If you are not getting the results you were hoping for from social ads, rethink your strategy and execution but don’t give up. Without an ad spend, somewhere between 2 and 20% of your fans and followers will ever see your content in their feeds, and that number is shrinking all the time.
1.You’re trying too hard
Nothing turns people off more than aggressive sales people. Posts about your latest specials and deals can give you a bad rap on social platforms. In fact, posting too many promotional messages is among the top reasons people tend to press the unfollow link. Use less self-serving content and more educational or entertaining posts with great visuals to turn that around. Humor helps too.
You can improve performance by sharing less self-serving content. Think about photo and video ideas that your audience would find useful or entertaining. For example, regramming or reposting pics of how people using your products and services is a good strategy – BUT as healthcare practitioners, you need to get written consent to do so. This can serve to confirm the value of what you offer, and encourage interest without being overly promotional.
2.You’re being too stingy
If you are not already assigning a promotional budget to all or most of your social media channels, the time to start is yesterday. This tactic is now essential to get your content seen by the right audiences. Create specific segmented audiences to target for your ad strategies. These can be broken down by gender, interests, location, etc. Start small by boosting select posts on your practice’s Facebook business page for as little as $20. If that works, add more budget to the select posts of importance. Look into using Instagram promoted posts and integrate these with your Facebook page. Experiment until you find the secret sauce that moves the needle in terms of engagement.
3.Your Call to Action Isn’t Clear
Once you determine the right mix of promotional and non-promotional content, think about what you want users to do when they see your posts. Are you driving them to your website, signup page, blog, Facebook, Shopify cart, or a link to schedule a treatment? The biggest challenge is to convert social media followers to actual paying patients and customers. Your CTA must send visitors to the right place within the fewest links possible so they can make a purchasing decision.
4.Your Site Isn’t Mobile Responsive
If your website is not fully optimized for mobile devices, you are missing out on the most important traffic. The signup and CTA process should work seamlessly on smartphones and tablets, just as well on a desktop. The fact is that most of us access online platforms on a mobile phone with a tiny screen. The best way to know how well your site is performing is to take the time to look at your whole site on a mobile device through a visitor’s eyes. Test all your buttons, links, features and make note of how photos appear for clarity.
5.You’re Not Being Strategic
Jumping into social media without having a definitive strategy is destined to frustrate you. Having a proper well thought-out strategy will help you track results and measure success in the terms that matter to your practice. This may be new consults, more treatments, dollar amount of sales, or traffic. Therefore, just sending people to your landing page is not specific enough. Instead, if your content is all about a laser treatment you offer – like Fraxel, Ulthera or Halo – send users to the page on the site that includes strong content about that specific treatment, a photo gallery, and personalized details about what it does, how it works, and who is a candidate. Most users need a compelling reason to become a customer.
Does your social media need an audit? Contact us to find out how to boost your content and get the results you want. Anne@wendylewisco.com
