From HIPAA compliance to strictly regulated verticals, marketing for healthcare has always been a test for industry professionals.
However, over the years many different innovations including SEO, reputation management and even influencer marketing have made things a little easier for healthcare marketers.
While influencer marketing can seem like a challenge in this industry, there are a few best practices that can help you ensure you are getting the most out of your influencer campaigns and building your reputation as a trustworthy brand.
In this article, we will discuss ways to frame and optimize your healthcare influencer marketing efforts, including:
In the simplest terms, influencer marketing is getting a trusted person with an online following to promote your brand.
In truth, influencer marketing has been around in healthcare for years, but it has significantly ramped up in recent years with the diversification and widespread use of social media platforms. You may remember the earliest form of influencer marketing: television commercials where a celebrity tries to sell you a certain car or credit card. It’s the same concept, just a different medium.
While a lot of social media influencers may not have the following of Hollywood’s elite, they have very dedicated tribes of followers who hang on their every word and follow their recommendations for products and services.
By following these five tips, you can ensure your influencer marking campaign not only generates new leads for your business, but also is in compliance with any regulations.
Many marketers forget that influencers are influencers for a reason: people trust their recommendations and are interested in the content they put out. When they endorse someone, their reputation is on the line.
With a heavy saturation of ads, and a general distrust of advertising, most consumers don’t want to be force fed recommendations that may not seem genuine. Because of this, influencers are very careful about the businesses they promote – especially for health products or services – so that they don’t break their audience’s trust.
Just because you would like an A-list celebrity to endorse your practice, doesn’t mean it makes sense for your brand or for theirs. Here’s a short list of social media influencers whose values and content align closely with healthcare marketing.
A natural partnership helps influencers maintain their position as influencers and will drive better quality leads to your medical practice. Focus on the quality of influencers, not who has the most reach.
Many times influencer campaigns only ask for social media posts or mentions on YouTube or a podcast. While this is great, it only scratches the surface of an influencer’s power.
Asking for backlinks on their website or blog can go a long way in building up the authority of your own domain, making it easier for you to rank for your target keywords. For better or worse, trusted backlinks are an important component of any SEO campaign.
Much like building your online reviews, backlinks are like positive reviews of your site, showing search engines you are a trustworthy business that others are willing to link out to. They also align your business with the influencer, adding an extra layer of trust to your brand.
An important note here: Spamming backlinks is a quick way to get Google and Bing to penalize your site from appearing in search results through what is called a “manual action.” Because of this, it’s important to choose the right links from the right sites to ensure you are following search engine guidelines.
Business development coach Zig Ziglar once said: “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.”
Much like any marketing campaign, if you don’t measure the right things and set clear goals, you aren’t going to know if your investment was successful for not.
Here are the KPIs we recommend when evaluating how an influencer marketing campaign performed:
Because healthcare is such a tightly regulated vertical, make sure your influencers are following the right guidelines, or you could be in trouble with regulators.
Influencers shouldn’t be breaking any patient privacy laws in their posts or videos, and they also shouldn’t be selling a specific product. They can talk about their experience at your practice or about one of your services, but should not make a direct sell.
In addition to all the normal legal and HIPAA limitations in healthcare marketing, influencers need to make sure they are compliant with all ad guidelines including letting their audience know when their endorsement is sponsored. If they don’t, you could be on the hook for any legal recourse.
Lastly, you want to make sure you are working with healthcare influencers who make you look credible, boosting your online reputation and building a trustworthy brand.
Choosing the right influencers means you are increasing your brand equity and trustworthiness by tying your brand to theirs. Many influencers become long-term brand advocates if it makes sense for both parties, meaning that you are getting a trusted partner in growing your brand awareness.
This means finding the right partners like providers, scientists, athletes, health or nutrition experts, even “normal people” who have gained massive followings talking about their personal healthcare experiences.
Personal referrals have been a staple of growing practices forever, and an endorsement from an influencer can feel like a referral from a family member or friend for their most loyal followers. Influencers not only humanize your brand; they build up your reputation.
Interested in Growing Your Online Reputation?
With influencer marketing as an important piece of the puzzle, healthcare practices need to be investing in their online reputation. Most healthcare consumers read online reviews of healthcare providers before selecting the one that’s right for them.
If you’re interested in growing patient acquisition and improving your retention rates, you need the right tools to monitor what patients are saying about your brand online – and who’s saying it.
Learn more about our comprehensive reputation management software today.
Check out these resources for more on healthcare marketing strategies:
Kieran McQuilkin
Content Marketing Specialist
The original version of this page was published at: https://www.binaryfountain.com/blog/influencer-marketing-healthcare/
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