Are you doing enough to make your pharmacy’s social media efforts worthwhile?
Eighty-seven percent of independent community pharmacies use Facebook and 28 percent use Twitter, according to the 2016 edition of the NCPA Digest, an annual publication from the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), which profiles the independent community pharmacy market.
Even though you may have social media accounts, how often are you promoting your business on them? And, are you doing it effectively?
For a busy independent community pharmacy owner or manager, it can be easy to let social media take a back seat.
But using social media effectively can spread awareness about your independent community pharmacy, help you attract new patients and potentially bring in more business.
Here are five easy ways to take your pharmacy’s social media to the next level.
1. Post more frequently
It’s simple. The more you post, the more people you’ll reach and the better chance you’ll have of attracting new patients.
People aren’t constantly looking at your pharmacy’s social media pages. You have to consistently post new content in order to grab their attention as they scroll through their Facebook or Twitter feed.
Focus on posting more frequently on your social media platforms. It may help to create a calendar to make sure you’re keeping up with it, and you can even schedule posts in advance to avoid forgetting.
You should also share relevant posts you see on other social media pages, but change the descriptions to tailor the posts to your target audience.
For example, if the American Heart Association posts an article about the importance of blood pressure monitoring, share the post with your audience, and include a description about why it’s important to them and how your pharmacy can help.
2. Track your performance
Instead of wasting time creating content that your audience passes over, use analytics to monitor your posts’ performance and figure out what works and what doesn’t.
You want to invest your time into creating posts that your audience actually cares about with content that will garner positive attention for your pharmacy.
For example, on Facebook, every business page has an “Insights” tab, where you can view data about how your Facebook page is doing, including post reach, post engagements, page views and page likes.
Use these indicators to decide what type of content resonates with your audience in order to make your future posts more successful.
3. Engage in conversations
No one wants to feel like they’re talking to a robot, so show your human side by engaging in real conversations with your social media followers.
This way you can show your brand’s personality and form a connection with potential patients, making it more likely they’ll want to visit your pharmacy.
Additionally, engaging with people can help you reach a larger audience and grow your following.
Don’t let comments, questions or complaints go unanswered. Monitor your pages on at least a weekly basis, and respond to everything you can.
4. Include visuals
It’s no secret that visuals make written content more interesting and help it stand out to the reader. People are more inclined to click on a post with a picture rather than a post without one.
But, the visuals that accompany your posts need to make sense and add value.
For example, if your post’s purpose is to encourage a healthy lifestyle in adults, use an image of a family doing an activity together. Not only is the image relatable, it gives people one reason why staying healthy should be important to them.
If you don’t have your own images to use, stock photography is a great alternative. Stock photography sites are resources to find photos that fit your posts at a reasonable price.
5. Encourage shares
Ask your friends, family members and members of your professional network to advocate for your pharmacy by sharing posts. Doing so is a great way to build up your social media presence.
When your posts are shared, it’s free marketing from people who know and trust your pharmacy, which boosts your credibility.
Encourage people you know to share your posts on social media by letting them know how important it is to you and your pharmacy. To show your appreciation, you can offer to do them a favor in return or create some type of reward.
Do you have a hard time writing social media posts? Check out these simple tips for writing more effective social media content.
