Are you looking for a quick way to bring in new patients?
Leveraging Facebook Events is an effective social media strategy you can use once or twice per year that will help bring in a quick influx of patients.
Choose a Specific Condition to Focus On
Specificity is key here. If you just promote “accepting new patients,” you’re message is likely to get lost in the noise of social media.
However, if you focus on attracting a specific condition, you’re much more likely to have prospective patients pay attention.
For example, if you’re an orthopedic surgeon, you could focus on attracting patients with knee pain.
Create a Facebook Event
Creating a Facebook Event allows you to add all of the important details that will help attract the right patients.
Additionally, this will help with your organic reach on Facebook. People can even mark that they’re “attending” or “interested.”
Going back to the example of focusing on knee patients, you could include questions in the Facebook Event description that will help qualify the patient, as well as motivate them to action. For example:
- Are you experiencing knee pain?
- Is your knee pain keeping you awake at night?
- Does your knee pain limit your ability to perform daily activities?
- Are you afraid that your knee might “give way?”
- Is your knee pain negatively impacting your quality of life?
- Have you tried other treatments
Make sure your call to action is to schedule an appointment, and that the button in the post directs people back to a page on your website where they can contact your office.
How Long to Schedule Facebook Events
Once you have the Facebook Event details filled in, you’ll want to specify a timeline for the event.
I recommend keeping the event limited to 7-10 days. You want the event to last long enough to really promote it, but that it creates a slight sense of urgency for patients who see it, motivating them to book an appointment.
Create a Compelling Graphic
Creating a compelling graphic is essential, as it’s the first thing the person will notice.
You’ll want to call out the condition you’re focused on in the graphic.
Additionally, you’ll want to include a small picture of yourself in the graphic as well. This will create a sense of trust and familiarity with prospective patients.
Promote Facebook Events
Lastly, you’ll want to invest in Facebook Ads for the duration of the event.
My recommendation would be to invest around $500 in boosting the event.
Additionally, you’ll want to create a target audience specific to the average patient statistics and set a radius for the Facebook Event to be advertised to.
Again, using the example of knee patients, you could set the ad to be shown to men and women between the ages of 50 and 80 (osteoarthritis typically occurs in people 50 years and older).
This can be a very effective strategy for bringing in new patients quickly, but you don’t want to overdo it, or it will lose its effectiveness.