When it comes to marketing, there are so many different courses of action that you can take as a clinic owner to boost patient engagement, acquisition and conversion rates. While nearly every type of marketing can be beneficial in some way, content marketing and social media marketing have become more prevalent in the digital age.
If you’re a clinic owner, content and social media can both be incorporated into your marketing strategy. They both increase brand awareness and conversions, usually using the power of the internet. But the terms can be mixed up, which can result in ineffective utilization. It’s important to understand the differences between marketing through content versus social media to make sure that you know how each one should be worked into your strategy for the best results possible.
4 differences between social media and content marketing
At BURG+CO., we understand the power that both social media and content can have in helping you grow your clinic and how to incorporate them into your marketing strategy. Before we dive into the differences between the two, let’s look at the basic definitions of social media marketing and content marketing and how they apply to healthcare clinics.
Social media marketing is a channel that refers to creating and sharing relevant posts on social media platforms to connect and engage with current and potential patients. Content marketing is a strategy that involves creating informative and relevant media through different avenues to reach your target demographics.
It’s worth noting that social media can be used in content marketing, as content can be posted and shared on social media. It’s essentially a delivery system for the content. But that’s a bit different than creating social media-specific campaigns.
Here are the key differences between social media and content marketing that clinic owners should keep in mind:.
- Focus of campaigns/content
The main difference between social media and content marketing is the overall goal that each is trying to achieve.
The goal of social media marketing is to expand your online presence and brand awareness through engaging social media posts. It allows you to connect and conversate directly with your current and potential patients.
Content marketing aims to increase your patient acquisition and retention through education. The goal of high-quality content is to share information that can benefit the reader by forming a connection between an interesting issue or medical concern and your helpful services.
- Distribution options
Social media marketing is a channel of distribution in itself. It means that it’s a way to reach your potential patients through established platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Content marketing allows you to explore a variety of channels, including social media. But the other common content distribution channels are through your website and email campaigns.
- Metrics to track results
Metrics refer to the measurable assessments of a marketing strategy. They not only help you see what’s working, but they also bring attention to areas that need improvement.
The success of social media marketing strategies is tracked through a variety of major metrics, but here are some of the essentials:
- Engagement — Likes, comments and shares of social media posts.
- Reach — People who viewed your posts.
- Amplification rate — The number of post shares by your followers.
A few of the major metrics tracked for content marketing are:
- Page views — How many times a piece of content was viewed on your site.
- Time on site — “Session duration,” or how long a person spent during a single visit to your site.
- Keyword rankings — How your site ranks on search engine result pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords.
Both types of marketing can use click-through rates (CTRs) and conversions as important metrics. CTRs are how many people clicked a link in a post or type of content for more information. Conversions take that one step further by tracking how many of those people actually became patients or subscribed for future contact after following those links.
- Formats
It’s important to remember that the word “content” can technically apply to social media posts as well. But the format of content that’s being published is different between the two marketing approaches.
Social media marketing uses visually appealing posts to garner attention and interest in your clinic. The format of a social media post will depend on the platform you’re using. For example, Twitter allows you to grab the attention of a potential patient in 280 characters or less, such as asking them a question about their current wellness habits.
Content marketing tends to be long-form pieces of content that discuss relevant topics related to your services. If your clinic specializes in sports injuries, you can have content discussing common baseball injuries or how to reduce the risk of muscle strain while exercising. The content is usually formatted as articles, newsletters or blog posts.
Want to attract new visitors to your website through content marketing? BURG+CO. can help
Increasing traffic to your website plays a role in increasing conversions and leading to new clients. However, it’s difficult to attract visitors to your site when you don’t know what to do. Fortunately, this is what we specialize in at BURG+CO.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their digital presence to attract new leads and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more visitors to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about digital marketing or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
