17 Jan Are physicians on Facebook?
Do physicians use Facebook to learn about new medical advances, research health conditions, and understand trends in healthcare? Unlikely. But are they on Facebook? Absolutely. A lot.
In fact, a recent survey by MedData revealed that more than half of physicians are on Facebook daily. This includes PCPs (64% visit Facebook at least weekly, 72% at least monthly) and specialists (60% weekly, 74% monthly).
Facebook is easily the world’s largest social networking platform and one of the most widely used, with about 1.59 billion users per month. Like almost everyone else, physicians check their Facebook page for updates about friends, family, or topics of interest—including those outside the field of medicine.
So, advertising on Facebook is potentially a very effective and efficient channel to engage and educate HCPs. Here’s how to capitalize on this opportunity:
- Target your audience the right way
Facebook lets you identify your audience in a number of ways: age, income, geography, interests, etc. But as we all know, healthcare audiences tend to be grouped into specialties. So if your audience is, say, interventional radiologists, it’s unlikely that Facebook will have any luck helping you identify a category so specific.
That’s why it’s best to work with a company specializing in HCP data solutions that can provide a list of digital IDs that enable you to target your specific audience on Facebook. We only work with data companies that provide lists that are sourced, validated, and updated regularly. Generally, these companies can provide lists for most medical specialties.
- Choose your Facebook ad
Facebook ads target people across all devices in a variety of ways:
- On a user’s Facebook News Feed
- On the Facebook Audience Network (FAN), which includes top-tier mobile apps and websites
- On Facebook’s mobile instant messaging app, Messenger
- On a user’s Instagram feed
Facebook offers a variety of ad configurations from which to choose. Here are a few of our favorites:
Carousel
Carousel ads let you showcase up to ten images or videos in a single ad, each with its own link.
Collection
Each collection ad features a primary video or image with four smaller accompanying images below in a grid-like layout, with links to appropriate pages.
Video
Tell your story with sight, sound, and motion. Video ads come in a range of lengths and styles—from short, feed-based ads you watch on the go, to longer videos you may spend more time concentrating on. Today, more people than ever are watching video. And that’s a trend that will continue. In fact, 78% of all mobile data will be video by 2021.
Messenger
People see these ads in the Chats tab in their Messenger app. When they tap on an ad, they’ll be sent to a detailed view within Messenger with a call-to-action that will take them to the destination you chose.
Photo
Photo ads offer a clean, simple format to feature engaging imagery and copy.
In a Facebook study, a series of photo-only ads outperformed other ad formats in driving unique traffic.
Oh, and we’re a big fan of FAN (Facebook Audience Network)
FAN is a network of apps and websites outside Facebook that show your ads within their content. It is the largest native mobile ad network in the world.
- Measure the effectiveness of your ad
Facebook allows accessing of real-time data to assess key metrics:
- Click-through rates
- Conversion rates
- View-through rates
A/B testing is also possible to measure and optimize your spend.
Depending on the effectiveness of your ad, you can revise or refine it to help make it even more successful.