Facebook: A Powerful Communication Tool

Social media allows providers at Starling Physicians to engage with your patient population, share your expertise, and provide important updates. We currently have Starling pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Today we want to focus on Facebook – the world’s largest social network with over 1.65 billion active users.  This is no longer a tool for teenagers.  The fastest growing demographic is men and women age 45-54.

Benefits of Facebook

Facebook is the undisputed leader in social media with nearly half of the American population using it on a daily basis. But more important than size alone, Facebook is fast becoming a primary resource for users looking for health information. Over 40 percent of respondents in a survey by National Research Corp. rely on social networking for health info, and nearly all of those people (94 percent) turn to Facebook. They are looking for healthy living ideas, such as diet and exercise, to find health events, and to view health education videos from hospitals, medical practices, and other healthcare providers.

Some benefits of Facebook include:

• Low Cost: Facebook posts are free; however, to reach a large population, you do need to “boost” posts. For $25-$100, you can dramatically increase the number of people who will see your information – both within your network and in the larger community. And, you can target the age, location, and interests of those who see your posts.
• Improve Your Online Presence: The more information you put on Facebook and other social media channels, the more you increase your online visibility with search engines such as Google. And that increases your website page ranking, which captures more visitor traffic.
• Share Your Brand: What you say about yourself, and the way you present the message, is part of your brand and your reputation. Facebook is another “face” that presents your branding message and a means to proactively manage your reputation.
• Engage with Your Patients: While your website is a one way channel for communication, Facebook allows people to interact and share their opinions and feedback. When carefully managed, this is a great way to engage with your patient population. We screen every post and have the power to remove any inappropriate comments or respond to questions.

Recent Starling Success Stories on Facebook

Here are some examples to highlight how Starling posts can reach a large audience, engage followers, and increase traffic to your specialty pages.

• Dr. Doelger was congratulated for a recent award in teaching. Over 2600 people were reached, 201 people liked the post, 31 people posted congratulatory messages, and 20 people shared the post with friends. People were excited to share their positive experiences and praise for Dr. Doelger.

• Dr. Polukhin provided us with a video to share on Facebook. We boosted the post for $75 to maximize exposure. To date, over 10,000 people were reached, 30 people shared with friends, and over 400 people clicked on the link to go to her site and learn more. And, people interacted by asking questions and sharing their own positive experiences.

• Dr. Morosky was interviewed on TV about allergy season and we posted the interview and frequently asked questions on the Allergy webpage.  We boosted the post for $75. Over 9500 people were reached, 450 people clicked on the link to learn more, and 130 interacted with the post by liking it, commenting, or sharing with friends.

• HR posted about an opportunity to join the Starling family. We boosted this post for $25. In one week, over 5000 people were reached, 213 people clicked on the link to learn more, and 14 people shared the post with friends who might be interested in open positions.

   Help Us Keep the Content Fresh

We need your input to keep content on Starling social media current and highlight what is happening within your department. Here are examples of content we would like to gather:

• Updates about your services, providers, and capabilities
• Positive testimonials from patients
• Links to important health information/news – can be from news sources or we can do a short interview with you and draft the content
• Pictures of department events
• Administrative updates on office hours, locations
• Videos
• Fact sheets or handouts that address important health guidelines
• Questions and answers related to common issues you hear in daily patient interactions
• Anything else that you think would be interesting to share

We can help you frame the content, create visuals to attract interest, and create useful subpages on your webpage where people can go for additional information.

Please email any content you would like to share to Robin Walden at robwalden@cox.net or contact her to set up a time to talk.

In upcoming posts, we will discuss additional social media channels and how you can get involved.

And, make sure to follow Starling Physicians on Facebook!