Digital marketing has taken the business environment by storm, healthcare notwithstanding. Having a booming digital presence is what sets healthcare practitioners above the competition.
Healthcare content marketing is where stakeholders in the industry bring their A-game to remain visible and relevant to potential customers. In this article, we will discuss what healthcare content marketing is, why your healthcare business needs it, and how to get started with it. Let’s get into it!
What is Healthcare Content Marketing?
Content marketing in healthcare is a strategy involving the creation and dissemination of valuable and informative content. It could be through written articles, videos, podcasts, and other media to drive traffic, generate and convert leads, and engage and retain an audience.
The approach enables healthcare businesses the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise, enhance brand awareness, and remain top-of-mind when consumers are ready to purchase products or services.
Why Do Healthcare Companies Need Content Marketing?
Healthcare content marketing is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that enables your page to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
70% of online users initiate their patient journey by using search engines. Health-related searches account for 7% of all Google searches. There are 70,000 healthcare searches every minute in search engines. You can optimize the content on your website by generating new, relevant content consistently to drive traffic to your website, increase engagement, retain clients, and enhance loyalty.
As a healthcare provider, the digital sphere provides avenues to establish yourself as a thought leader in the industry. Your competition is equally intelligent, experienced, and seasoned. However, your target audience may require evidence from you to come to this conclusion.
You can enhance your expertise by creating content to educate your patients about various health issues, diseases, and conditions. Patients use this information to make informed decisions about their health and well-being, which can lead to improved patient outcomes.
Trust is essential in the healthcare industry. You can establish your practice in the industry by sharing your insights and expertise with your target audience. Your brilliance and knowledge increase your credibility and respect in the industry. Providing relevant information shows you care about your patient’s health and are committed to providing the best care possible.
Target Audiences for Healthcare Content Marketing
Your content-making strategy depends on your target audience. If you target other businesses in the healthcare industry, appealing to your target audience requires an expert level of engagement since you are dealing with professionals. Providing cutting-edge solutions, ground-breaking insights, and industry knowledge is essential to capture your audience’s attention.
On the other hand, as a B2C healthcare company, you may need to water down your content to accommodate your audience, who are not experts in the field. Nevertheless, your content should demonstrate thought leadership and professionalism to gain your target audience’s trust and loyalty.
Here are some of the primary target audiences in the healthcare industry and how to reach them:
Patients
Patients search for educational or quality content about specific health conditions and treatment options. Use visuals, including explainer videos and images, to capture their attention. Information requires simplicity without medical jargon to enhance their understanding. You can also use a variety of channels, including social media and email marketing, as healthcare content marketing strategies to boost engagement.
Healthcare Professionals
If your business targets healthcare professionals, your expertise level needs to match your target audience. Include published work, data supporting your product or service efficiency, content contribution to professional healthcare platforms, and educational resources that appeal to doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. You can also use targeted email campaigns and online ads to reach healthcare professionals.
Payers
Payers, such as insurance companies, are a critical target audience. They require data and statistics demonstrating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of your products or services. Your content marketing efforts should provide solutions to existing problems in this healthcare field, simplifying the process for end-users.
7 Steps to Successful Healthcare Content Marketing
1) Create Sharable Content
The easiest way to drive traffic to your website, social media pages, and practice are by making your content easily accessible on relevant online platforms. Aside from linking all your social media pages, you can enable online users to share your content. Sharing is a healthcare content marketing strategy that avails information to your user’s social networks.
By enabling the share button and providing different avenues to share your content, you allow your audience to market your content for free. Sharing also boosts content engagement, feedback, and interest. Therefore, always encourage your audience to share your content by posting interesting and informative topics.
2) Video Marketing
Videos have a high engagement format, impacting sales and lead generation. The visual element adds clarity and simplifies explanations for most healthcare-related content. Users retain 95% of visual content compared to 10% of written information.
Videos are more effective when done right. Current social media trends show short videos gain more engagement than long-form videos. You need to understand your target audience, the social sites they frequent, and their topic interests to capture their attention.
3) SEO and Keyword Research for Articles
SEO practices rank your content higher on organic SERPs, which, in turn, builds your brand’s domain authority. Online users hardly scroll beyond the first page of their search engine. The higher your domain’s position on this page, the more likely users will click on your website.
Here are SEO tips to remain relevant on search engines .
Keyword Research
Online users use specific words when searching for healthcare-related content. Find the keywords popular in your niche, frequency of use in competitor sites, and keyword performance, then incorporate the best words and phrases in your content.
Link Building
Search engines know your site through the information in your content, keywords, anchor texts, titles, and links. Links provide a deep dive into your content. They are also convenient for further research without opening another tab or leaving your web page.
Your site needs backlinks and internal links to rank higher in search results. The quality of your links also affects ranking. Incorporate links from trusted sources like healthcare databases, education sites, and reputable healthcare organizations to improve your content’s relevance.
Image Optimization
Images increase user and search engine’s understanding of your content. While an image with quality resolution is vital, you must also factor in load time. Most users will leave your page when it takes too long to load. Ensure your image is in the correct format, dimension, and resolution.
- Use concise and direct image names – include keywords or your topic’s content.
- Optimize the image’s alt attributes – the alternative texts to images enhance accessibility when your website takes a long time to render the image.
- Include image sitemaps – search engines use web crawlers to scan images embedded within webpage source codes. Without listing the image on the sitemap, the web crawler cannot identify them, which, in turn, hurts your SEO.
Include Interactive Tools
Another essential feature in healthcare content marketing is consumer engagement. Ensure your target audience has a place to inquire, discuss, comment, and give feedback. Building healthcare discourses in your platform improves your ranking online by generating leads, keeping your content relevant, raising brand awareness, and establishing your voice in the industry.
4) Provide Insightful and Relevant Content
Healthcare content marketing is primarily about educating and enlighting your target audience on the necessity of your product or service. Your potential client craves to understand their health condition, treatment options, or a simplified service delivery strategy. Provide realistic solutions, show the need for your product or service, and spearhead the conversation.
5) Work with Medical Professionals
Another essential aspect of healthcare content marketing is partnering with professionals in the field. Have physicians, nurses, and other healthcare specialists contribute their expert opinion on blog posts. Invite professionals to your videos, podcasts, and social media live sessions. Such strategic partnerships cultivate trust, respect, and relevance to your target audience.
6) Include Industry News in Your Content
The healthcare industry is dynamic. New research and information affecting practice, technology, and processes always make rounds. Expand the scope of your content by including industry news in your content, showing its impact on your niche. You can share this on your blog and videos or avail it to your subscribers through newsletters or email.
7) Ensure You are HIPAA-Compliant
While engaging with your audience is essential, it is crucial to prioritize data safety. If you plan to showcase customers’ or patients’ stories, ensure that you obtain their consent in advance.
For other types of content, remove any identifying information, such as name, address, record numbers, photos, and health and payment details. Refrain from offering medical advice or participating in discussions about diagnosis or treatment on social media. Ensure the subject matter you share adheres to the legal restrictions to comply with HIPAA guidelines.
HIPAA compliance subjects include:
- General health advice
- Wellness tips
- How-to guides
- Customer or patient stories (with explicit consent)
- Recent healthcare accomplishments
greatinflux Can Help You with Your Healthcare Content Marketing
At greatinflux, we are a digital marketing agency that specializes in helping businesses succeed online. Let us handle your healthcare content marketing while you specialize in building your practice. Learn about our SEO content services today for results-driven online marketing strategies.
