If there’s one thing that matters most with your medical practice Facebook page, it has to be engagement — which is any type of action your fans (or non-fans) perform on your Facebook business page.
Anything from commenting on a post to liking it contributes to the engagement of a page. The higher the Facebook engagement, the better your reach.
Facebook engagement matters because it can help extend organic reach. First, engagement helps boost your News Feed placement based on the Facebook algorithm.
And second, likes and shares expose your posts to your patient’s extended network.
Anyone with a Facebook Business Page can find this trend worrisome.
Also, the recent changes to the Facebook news feed algorithm have made it tougher than ever to engage fans.
Before we dive in, let’s have a quick Q&A session to learn a bit more about Facebook engagement:
Q: What is Facebook post engagement?
A: Facebook engagement is the action that people take on your Facebook Page. The most common are: likes, comments, and shares.
The interactions on your posts on Facebook include:
Likes and the rest of the reactions
Shares
Comments: both positive or negative
And even the clicks made by users
Q: What is the difference between reach and engagement on Facebook?
A: Reach measures how many people have seen your post – how many people it has reached. Engagement measures the number of interactions made with your post – how many views, clicks, comments, likes, and shares your post gets. Reach will show you how well you are making your practice known and how successfully you are getting your posts into people’s newsfeed. Engagement metrics are important to consider if you are trying to build a relationship with your patients, increase their loyalty to your company, or measure your patients’ intent to take any action, like scheduling an appointment.
Q: What is a good average engagement rate on Facebook?
A: A “good Facebook engagement” rate is a highly subjective metric that can vary significantly from page-to-page and even between posts on the same Page. The average engagement rate for Facebook posts is 3.6%. Anything over 1% is considered a good Facebook engagement rate so if you have 500 fans and receive 5 engagements you’re doing fine. 😊
So what can you do to get more Facebook engagement on your Page?
We feel there are ways we can combat this organic reach decline on Facebook and we’d love to share some strategies with you.
Post Updates Regularly
Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to posting on Facebook.
In the rush to post more and more content to your page, you may be losing out on the opportunity to engage more people.
In fact, research shows that at times posting frequently to your Facebook page may lead to less engagement in terms of clicks per post. So posting less often is the key.
You should be posting quality, consistent content on a level that identifies well with your practice’s brand and attracts potential patients. Post infrequently – your patients will forget you. Post too much – you’ll overcrowd your patient’s feed.
Consider posting 3-5 times a week or creating anywhere from 20-30 posts a month. Also, try posting a variety of different content to keep your patients interested and excited about new content.
By posting when your followers are most active, you instantly increase the likelihood of getting likes and comments.
And yes, there are data-driven best times to post on social media which can clue you in on what your posting calendar should look like.
But how do you find this out?
The main way is from your Facebook Insights, the analytics section built into every page. This provides a simple chart to see what days and times of the day that the Page is busiest.
Eventually, you will learn more about the best time that specifically works for your brand. You can get a better understanding of how and when your audience engages with your content by analyzing your Facebook Page Insights data.
However, finding the right posting time depends on multiple factors. Which is why you need to experiment with it.
If you’re not already posting at least 3-5x a week to your Facebook page, it’s about time you start doing it. It’ll help you grasp what times are working for you and what kind of content your audience is responding to.
The key here is to not just post at random and expect engagement.
Analyze Your Most Popular Posts
Let’s say you have a post that knocks it out of the park. Tons of likes and shares, and plenty of love in the comment section.
Rather than treat that post as an anomaly, you should instead take steps to recreate the same social magic again.
To better break down that activity, take a close look at your Facebook analytics to see firsthand what’s receiving the most reach.
While you’re in there, take a look at your content that isn’t reaching as many people. See what’s working and what’s not.
Pay attention to what types of content your fans respond to — and also what posting times tend to get more comments, likes & shares.
Sometimes the key to increasing Facebook engagement is to look inward.
Take Your Fans Behind the Scenes
People love seeing how the magic happens, so to speak.
Give your potential patients a “behind the scenes” look at what your medical practice is all about.
Posting photos on Facebook is the best way to get more attention from your fans because images are easier to consume than text. Personal photos taken at your practice or of your staff will always be more welcomed by your Facebook fans rather than impersonal stock photography.
Sharing experiences from your patients, pictures of your employees working, and other content providing a glimpse inside your business are great ways to promote your brand in a friendly, engaging manner.
Examples of Facebook Posts:
Doctor/Physician Introduction
Employee Stories
Patient Stories/Reviews
Images that show your employees and facility
Promote Your Posts
The quickest and easiest way to rise to the top and get more Facebook engagement is by “boosting” your posts.
You’re in control of how much you spend on a boost or promotion—Facebook will never charge more than the budget you select.
