More than ever, women are doing extensive amounts of research when it comes to healthcare products and services they’re interested in. The average customer today is more tech-savvy than those a decade ago since they have one of the most effective research tools: their smartphone. Almost 80% of women in the U.S. use social media and one study found that 86% of women use social media for purchasing advice. In other words, women’s health brands need to be where their customers are and, increasingly, this means establishing a strategic digital presence.
One of the biggest challenges for marketers promoting a women’s health brand is creating a social media presence that is authentic and trustworthy.
Spoiler alert: it’s not just about leveraging social media to showcase your healthcare products or services. It’s also about using social media to effectively educate, entertain, and engage your audience.
For the purposes of this article series, we’re focusing on organic digital content since many consumers often visit a brand’s social media profile as a way to learn more about its products and services. Keep reading as we share three tips on how you can create a more authentic and credible social media presence (and a sneak peek at future healthcare industries we’ll be covering in this series)!
Tip #1: Understand Your Audience and Their Specific Needs
Healthcare marketers can’t build trust with their audience unless they understand their audience’s needs and what they’re looking for in a trusted product or service. It starts with understanding who your audience is. Women’s health brands focus on women, yes, but there’s more to it than that.
- Is the product or service you’re marketing on social media for a younger or older audience?
- What sort of background do they have?
- What are their health concerns?
- What are their pain points?
- How are other brands in the same space approaching their customers?
These are just some of the starting point questions that can help shape your social media marketing strategy and the content you’re sharing.
Depending on your audience’s age, what other interests do they have that could be a complementary topic to share alongside posts featuring your product? For instance, consider a brand that sells women’s multivitamins formulated for those over 50 years old. The product itself is a supplement, so it stands to reason that your audience cares about their health and having a healthy diet. A content series about healthy foods and minerals could be appropriate. Because the customers are on the older side, there may be some additional considerations to how they use social media compared to a much younger audience. For example, keep CTAs (calls to action) on the simpler side. Rather than hide a link in a link tree, consider including a link in a more accessible area.
Ways to learn more about your audience include evaluating your product and how it can support your audience’s healthy lifestyle, running focus groups, and looking into social listening tools. If your audience believes your social media content has been tailored to their interests and needs, then your brand will come across as more authentic and credible.
Tip #2: Create Relatable Social Media Content
Word-of-mouth can be one of the most powerful tools in your social media marketing arsenal. How can healthcare marketers leverage this type of content? Here are three strategies:
- Don’t underestimate the power of testimonials and user-generated content. For example, consider creating simple yet eye-catching custom graphics that feature customer reviews. This helps showcase how your brand has made a positive impact on other customers. Besides reviews, consider leveraging user-generated content on social media. You’ve most likely seen screenshots of people’s posts on X or Reddit being shared on other platforms like Instagram. User-generated content can add a more relatable aspect to your women’s health brand on social media. Of course, these types of content need to be aligned with industry regulations and guidelines.
- Reach out to the experts. Depending on what your women’s health product or service is, healthcare marketers can share expert opinions — like from doctors, registered nurses, and other healthcare practitioners — which can provide credibility for your brand. For example, is your product positively mentioned in a peer-reviewed article in a women’s health magazine? Share it on your social media!
- Look into how influencer marketing can support your women’s health brand. Even in highly-regulated industries like pharmaceuticals, influencer marketing can create more authentic engagement with your audience. And it’s not just the influencers that have millions of followers that you should look out for. Micro influencers with smaller but more engaged followers can be a budget-friendly way to add authenticity to your social media strategy.
Tip #3: Engage and Be Vocal
Healthcare marketers have a lot on their plates, constantly thinking about paid advertising strategies, website SEO and optimization, content schedules — the list is endless! With so much going on, it can be easy to forget that social media is about being social. Consider spending 15 minutes a day browsing through your brand’s social media feed and responding to user comments. This signals that your brand is actively engaged on social media and is listening to your audience.
Another aspect of being authentic and relatable is to be vocal. While being controversial for shock value isn’t a great idea for brands on social media (especially brands in the healthcare space), there are times when healthcare marketers may want to address topics that could be considered controversial. For example, this Instagram post from Wisp takes a clear stance on pregnancy prevention and medical abortion accessibility. By being vocal and taking a stand, the brand has positioned itself as a supporter of women’s healthcare. For their audience, this gives the feeling that the company is doing its best to support women’s health.
Marketing Women’s Health Brands Requires Building Trust and Credibility
Healthcare brands have the potential to make a positive impact on the lives of their customers and patients. Establishing a strategic, authentic, and credible organic social media presence can be a challenge in highly regulated industries, but there are many benefits, which we cover in our article, 3 Reasons Why Pharma Brands Should Be On Social Media.
Stay tuned because we’ll share our tips on how to create authentic and credible content across other healthcare sectors, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and more!
In the meantime, if you’re looking for a data-driven, strategic digital marketing partner for your women’s health brand, let’s get started! Learn more about our services below, including social media platform strategy, paid media, social media landscape analysis, content creation, and more.