Thursday Tip for Content Marketing in Health

If you have been following my posts, you know that you need to set your goals in marketing yourself, your services and your practice. One of these goals is reaching your current and prospective patients.

The thing is, should you spend your time posting entries on Facebook or Instagram? Let’s take a look at the two from a business perspective.

Facebook Vs. Instagram in Health Content

Although Instagram is now owned by Facebook, there are subtle differences.

Facebook is used by pretty much everyone in the free world with one billion users a day.

Yup, that’s one Billion with a B per day!!

There is not much difference between ages or genders with 83% female and 75% male.

How many of those followers for you could change your business for the better?

Setting up Facebook pages, often used by businesses, allows you to personalize the site and have a podium from which you present your messages, engage your clients/patients and let them know what is new for your practice. Pages are viewed actively and up to one third of users on Facebook view pages to engage with brands. Five billion comments are lef

are quite active each month. A third of Facebook users use them to engage with brands. An average of 5 billion comments are left on pages each month.

Facebook continues to be the number one social network when it comes to reach. According to the latest research by Dreamgrow, the platform has 2.2 billion monthly active users. So if you’re looking to increase visibility alone, Facebook wins hands-down.

Source: Dreamgrow

What Instagram Can offer You

Instagram has over 800 million active users each month so clearly it is not just the little startup social media site it once was.

Having people view your photos and videos instantly boosts your visibility and encourages shares with friends and family. There are over 95 million photos and videos shared daily with 4.2 billion likes every 24 hours! This makes Instagram highest of all social networking platforms in engagement with the most highly engaged users.

A study on social media engagement in 2015 by Forrester concluded that user interactions with brands are highest on Instagram when compared to every other social network.

Source: Forrester

average seconds on site per visit
Source: Yotpo

According to Pew Research:

Instagram is most popular among young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. In fact, 55% of internet users in this age group use Instagram. This user base makes Instagram ideal for reaching a younger audience. Instagram is also a great platform for influencer marketing.

Summary

There are many advantages in using both Facebook and Instagram.

Engagement of users is greater on Instagram with sharing of pictures and videos but but for now, Instagram is not as good in content marketing since you cannot typically add links to sites in the individual posts. You are enabled only one link in your profile to your website. Facebook allows you to tell a story which is alluring to visitors. You cannot share links to blogs with photo captions.

Instagram attracts many more young people so it is ideal if you are a pediatrician or specialize in dealing with the Gen Z crowd. On the other hand, if you deal with older patients, instagram will not be as practical for you as Facebook would be. When it comes to reach, Facebook has authority over Instagram. Not only does it have a much larger user base, but it also has acceptance across most age groups.

The third disadvantage is that although there is an impressive number of users on Instagram, 800 million active users per month with 500 million active, 80% of all these users are outside the U.S. While this means that you would have a global reach, if your practice relies solely on local business and clients that live nearby, the global reach may be irrelevant for you.

So, selecting the right platform depends on your goals and what you’re looking for.