Email marketing and social media go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Using email marketing in conjunction with your social media strategy is one of the best ways to increase your pharmacy’s social media engagement while simultaneously growing your email list—both of which help to bring patients in the door.
Your email subscribers are likely patients who are loyal to your independent community pharmacy, and it’s free marketing for you when they share your emails’ content with their social media followers.
Check out these ways you can use email marketing to increase your pharmacy’s social media engagement.
Include share icons
People are inherently lazy, especially on the internet. If you rely on your patients to copy and paste your email’s content in order to share it on social media sites, chances are you won’t see a lot of engagement.
Always include sharing icons in your emails, so that patients can share your content on sites such as Facebook and Twitter just by clicking a button.
It’s important to remember that the easier it is for patients to share your content, the more likely they’re going to do it.
Give incentives
Everyone loves to be rewarded. If you encourage patients to share your email content by offering an incentive, you’re likely to see an increase in social media engagement.
Consider giving a reward to patients who share your content on social media sites. This could be a discount on over-the-counter (OTC) products or on a new patient care service your pharmacy is offering.
Depending on the amount of shares you want, you may have to offer a higher value incentive, such as a $100 gift card.
Offer exclusivity for subscribers
Just like your patients appreciate being rewarded, they’ll also appreciate having access to content that non-subscribers don’t.
Providing exclusive content to your email subscribers will make them feel special, and they may be more inclined to share your content in order to show off their status to followers. Non-subscribers will be intrigued by the idea of exclusive content, which may lead them to sign up for your pharmacy’s emails.
Exclusive email content can include information about an upcoming sale, coupons or special announcements regarding new products and services your pharmacy will be offering.
Embed blog posts
A pharmacy blog is a great way to get patients engaged with your pharmacy, drive traffic to your website and bring patients into your store.
One of the best places to include your blog posts is in your emails, as your current subscribers are likely already interested in the content and therefore willing to share it on social media.
Choose one of your top performing posts to embed into an email, and include share icons for patients to easily share the blog post with their followers.
Host contests or giveaways
Hosting a contest for your email subscribers is a great way to increase social media engagement and convert more followers.
When you announce a contest via email, the excitement encourages your subscribers to share it with their social media followers. And when non-subscribers learn about the contest, they may be inclined to subscribe to your emails.
You can also encourage more shares by letting subscribers know that sharing the contest on social media will increase their chances of winning.
Give away an item that your patients will truly value, such as a generous gift card or a weekend trip.
Check out these five tips to get patients to come to your pharmacy with social media.
