brand and your business. So make sure that you answer their questions and spend proper time training them. Keep the lines of communication open. If your writer creates something that you wouldn?t put out, then make sure you show them why and talk to them about it. If you take his/her work and make all these changes and then post it without telling him/her ahead of time, the next time he/she wants to create content for you, he/she will not feel engaged with your brand/business and won?t do his/her best work.
Some of my best content has been created in the most random places, like this plane ride to Las Vegas
Create a content calendar. You can use Google calendar. It?s free, everyone on your team can connect to it, and if it?s just you doing it, then you can access it from anywhere!

Tip 7 is my BEST tip to turn followers into patients!!!

Create content with the big picture of your business in mind. Think of where you want to lead people that are seeing/reading your content. I?m sure you have goals for your business, probably goals of expanding your business. Look at your content creation as a way to help you reach your goals. If you had a goal to double the number of new patients you had in the next 12 months, then you need to think about what content to create to help you reach that goal. Start with your goals before you start creating your content. If you don?t have goals, then you need to sit down first and make a list of all of your goals. Take your top 3 goals, and create content to help you reach those top 3 goals. To create content w/o business goals in mind is a huge waste of time.
Always keep a list of thoughts, ideas, and examples. This gives you a place to go to anytime you need to create new content. Look at your big goals first, but then also check on your ongoing list that you keep handy so that you have a lot of ideas to pull from to create valuable content. (I keep mine in my notes app on my iPhone).
Make sure your content is easy to read via smartphones and tablets. It needs to be easy to read and easy to engage with. Most people are accessing your content through their smart phone, and you can?t miss out on this audience! So you want to make sure they have a good experience with it so they come back for more! Otherwise, if they have to spend 30 seconds figuring out how to read it and engage with it, then they may leave your page and never come back.
Give more than you expect to receive. If you put your audience first, they will be your fans for life and they will want more. Add more value to people?s lives, and you?ll never have to worry about success.