For some health care startup companies, social media is the hub for all company news and virtual interactions. For others, social media marketing is an afterthought – or not even a thought at all.
Whether your company is considering creating a new social media account, or it has active accounts that are difficult to manage, read these tips on how you can maximize your social media presence and add them to your online playbook.
Consider your audience.
Does the company have a website? Does it have a following or list of leads? Has it officially been launched yet?
Some startup companies find success by using social media to do a soft “launch,” leading social media users to a website or another call-to-action. However, these posts are typically more successful when a social media account has a larger base of followers, or if they are strategically shared by other accounts or company partners.
It might make more sense to start with a platform like LinkedIn to build followership in the business realm. In the future, those followers can be encouraged to engage further for updates on other platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Maintain a presence.
While scrolling and posting on social media can be a fun pastime, managing a brand account is a serious matter. A lot of thought should go into planning posts, responding to online users, and interacting online to maintain a strong digital presence.
Some companies make the mistake of creating a social media account then never touching it again. By not constantly monitoring the account, they run the risk of negative comments, tags, or random spam content. This is why it is imperative to make sure that someone on the team will be responsible for monitoring and posting to the account on a regular basis.
That said, there is a sweet spot when it comes to interacting with responses or other posts on behalf of a company page. Often, likes and retweets/shares can go a long way. There is no perfect science to properly interacting online, but the best practice is to have any social interaction be evaluated by company leadership or a marketing manager and remember to always refer to key messages and policies as needed.
Break it down.
Health care startup companies sometimes have the unique challenge of working with in-depth, high-level subject matters. These topics could be confusing to an average consumer or other audience members who might not be familiar with all the terminology or background information.
When drafting social content, consider using language that is relatively easy to understand, even by those on the periphery of your specific target market. This increases the chances of positive engagement with your followers. Similar to how you might package key messages for a general company presentation, the same high-level of information should be shared on social media.
