You may think of coupons as things you clip and use for 50 cents off a bottle of Tide at the grocery or a two-for-one on boxes of Twinkies. But you should consider placing coupons/offers on your practice’s Facebook page, particularly now that we’re in the New Year and many of your clients have resolutions that you can help them out with.
Wonder if such effort is worth your while? Various research studies have shown that social media campaigns are 60 percent more effective than traditional campaigns. And thanks to Facebook’s pervasive influence, coupons on your practice’s Facebook page can be very effective, and they’re not difficult to produce.
But before you rush out and post a Botox coupon on your page, there are some issues to consider first.
What’s the goal of your promotion?
The first thing to decide is exactly what you’re seeking to accomplish with your coupon. Obviously everyone wants more business, but it helps to be specific. Here are a few possible goals relevant to practices:
- Build patient loyalty
- Immediate sales
- Reward your social media followers
- Take advantage of a holiday or seasonal event
- Announcement of a new service
- Encourage interaction on your Facebook page
Make sure it’s worth their while
When you make an offer, this isn’t the place to pinch pennies. Be sure your offer/coupon is worth something to your patients. You want to be sure the offer is good enough, say 25 percent off “x procedure,” that it makes some patients move toward having the procedure where they were maybe only considering it before.
Make it stand out
For practices, odds are you’re simply going to use a post to make your offer/coupon (unlike retail businesses that may be better off using the actual “offer” functionality in Facebook). But your post should have graphics/photos that are engaging. It could be colorful and fun, or it could be a before-and-after series using carousel photos. For the graphic/photos, keep things simple. Explain the offer in your text with your post.
Make it a series
One isn’t done in this game. Let’s say you have an offer that ends in 10 days. As the deadline approaches, keep making posts reminding patients of the offer and its upcoming expiration. Don’t consider the first post announcing the offer to be enough.
Tailor the offer to your goal
This may seem obvious, but it’s not. Let’s say your goal is to increase the participation of those who like or visit your Facebook page. In this case, your offer shouldn’t simply be a 30 percent off coupon; it should require some interaction from your audience. Maybe it’s a photo caption contest where the patient seeking to redeem the offer must show she contributed a caption. Maybe to redeem the offer, the person has to like your page and post a comment below the offer post. Your goal in this case would be to make the visitor interact with your page, not simply view it.
Check your stats
After your coupon has expired, look at your page performance over the period. You’ll be able to see how your patients responded to the offer, not just in the numbers redeeming it, but also in how the post (and subsequent posts) performed.
Coupons aren’t just for the soup aisle at the grocery store. Make them a part of your practice’s Facebook page and you’ll build loyal patients who keep coming back to your page and feel more attached to your practice.
Do you have questions about your practice’s Facebook page? Ask your MyAdvice representative.
