Healthcare practices across the globe are striving to gain attention through digital marketing efforts. In fact, as research has shown, the global digital marketing spend is predicted to reach $1.3 trillion in 2020. What works best in the digital world is always changing, so expect these 7 digital marketing trends to lead the way in 2020.
1. The continued rise of video marketing.
Accounting for 75% of all global internet traffic, video marketing is more critical to your healthcare practice’ success than ever. Honest and authentic videos highlight your values and draw in potential patrons. It also gives you a search engine optimization (SEO) boost to increase your chances of showing up on the first page of Google.
Moreover, some of the best video marketing strategies for medical clinics include video optimized for mobile devices. This allows you to reach the massive 2.5 billion smart-phone users who watch videos from their phones.
2. A strong influence on social media.
Social media management is a well-known part of any digital marketing strategy, but the common approach is changing. Being an influencer on social media holds more power than social advertising alone. That means consistent, personalized marketing to your viewers, and building your brand through your content are necessities. You can also work with local influencers to help promote your brand, since influencer marketing is generally viewed as more authentic than corporate advertising.
You can also use social media stories to get your brand message across to viewers. Social advertising should complement your branding voice in a way that draws viewers across all social channels, not just one or two of them.
3. The continued rise of online communities.
Online communities have grown into major influences on social media. Not only do people join online communities to find information and share personal experiences, but they’re also turning to them to foster friendships, gain support, and share similar interests. Many online communities develop their own style of communication, rules, and patterns.
Founders of these communities become a brand and hold a social influential power. Directly engaging with people in online groups, such as Facebook groups, subreddits, and web portals is an organic way to reach both current and future patients.
4. Google voice searches.
Google voice searches allow users to search the web with voice commands on both desktop and mobile formats. Along with Siri and Alexa, the use of voice searches is becoming the norm. Since people can speak far faster than they can type, they’re using voice searches for everything from sending a text to asking for directions.
So how does this affect the future of digital marketing for healthcare? The trick is to learn how your target market conducts searches for your products and services, and make sure your SEO is updated accordingly. Making sure your keywords, images, and tags are matched to the latest searches used is one of the biggest SEO trends for 2020.
5. Effective smart bidding.
Smart bidding is the term for automated bid strategies that optimize for conversions and their values. When used properly, smart bidding for paid advertising can help you make the most of your ad spend. You can also save time, and get better quality leads with more conversions. A sound strategy for digital media buying can lead to an increase in patient acquisition.
6. Strategies to appeal to younger generations.
If your call to action (CTA) is strictly a phone call to the office, then you may be missing a majority of people in the Millennial and Generation Z categories who prefer to communicate through messaging. Have an option to communicate through social direct messaging as well as text messaging to answer questions.
Social media stories are another way of communicating your brand message to younger generations. Facebook is now dominated by the 55+ age group. Since healthcare is a business that targets all ages, you may be missing a large percentage of your target market if you only use Facebook to reach them. Explore new social media channels to learn which outlets prove to be the most valuable to your healthcare practice, and adjust your focus accordingly.
7. Greater reliance on artificial intelligence (AI).
Chatbots are essentially an artificially intelligent computer program used to communicate with a human. They’re steadily becoming the norm to provide instant communication to interested customers or patients, tailored to their preferences and previous conversations. In fact, chatbots are expected to make up 85% of customer service in 2020.
A healthcare practice can use the power of chatbots to improve response time since bots capable of answering hundreds of questions to multiple users at once. The benefits include faster response time, a less invasive interaction, and reduced costs for the healthcare practice. Artificial intelligence is also being used to analyze consumer behavior and search patterns, which can improve future communication and content creation.
Ready to grow your practice?
2020 can be your most profitable year yet when you pair these trends with a digital marketing team that delivers results. Contact iProv today at (501) 214-7985 to get started.
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