What Is Content Marketing?

Digital content marketing comes in many forms but all formats are online. Creating and publishing content online is one of the best ways to create brand awareness. Before a person makes a purchase or tries a new service, most will do research. Content can be in the form of blogs, vlogs and social media posts.

How content marketing can help doctors

One of the ways content marketing can help healthcare providers is by highlighting the conditions a physician treats. For example, while many endocrine practices are 80% diabetes, if an endocrinologist specializes in pituitary disorders, providing content via blogs or social media is a way to get the message out to more people. This type of content marketing helps attract the ideal patient to a clinic.

Patients do a lot of research

Many people search online to find the right doctor and a stagnant website will not be enough. Physician education and board certifications are not enough to outshine the competition if a potential patient doesn’t understanding what all the training means. Regularly publishing educational content on social media and through blogging will allow a patient to find the doctor that treats a particular condition.

More exposure

New physicians and established ones alike need as much exposure as possible. Being credentialed with insurance carriers historically was what drove patients to choose a specific doctor. Health insurance plays less of a role now with more people choosing to be self-insured and an increasing amount of concierge doctors offering services. Content marketing drives more traffic to a physician’s digital presence.

Social media platforms

Syndicating blog posts to social media channels is a great way to communicate, educate and create credibility. Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X have all grown up with social media platforms and research through social media, hashtags and keywords. The majority of Baby Boomers have flocked to Facebook to keep in touch with family and grandchildren and have built a community of trust within groups that are visited regularly. 46% of Boomers log on to Facebook daily. Providing helpful information on these platforms will build brand awareness and trust.

Robust, mobile-responsive websites are the catalyst

While there are many places to create a blog, all platforms are not created equally. Websites need to be secure and mobile responsive. For a blog to be credible the posts need to be on a secure website that incorporates strong SEO practices and are modified and maintained regularly.

Strong SEO with keyword comparison

Even the best content will not be found if a site isn’t incorporating the most recent SEO techniques. Google algorithms are fluid and frequent. One Google update can drop a website’s SERP from position 1 to page 6 overnight. Using analytics and reporting are vital tools to use to determine what keywords are driving traffic to a site. These strategies should be tweaked monthly if not weekly.

Will content marketing gain exposure?

The short answer is yes. A properly written blog on a site with strong SEO continues to grow in value on a site. Many blogs have the highest exposure at the 22-24 month mark. Creating posts routinely on multiple mediums on a consistent basis will increase Domain Authority and E-A-T scores which in turn helps with SERP.

Sharing is caring!

ISTATOY: I saw this and thought of you

Creating content that is useful and provides quick answers to specific questions is a surefire way to get posts shared. Making all content easily shareable through social media and from the website will let patients share this information with loved ones.

Building patient loyalty

Continuously providing digestible information to existing patients will create loyalty. Patients that subscribe to a newsletter, follow post notifications or follow a doctor’s Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or LinkedIn account will stay longer with a doctor. The simple fact that a patient shares a doctor’s post, shows loyalty.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

While pay-per-click (PPC) can have instant results, popping up under the right keywords for an extended period of time can be costly. Further, many people ignore search results that show up as an ad. Content marketing is the best overall ROI for a marketing budget and is a strong long-term strategy to drive organic traffic to a website.

Digital marketing strategies

Create a digital marketing strategy with a three-prong approach: a robust, mobile-responsive website with strong SEO, content marketing and social media platforms.  Being on as many social media channels as makes sense for the demographics of the ideal patient is the difference between getting a one time patient or a lifetime patient.