Last week I was given the amazing opportunity to present for the Future Pharmacy Program on my favourite subject, social media for pharmacies. I walked away from the experience feeling very inspired so, I want to spread the social media love with the Peak blog readers.
Social media can often seem confusing and overwhelming (sometimes, it feels like the image below). So, today I will be discussing the three c’s of pharmacy social media.
Community
Community is all about your target audience. Your target audience is the people who sees value in your products and services. Understanding who your target audience is so important for social media for several reasons.
Firstly, you need to ensure your selecting the right social media channels to reach your target audience. For example, Instagram is a great channel for people ranged 25-34 years old. However, if your patients are over that age bracket then maybe, Facebook would be the better profile.
Furthermore, understanding your target audience is key for content creation. When you know who you’re marketing to, you can design content to spark their interest. If your target audience is new mothers, then your content should reflect issues that would be of interest to them. This could include information about breastfeeding, products for reflux or memes about having a lack of sleep. Remember, social media is an innately human space for people to connect. So, you need to create a personality that attracts your target audience.
Lastly, it is so important to discover who your target audience is because you need to know who will most likely be your patients. Having a social media profile should be like any marketing strategy therefore, it must encourage traffic into your store. The way to achieve this is through building relationships with people on social media who sees a value in your service offering a product. Some people become too focused on how many followers they have on their profile; however, the focus should be on who is following you that will buy from your pharmacy. Would you rather 35 people follow you on social media who will visit your pharmacy or 100 people following who will never visit your store? I know, which option I would choose (the 35).
Collaboration
I firmly believe collaboration is one of the most underutilised resources for pharmacy marketing. There are so many opportunities for pharmacies to build brand awareness and reach new audiences through collaboration.
If you look at bigger brands, they are powerhouses when it comes to partnership marketing. For example, Bumble the dating and business networking app entered the Australian market purely from collaboration activities. They formed relationships with local influencers and brands to introduce their brand to their target audience. They first kick started in Australia in 2016 and to date they have over two million members within Australia. From having aligned with brands that their target audience already engaged with gave their street credit and built a strong reputation for the brand with the right people.
This theory can be easily adapted with pharmacy, yes you do not have Bumble’s budget however, you do have the option to collaborate. They key to collaboration is finding other local businesses and health professionals that align with your pharmacy’s values and target audience. Remember, your collaborations reflect your brand and so you must choose partnerships that compliment your vision.
The pharmacy industry is being forced to shift due to the influx of big box discounters. Price driven strategies is hard to compete with and so, to even the playing field a pharmacy must focus on what they can offer that others can’t. One strategy would be professional services and expertise on everything health. A collaboration with another health professional would help with their strategy. If you’re marketing strategy is to turn your pharmacy into the health destination for your local area, then you must have a network of allied health professionals. For example, if a patient visits the pharmacy for diabetes management you should be able to refer them to the local dietician.
So, how does this relate to social media? You can showcase these relationships through content, engagement and updates. Social media is as much about engagement as it is about content. Therefore, utilise social media to engage with other local businesses, brands and health professionals. Not only will help you build a network of referrers, it will also demonstrate your tie to the local community.
Content
Now that you understand how important community and collaboration is for your pharmacy, it’s time for the fun part!
Content is what ties everything together, it is what people will see, like and engage with. Therefore, it’s important to be a true reflection of your pharmacy. You must use it as a tool to communicate and to tell your story. It also must be of value to your target audience, so it encourages them to follow and engage with you.
The best way to determine what content to create for your pharmacy, is by breaking it down into four content pillars:
1. Value
Will this content be of value to your target audience? Will it spark their interest? Create content that adds value to your patients’ lives. This can include relatable memes, information about health issues and updates about what is happening in their local area or in the pharmacy.
2. Educate
Create content that educates your target audience on health issues, your services and about the pharmacy. This also helps with showcasing your expertise as pharmacists.
3. Conversations Starters
To beat algorithms on social media, you must use engagement as a part of your content strategy. You need to create content that encourages people to engage with your brand. The more engagement, the more likelihood you will reach more people on social media.
4. Product/Service/Team
Ultimately, you are a business and your social media strategy must help drive traffic into your pharmacy. Therefore, there must be some type of selling included in the content mix. However, ensure you compliment this with the other three content pillars. It is also important showcase your team as they are who will greet patients when they visit the pharmacy. Make sure you use them throughout your social media profiles and people love seeing others, it always drives up engagement.
Now you understand the content pillars, you can start brain storming content. One tip is to jump onto your social media profiles and look at what content you’re currently creating is having great engagement. From there it will help you build a content calendar for your pharmacy. It is important to ensure you create a level of consistency with your content, set a minimum for how many posts per week for each platform. If you do not personally have time, make sure you assign someone in your team to do or outsource to someone who can.
Still need some inspiration for content. I have created a free PDF document with many ideas of social media content for pharmacies. Feel free to fill in the form below to request this handout.
So, hopefully the quick recap of the three C’s of social media marketing helps you generate ideas for your own marketing strategy. Social media is such a cost-effective tool for pharmacies and I firmly believe that every pharmacy should commit some time to building their presence online. If you’re ever needing some assistance, make sure to contact the team at Peak Strategies. We offer in house strategy workshops to help create a content calendar for your pharmacy’s social media.
Lastly, a big thank you to the Pharmacy Guild of WA for trusting me with the presentation last week, I really enjoyed working with The Future Pharmacy Program and look forward to what they achieve in the future. For those who want to learn more about social media, my presentation was recorded and available to Future Pharmacy Group members. If you haven’t already become a Future Pharmacy Program member, be sure to sign up today, the link is below:
https://www.guild.org.au/guild-branches/wa/the-future-pharmacy-program
Written by our Client Communications Manager Sarah Rendell