When it comes to promoting your practice through Twitter, there’s one principle to always keep in mind: the more followers you have, the better! Understand that as your audience grows, so grows your influence, your clout and your impact on potential patients. With social media becoming such an important part of how patients learn about and choose their healthcare providers, we wanted to offer a few tips for growing your base, spreading your message and most importantly, reaching more patients.
Here is our list of the Top 5 Tips for Increasing Your Twitter Following:
- Get your Twitter name out there. Promoting your Twitter doesn’t have to be hard – in fact, it can be as simple as adding your Twitter name to your email signature, business cards and waiting room literature. When patients realize you’re reaching out through social media, odds are that many of them will start reaching back.
- Use hashtags. You may have seen them before. They’re those short words or phrases users incorporate into their tweets, always prefixed with the # symbol. (i.e., #health tips or #diabetes) Not only do hashtags categorize your tweet, but they also help you appear in Twitter search results. It’s a great way to get new followers who are already searching for – and interested in – the types of things you’re writing about.
- Post valuable content. Content is king – even when you’re limited to just 140 characters! Whether you’re sharing a simple health tip, linking to an interesting article or promoting your practice’s current special, it’s important to give followers something they can use. This will not only help increase your fan base, but also make sure your existing followers stick around.
- Promote your Twitter on your website and other social media sites.
Is your website getting hundreds of hits? Do a lot of patients “like” you on Facebook? One of the best ways to win more Twitter followers is to leverage your existing social media presence and site popularity. Think about adding a “Tweet” button to each of your blog posts or adding your Twitter name to your Facebook page. - Resist the urge to buy Twitter followers. Several companies are now promising to get you hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of new Twitter followers in a matter of days. While this can certainly seem like a tempting offer at first glance, understand that these are not valuable, targeted followers, many are likely to be fake accounts, and most importantly, you could wind up in trouble with Twitter. According to the company’s user guidelines, “Using or promoting third-party sites that claim to get you more followers” is considered “spam” and could result in your account being suspended. Remember, when an offer seems too good to be true, it often is.
Don’t Have Time to Manage Your Social Media Presence? Let MyAdvice Help!
Strapped for time? Let MyAdvice launch and manage your social media campaign. We’ll plan and execute a cohesive social media strategy for your practice and get potential patients talking! Contact an MyAdvice Representative to learn more.
