If you’re in healthcare, you know it’s essential to take note of new and future marketing trends. Such knowledge helps you stay ahead of your competition. For instance, optometry websites optimized for SEO get more traffic than non-optimized ones.
Similarly, knowledge of new marketing trends allows you to invest in marketing tools that make you more accessible to your patients. Again, if an ophthalmology practice decides to use some website ophthalmology marketing strategies such as chatbots and online scheduling, it will likely get more patients due to improved engagement and accessibility.
To provide more insight into this subject, let’s look at five healthcare digital marketing trends shaping the industry.
1. Video Marketing
According to a recent report from Zenith, the average person spends 100 minutes watching online videos daily. A 2021 Wyzowl survey further reported that 84% of consumers admit to having been swayed to purchase a product after watching a related online video.
The best news is that today, it’s easier to produce an online video than a few years ago. Moreover, social media channels such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram allow you to post live videos, which are much easier to create.
As a healthcare marketer, there are various ways you can include video content in your marketing, including the use of:
- Live videos
- Testimonials
- Educational videos
- Facility tours
- Event promotions
- Physician interviews
2. Search Optimized Content
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become an important marketing strategy for many industries.
In the healthcare field, patients seek health services and information from search engines like Google and YouTube. Failure to optimize your website for search by including important keyboards that patients search for may see you lose big.
As a healthcare practice, it’s essential to develop an SEO strategy to make your content more visible to searchers. You can also hire an SEO expert to help make your content search engine friendly.
3. Online Reviews
Another marketing trend that is gaining ground is online reviews. Today, people use online reviews, testimonials, and recommendations to make purchase decisions or decide what clinic to use.
Besides, as more people use online search, reviews play an important part in their decisions.
Search engines also use online reviews to rank service providers. So, the more positive testimonials and reviews you have, the higher you’ll rank on search engines.
4. Evolving Social Media Platforms
For years, Facebook was the dominant social media platform. This saw many marketers concentrate on only this platform to market their products.
However, the social media scene is different as other social media platforms have evolved. For instance, out of the total active social media users, 22.32% use TikTok.
Therefore, healthcare marketers should be more open to using other new and flourishing social platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Snapchat
5. Voice Search Is Here to Stay
Voice search involves using speech-enabled commands to search for information and products online.
For healthcare practices to be noticed by voice searchers, they must use more natural language when selecting keywords. Also, marketers should try to come up with spoken word questions that prospective patients are likely to ask. Ensure you also come up with comprehensive answers to these questions.
In closing, most of your patients are looking for information on the internet. This means that as a healthcare practitioner, you must take note of the digital marketing trends affecting the industry. Thankfully, we have provided you with five trending marketing strategies that you can use to help you stay ahead of the competition.