Content Marketing: An Essential Strategy for Your Practice
Social media marketing has generated a great deal of buzz in the last five years. Many small businesses—and that includes medical, dental and physical therapy practices, as well as accounting, legal and financial-planning firms—have created Facebook pages. But like search engine optimization strategies, social media marketing should be a part of a broader content marketing strategy.
Today’s consumers do not like to be interrupted by commercials or traditional advertising. They go online to educate themselves—to see at what age they should bring a child to a pediatric dentist, to find out how to set up a power of attorney or to read about the safety of refractive surgery.
So, what does content marketing mean for small practices?
In past years, you might have designed a newspaper or yellow page advertisement to reach people. Today, if you want to reach consumers, it is more effective to educate them via a blog or Web site, and then use social media to promote that content. Create content around the products and services you offer.
Let’s say, for example, that you are an accountant. Every marketing expert says that you should have a Facebook page. You follow the steps to set up a page. Now what? Well, as Congress debates whether to extend the “payroll tax holiday”—and perhaps raise other revenue to fund that tax break—keep your clients up to date via Facebook status updates, a blog or both. This is also an opportune time to blog about year-end tax-planning tips. Relevant content generated on a regular basis will keep your clients informed and position you as the local expert in accounting matters.
Or, if you happen to be a physical therapist, set up a blog either through your existing Web site or through a free service such as Blogger, Wordpress or Typepad. Use your blog to share stories about the benefits of physical therapy and to remind people of the range of services a physical therapist can provide—from getting students into shape for an upcoming sports season to keeping elderly people strong and mobile so that they avoid falls and other injuries. You might blog about stroke recovery, knee replacement surgery or sports-related conditions such as tennis elbow. Be sure to also set up a Facebook page for your practice to disseminate your content to your patients even further.
By providing clients and patients with the rich content they are searching for, you fuel their engagement with your practice. Your content marketing should educate, and those who read your content should be motivated to call you when services or treatments are needed. The local practices and firms who do this best will inevitably beat the competition.
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