The COVID-19 crisis turned many people’s daily lives upside down. Sadly, small and medium-sized businesses were not spared; in fact, they were among the hardest hit. In the health sector, many businesses had to scale back their activities to a minimum to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
With the government set to present its reopening plan soon, it’s time to start preparing for a return to a more “normal” situation. We thought we’d share some tips with our healthcare clients to help them prepare to relaunch their social media strategy after the COVID-19 crisis.
A word about social media
While your other marketing tools aim directly to promote your products or services and convert your audience into clients, it’s important to be aware of the distinction between these tools and social media.
Facebook, Instagram and other popular social networks are instead channels for building awareness of your brand and developing clients’ sense of belonging to it. They let you build a community around your business and your brand. As a result, it can be hard for a small business to see the point of investing in developing a social media strategy and managing it day to day, since this doesn’t necessarily translate into a tangible, direct return on investment. However, it’s important to understand that social media lets you communicate effectively with audiences you can easily target and define, at a cost that remains relatively low.
Still, you need to know how to set the right tone, and find the right message, to address your audience and understand its needs in a given situation. This brings us to our first tip…
Adapt your social media communications
During the crisis, we advised our clients not to stop posting on social media. Instead, the previously planned publishing strategy had to be revised to fit businesses’ new reality: more limited services, reduced opening hours, public health measures… More importantly, we had to adapt to the reality of followers, which had also been turned upside down by the crisis, notably by helping clients feel supported and cared for despite postponed appointments.
With social media, you must always make sure you understand your target audience’s needs in real time and show how your business’s mission or services meet those needs.
Concrete actions for our clients during the crisis
- Adapted social media content that reflected their situation.
- Pausing AdWords campaigns to avoid wasting budgets.
Inform and reassure
The post-COVID-19 return to “normal” raises a host of questions. So put the first tip into practice and adapt your communications to answer them. First, make sure you answer questions about the issues specific to your business. Announce the resumption of your activities, and their scope, well in advance; talk about the measures you’ll take to comply with the authorities’ guidelines. At the same time, you’ll be able to reassure your clientele and followers. Social media is there to help you build trust with your audience!
Concrete actions for our clients during the crisis
- Real-time website updates to relay professional orders’ guidelines on the COVID-19 crisis and the closure of certain clinics.
- Email information campaign to keep current clients informed as the situation evolved.
Engage your community
With social media, it’s easy to share many types of quality content: photos, videos, articles… and the list goes on! Use them to share your expertise in your specific field with your followers. Give them tips that will have a positive impact on their daily lives and, at the same time, inform them about your services and promote them.
Some social networks, such as Instagram, also let you show the human side of your business by sharing everyday life, introducing your team and so on. Take advantage of this to build a real connection with your followers and prospects. After all, when potential clients already feel they know you a little, it will be much easier for them to trust you and use your services.
Concrete actions for our clients during the crisis
Producing Facebook Live videos with some dentists to maintain a connection with their patients and reduce the distance between them. These videos aimed to answer patients’ questions in real time about the crisis, but also about dental health.
If you need help getting your business’s recovery under way, our healthcare marketing experts are here for you! Our team will help you face your industry’s new reality and choose the right marketing tools to get there.
