How to Use Facebook Ads to Attract New Patients to Your GI Practice

With over five billion social media users worldwide and an estimated 410,000 new social media users coming into the fold daily, it’s hard to fight the impact and importance of social media in our day-to-day lives. 

Over the years, social media has expanded to be not only a space to further relationships with friends and family but also a way to forge outside connections that may never have existed without these digital platforms. These connections not only manifested between individuals but also between businesses and consumers. 

According to Search Engine Journal, 44% of internet users between the ages of 16 and 64 used social media as their primary source of information when researching brands and services. Gone are the days of consulting the Yellow Pages and friends for the best gastroenterology practice in town  –we now have access at the touch of a button. 

How do you forge relationships with new consumers in a digital world? Two words: paid advertising. 

What is Paid Advertising?

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Have you ever searched for home furniture or car dealerships near you on Google? You’ve likely come across a pay-per-click advertisement.

Paid advertising, also known as pay-per-click advertising, allows advertisers to bid for top spots within a specific platform or social network. For example, a Google search on a general product or business will likely show sponsored pages first, followed by organic pages. 

The sponsored pages are spaces bought by a company to award them the top spot. In contrast, a non-sponsored organic page earned its position by ranking highly within Google’s algorithm. 

You can place bids for paid advertisements through the following networks and platforms: 

• Google Ads
• YouTube Ads
• Facebook Ads
• Instagram ADs
• Connected TV/ OTT Advertising 

Choosing Which Paid Media Channel to Invest Your Money In 

With various options and spaces to place your paid advertisements, how do you determine which platform is the perfect space to attract new patients to your gastroenterology clinic?

Understanding your audience is the most crucial factor in deciding which advertising channel to invest in. 

Reading the Room

Just as in an initial consultation with a patient, you’ll want to gather specific details on your audience before choosing which platform is best to engage and attract new clientele. 

Identifying the key traits of your current client base will help form a strategy for where to attract new clients. Key characteristics may include: 

• Personal information (i.e., location, preferences, age, gender, etc.) 
• Audience intent (are they seeking information on specific medical conditions, colonoscopy appointments, etc.) 
• Behavior analysis (do your patients engage ads with images, videos, or specific keywords?) 

Once you identify your audience, you’ll be able to better understand what social media platform they spend most of their time interacting with. For example, if your patient demographic is adults between the ages of 30 and 50, Facebook Ads would be a better investment than Instagram ads, given that the latter’s user base is comprised of 18-24-year-olds. 

Using Facebook Ads to Attract New Patients 

With a monthly active user base of 2.8 billion people, Facebook offers an ideal target audience for GI practices and the ability to track and measure results easily using its analytics tool. 

With the capability to deliver ads with images, videos, a carousel, or capture leads with a pre-filled form, it offers a variety of ways to engage with and attract new patients. 

Here are some key ways to make the most of Facebook Ads in gaining new patients: 

Target a Specific Demographic 

Facebook’s Ads Manager allows you to reach potential patients in a specific geographic location, a technique known as geotargeting. By narrowing your focus to a local area, you can target those most likely to search for and use your services. 

Quality Visuals Paired with Compelling Copy 

Content with images or videos receives 94% more views than text content. While high-quality images and professional videos will grab audience attention, when paired with engaging copy, you have a recipe for success. 

Experiment with Ads 

Remember how we said that Facebook gives you variety in terms of what ad formats to post? Now is the time to experiment! By testing various ad formats, you can measure which ads receive more engagement from your intended audience and then use those to build upon – or change – your plan moving forward. 

Hire a Pay-Per-Click Advertising Agency That’s Right For You 

As the leading marketing agency near you in the healthcare, automotive, and legal fields, Motivated Marketing focuses on helping brands achieve measurable results through our creativity and comprehensive digital strategy. 

As part of our pay-per-click advertising services, we will learn the ins and outs of not only your business but also competitors, market, and audience before developing a strategy. 

Our paid advertising strategy will include the following: 

• Triggers 
• Audience
• Media planning and forecasting
• Trend analysis and relative market share research 
• Among others 

Are you ready to meet your audience halfway and gain new patients along the way? View our services, from paid advertising to SEO, and prepare yourselves to move forward toward success.