The budget you select is the per-day price of boosting a post. Depending on the audience and budget you choose, you may or may not reach the maximum amount of your budget each day.
Your top-performing posts are proven content — content that is proven to engage your audience. This makes them suitable for a boost.
With the right ad targeting, these posts would continue to engage more people, reach even more people.
Facebook’s post-promotion allows you to target your patients by a number of different characteristics including:
Location
Job Title
Age
Gender
Interests
Behaviors
Connections
With a $10 daily budget, our boosted posts get up to roughly four times more paid reach than organic reach.
Boosting a post on Facebook is a great way to combat declining organic reach. It guarantees your content gets seen by the right people.
Use Facebook Live
One way to ramp up your Facebook engagement is to go live on your page. According to Facebook, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos.
So not only will your followers love it, but it also boosts your content in the Facebook algorithm.
The best and the most apparent benefit of Facebook Live is that it lets you connect and engage with your target audience at a much more intimate level.
How to Create a Mobile Facebook Live Video From Your Business Page
Open the Facebook app on your mobile device.
Go to your business page and tap Post.
Tap Go Live.
Add a description of your video.
Add details: Tap the location icon to tag your location if appropriate and tap the face icon if you want to add more information about what you’re doing.
Tap the three dots icon on the top right, then tap Audience Restrictions to select the audience for your video.
Choose the audience for your video based on age, gender, and location.
Go back and tap Start Live Video.
To get the most engagement, make sure to promote your Facebook live in advance. If your audience doesn’t know you’re live, they won’t join the stream and you’ll miss the opportunity to engage with them.
Use Facebook Stories
Facebook Stories appear at the very top of the News Feed. That’s a great placement for drawing eyeballs to your content.
This easy and simple way of sharing content allows you to post as often as you like, without worrying about overwhelming your fan’s News Feeds.
Plus, because Facebook stories disappear after 24 hours it incentivizes people to watch your story to avoid missing out because they are time-sensitive.
Stories are used to provide followers with daily snippets of content and update them with announcements in real-time. After all, they only last for 24 hours.
In an Ipsos survey of stories users commissioned by Facebook IQ, 62 percent of people said they became more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a story.
Login to your Facebook account through the Facebook app, and you’ll notice a bar right at the top of your newsfeed with other people’s Facebook stories.
Right next to other people’s stories, you’ll also notice a plus sign on your profile picture and when you click on it, it will allow you to create and publish your story. When you do, follow the prompts that ask you permission to access your phone’s camera and microphone.
To create engaging Facebook stories for any Facebook campaign, you’ll first need to decide what your goal is. Your goal could be to increase awareness for your medical practice, increase engagement, grow your audience, drive more traffic, or generate more patients coming to your practice.
With the wide range of tools available to enhance your story, make sure you take advantage of some, to make your Facebook stories much more attention-grabbing.
But don’t go overboard as you don’t want to clutter your Facebook stories too much either.
Interact & Engage Meaningfully With Fans
The point of social media is to be “social” and if your Facebook content isn’t connecting on a human level, you’re missing out on connecting with future patients.
You should never treat them like they are robots programmed to absorb generic marketing messages and corporate offers.
They want to hear the message of a person, not a company.
Aim for posts that make readers smile, think, laugh, or even cry—posts that are emotionally compelling enough to prompt them to react.
Between asking questions, responding to comments, and engaging with other posts, you’re not only growing your digital footprint but also making your audience feel as if they are heard and appreciated.
Social media is all about interaction—when someone comments on one of your posts, leaves a review, asks a question, or even lodges a public complaint, don’t just ignore it.
If someone takes the time to comment on your content, you should return the favor yourself.
Make sure you have a team in place to monitor and respond to all comments. Sometimes a simple comment back is all that’s needed. Sometimes more action is required.
Over to You
At the end of the day, what matters most is simply having some sort of Facebook engagement strategy. Period.
This comprehensive list of ideas should help you fill your mind with a good mix of ways that are likely to promote engagement among your Facebook followers.
Be sure to consistently check what’s working by reviewing your Facebook page Insights.
Remember that what’s at the center of attracting more engagement on Facebook is being human. Humans go on Facebook to interact with humans. So the more human your business can be, the better results you’ll get.
Try and focus on quality rather than quantity. Invest more time into creating and sharing relevant posts rather than posting just for the heck of it.
Check out some of our previous blogs to learn how to effectively create compelling Facebook content:
The longer medical practices wait to engage with patients on social media, the harder it will be for them to catch up to others who are gaining expertise in best practices.
That’s where we step in.
Spend your time focusing on your patients, we’ll handle the rest. Contact Koda Digital today to get the most out of your Facebook page and improve every digital touchpoint of your patient’s journey.
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