Your pharmacy social media profiles should be thought of as part of the team. Not only are they communication channels but also think of them as staff members too. Every day they wear the pharmacy uniform proudly, promote your services and welcomes new patients, so they need attention. If you leave them to their own devices for a long time, they will become stale and won’t attract patients to your pharmacy. Remember! A disengaged team member is always risky for any business.
That is one mistake pharmacies often make with their social media, they don’t make it a part of their pharmacy. To beat social media algorithms and push through the white noise, you must be engaging and consistent. Therefore, leaving your profiles alone for long periods of time is detrimental to your online presence. Your profiles will become lost against the millions of other profiles and brands trying to gain your patient’s attention.
Social media is often an afterthought, something that is good in theory but hard to execute. So, when you’re trying to manage the day to day of a pharmacy, social media sometimes is placed in the “too hard” or “not enough time” basket. This unfortunately, is doing your business a disservice. With Australian’s spending on average 1 hour 30 minutes per day on social media, being on social media is no longer a choice for businesses, its crucial. There is so much opportunity to build relationships with patients online. Building such relationships will help increase brand awareness, attract more patients and help a pharmacy stand out from its competitors.
So today, here is some quick tips on making social media a part of your pharmacy team.
1. Book time in your calendar
Make the time for your social media profiles just like you would with rosters, staff meetings and patients’ appointments. Commit to at least an hour a week to plan out your social media content and engagement for the week. Within that hour you can use software like Canva to create exceptional imagery and graphic design or Later to schedule your social media posts. Once it becomes a part of your weekly routine, the process becomes a lot more simplified.
2. Discuss in your team meetings
Really make social media a part of your team by bringing it up in team meetings. Discuss with your staff about how’s it going, what products and services it could promote and catch them up on the latest social media trends etc. Your team would be dealing with your patients face to face daily so, brain storming with them about what to share online will help build rapport with patients, and ensure your social media is in line with your brand’s messaging.
3. Share your social media profiles with your patients
One way of preventing you from forgetting about your social media profiles, is by sharing with patients. If you make it a part of your conversation within the pharmacy, you will have to talk the talk online. There is no point asking someone to like your Facebook page if your last post was over three months ago. However, if you have created an engaging, informative and interesting Facebook page with regular updates, you will be proud and more likely to share with patients. As pharmacists, you probably love a good brochure and wouldn’t print anything that wasn’t an excellent representation of your brand. Think of your social media channels like that, you would only share something that is a great representation of your brand. So, ensure you remain consistent with what you post and then you will be more than happy to share with patients. There are plenty of ways to communicate your profiles within your pharmacy including competitions, signage and conversations. Be creative!
Written by our Marketing Manager Sarah Rendell