Top 5 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

Having social media sites for your medical, dental or veterinary practice is a must for all doctors, dentists and vets in 2015. It’s an effective healthcare marketing strategy that can connect you online with your patients and potential patients quickly and uniquely.

But like anything, social media comes with its own set of rules. Here are the top five mistakes made on social media that you should avoid to keep your healthcare marketing strategies effective:

1) Significant Lags Between Posts

Keeping to a schedule and posting regularly is a must for all active social media accounts. While you don’t have to post to your social media account every day, having weeks or months go by between posts is a bad idea. If your followers notice that you’re not posting regularly, they may decide to unfollow your healthcare social media page. Any potential new followers or patients you may have had will also notice the gaps between posts, think that your account is inactive and decide not to follow you.

2) Uncontrolled Access

It’s important to get your staff involved with your social media accounts – it will help them understand your healthcare Internet marketing plan so they can effectively promote your practice and your message to your followers.

But it’s also important to have some limitation when it comes to your social media account. Allowing too many people to post to your social media account can create confusion within your practice. Has someone already posted today? Has a post been missed? Has someone replied to a direct message already? Has the message been approved before being sent?

Try assigning only certain members of your staff to be your social media account experts rather than letting everyone in your office control your accounts.

3) Posting Irrelevant Content

Posting the latest meme to your social media page may seem like an easy way to stay relevant and up-to-date online, but it can also potentially alienate your followers. Staying relevant to your healthcare brand and message is much more important than posting the most recent cat video – as fun as they may be!

4) Poor Spelling and Grammar

Having consistent spelling and grammar mistakes can make your accounts and practice look sloppy and unprofessional. As humans we are fallible and bound to make mistakes, and sometimes typos and grammatical errors are going to slip through. But be sure to make time for review. Allow someone else to look over your social media posts before they go live to make sure they’re as error-free as possible.

5) Misuse of Hashtags

Hashtagging your social media posts will make them easier to find, raising the profile of your social media pages and, therefore, your practice. But if you use the wrong hashtags, whether they’re hashtags that aren’t trending or hashtags that have nothing to do with the content of your post, you can risk becoming lost in the shuffle. Consider your target audience and the subject of your post before filling it with hashtags that may only bog it down.

Are you making any of these social media mistakes? For a consultation, connect with one of Practice Builder’s marketing representatives at 800.679.1200 or by email at info@practicebuilders.com.