Marketing Healthcare to Women: Is Facebook Advertising Relevant for Healthcare?
July 17, 2012 § 1 Comment
Does social media usage by hospitals extend to Facebook advertising? Currently there are 1,229 hospitals using social media. That means that approximately 20% of the 5,754 U.S. hospitals are active in social media. But of that 20%, how many are active in Facebook advertising? Only about 150 of those hospitals.
Most hospitals are using social media to extend their message without expanding their budget. And some have stepped out to do highly targeted advertising. Take the case of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. They turned to Facebook and Google advertising for a very specialized service line – lung transplants. Spending only $20,000 for a few weeks of advertising last fall, they received 4,600 ad clicks and 36 appointments for consultations. Only 60 lung transplants are conducted in Philadelphia annually, and while small in volume, each procedure brings in $100,000 in revenue. I am not surprised at this response. I have used social media advertising effectively in lung-related treatments as well.
In a recent Digital and Social Media survey, Facebook is the most popular Social Media channel for advertising, with 96 percent of SM marketers using it, followed by Twitter (89 percent), LinkedIn (49 percent), Pinterest (33 percent) and “Other” (14 percent).
Where else but social media are you going to reach as many female healthcare decisions makers? Women make up 56% of social media users, composing 58% of Facebook users and 64% of Twitter users. They are more likely to update their profile, make comments on posts, and share content and photos.
Great article! Very informative! Thanks for getting the information out there for everyone.