Facebook Advertising Tips for Physicians

Love it or hate it, Facebook, the ubiquitous social media site that went live in 2004, is here to stay and people are using it in a big way. In fact, reportedly there are a billion monthly active users around the world, with an average of 618 million people logging onto the site each day. Most of your patients - and your prospective patients - are among them.

Facebook offers advertising, as most social media outlets do, giving you the opportunity to tap into potential new patients. In order for that to happen you first need to know how to go about putting together a successful Facebook advertising campaign, as well as what to do with the people once they “like” your page.

Keep these tips in mind when it comes to leveraging the power of advertising on Facebook:

Create a page. When you advertise on Facebook you will be sending the person to your Facebook page, rather than to your website, so you need to have a page set up for your practice. Be sure to fill in all the information about your business, put up a few messages, and add some pictures (e.g., of your staff, office, stock health pictures, etc.).

Target the message. Determine what your message is going to be in the Facebook ad. The ads on the site are small, so you will need to keep it short, sweet, and powerful. If you are not sure what it should include inquire with a copywriter or marketing specialist. It is important that you design a powerful ad so that it gives you a good return on investment (ROI).

Zero in on the target. One of the nice things about advertising on Facebook is that it is simple to narrow down your target demographic. You can do so by ZIP code, gender, and a variety of other factors. You can even offer something special based on users’ birthdays! This will ensure that your ad is only seen by people who are in your targeted demographics.

Engage them. Once you get people to like your Facebook page, it’s important to give them a call to action. Entice them, woo them, save them some money on their first visit, and you may have new patients for the long run.

Stay on their radar. Some people who click on the ad and go to your Facebook page may be intrigued, but may not yet be ready to make an appointment. In any case, you got them to like your page, so you want to stay on their radar. Use your Facebook page to actively keep in contact with those who have liked your page. Ask them questions, offer health-related tips and trivia, and post health-related news articles.

Facebook offers several types of advertising. You will have the option to run ads on the side of the page, mixed in with other statuses in the person’s newsfeed, and more. Like other types of advertising, always pay attention to whether or not it brings a good ROI. Any time you invest in advertising or marketing it needs to translate to new patients. With a billion people on Facebook there is a good chance you can get a few of them to your office with targeted advertising.