Attracting the attention of local patients in your area is vital for the ultimate success of your independent community pharmacy. And you can do that through an unexpected platform—Facebook.
The popular social networking website offers tools called Facebook for Business that help local businesses attract new customers and retain existing ones. Facebook for Business’s features allow you to more easily connect online with local patients, which makes your pharmacy better known and more reputable.
Learn more about how to better use your pharmacy’s Facebook page with these four features of Facebook for Business.
1. Show up in nearby locations
Make your pharmacy appear as a nearby location to Facebook users by keeping your business’s Facebook page up-to-date with accurate information.
The first step is to create a Facebook page, if your pharmacy doesn’t already have one. Be sure to include basic information on your Facebook page, such as the pharmacy name, address, phone number, pharmacy hours, a brief description of your store and the category your business fits under.
Results are unique to each individual on Facebook. If a Facebook user’s friend already ‘likes’ your page, then your page has a greater chance of being recommended to the user than if the user had no connection to your page whatsoever.
2. Encourage patients to check-in on your pharmacy’s page
Facebook allows people to ‘check-in’ at your Facebook’s page, which increases your exposure to more users. When people take pictures of your pharmacy, review your pharmacy or just check-in, your pharmacy can be linked to that location.
To enable this function, you’ll need to select “Local Business” as your page’s category. For detailed instructions on how to change your business’s page category, visit the Facebook Help Center.
3. Gather insights about your patients
In a Nov. 2015 announcement, Facebook announced the launch of Local Insights, a feature that allows businesses to review the demographics and trends of people in their area. Page Insights have always been a feature for Facebook pages, but Local Insights are a recently added attribute.
Local Insights help business owners figure out what time of day is best to connect with local users, and you can view metrics about how posts performed with nearby users. This way the business owner can customize their Facebook marketing to suit the people in their area.
4. Create local awareness ads
In the same Nov. 2015 announcement, Facebook introduced another new feature for local businesses: local awareness ads.
Any business on Facebook can pay for boosted posts and advertisements, but the newest feature Facebook for Business makes your advertising more local. Local awareness ads allow businesses to target the users nearest to their business by using links and calls to action. The four call-to-action buttons available include “send message,” “call now,” “get directions” and “learn more.”
Local awareness ads are simple to use and cost effective, because they enable you to target Facebook users closest to your store, which minimizes waste on users who live far away, and it can drive foot traffic to your pharmacy. The ads also permit you to see the number of people your ad reached and how many users clicked on your ad.
Utilize these Facebook for Business features and learn more about Facebook Insights to maximize your pharmacy’s profits.
