With over 500 million daily active users, Instagram is a great social media platform for marketing your rheumatology practice. It’s also relatively cheap—while you can pay to get your posts in front of more people, you can also expand your reach organically with a few clever tips and tricks.
First, a quick explanation. If you’re not familiar with Instagram, it’s a social media platform that allows users to share photos and videos with their followers. Instagram has filters to help you edit your photos within the app, and a new “Stories” feature that lets you to share small behind-the-scenes snippets from your life (or, in this case, your business). Research has shown that Instagram users are highly engaged, meaning they spend a lot of time browsing through, liking, and interacting with the accounts they follow.
Now that you know what Instagram is and why it’s so addiction, here are a few tips for using this platform as a way to promote your practice.
Share Engaging Photos
Instagram is a visual platform, which means to stand out, you must share engaging photos. Now, “engaging” doesn’t necessarily mean “beautiful.” While we all like a stunning image, rheumatology practices might get more views when they share a before-and-after of a patient (with his or her permission, and without revealing any identifying information, of course!). Other images with the power to engage that also stay on message include behind-the-scenes photos of your practice, healthy meal ideas, local events and attractions, and testimonials. The point is to show your followers and fans another side of your practice, which will inspire loyalty and lead to more appointments.
Write Great Captions
While the main event on Instagram is the image, the caption is still very important. This is where you can show off your creativity and personality, give your followers valuable information, tell your practice’s story, and promote your services! You can also add your location, and if you use your city instead of your actual practice, you’ll reach a wider audience.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags (a word preceded by the # symbol, like this: #rheumatology) allow you to categorize your photos and make them searchable. If you choose your hashtags wisely, you guarantee more people will see them. What’s more, you can lure people who are interested in your content, business, or services by “tagging” your photos with relevant words and phrases. For example, if you are posting about a new piece of medical equipment, you might use hashtags like #health, #healthcare, and #arthritis. If you’re posting a feel-good photo at the beginning of the week to inspire your patients, hashtags like #MondayMotivation, #inspiration, and #smile would be more appropriate. If you want to highlight a patient’s story and the success of their treatment, the hashtag #TransformationTuesday is a must!
We hope these ideas help you launch a successful Instagram account for your rheumatology practice, reach new patients, and engage the ones you already have. Let us know how it goes!
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