When it comes to Facebook, it really does take more than simply creating an account and watching the leads, referrals, and clients come pouring in. The site just isn’t suited for the “build it and they will come” mentality.

This is especially true for members of the healthcare industry, and in particular home health agencies. In the wonderful world of Facebook, people login and engage with information they find useful, and brands which interest them. When you are able to fill these two needs, Facebook becomes a different ball game: one that continues to evolve and bring new and more interesting opportunities.

From working in the healthcare market for some time, I’ve seen many home health agencies that have been getting it wrong on Facebook for years. In the past, I chalked it up to the fact so many healthcare organizations were just waking up to the power of social media for marketing purposes and were doing their own internal fact finding.

Now however, you really need to “up your game” and get involved with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, not only to stay competitive, but also to continually engage your target market in an increasingly cluttered world.

There are several fundamental problems that many home health companies have made on Facebook. In order to help ensure that your agency is not making these mistakes, I’ve listed them below with some easy fixes for you to follow. Let’s get started:

1. Make Sure You Have a Facebook Page. Make sure that your agency has its own Facebook Page….not a Facebook Profile or a Facebook Place. You want a full blown Facebook Page. Nothing is more unprofessional than a member of your target market being asked to “Add as Friend” rather than “LIKE” your Page.

2. Hi-Resolution Cover Image and Logo. Facebook branding should continue on from the branding that you have on your business cards, website, brochures and more. Make sure that your Facebook Cover image is on-brand and is eye catching (after all, it’s the first thing people see when they come to your page). Also, make sure that your Facebook Page logo is hi-resolution and meets the guidelines of size that Facebook puts forth. Both of these items I’ve seen done incorrectly time and time again, and these first impressions do make a difference!

3. Don’t Neglect Your ‘About’ Section. This is another highly neglected area by many home health companies. Go to your Facebook Page, click Edit Page and then Update Page Info. This will bring you to a page where you are asked to fill in specific information about your organization. FILL IN EVERYTHING YOU CAN! A good rule of thumb is to open your agency’s website in another window and then copy and paste the information directly from there to the corresponding area of the Facebook Page. Remember to pack this section with keywords – this is how you will be found easily and quickly in Facebook searches!

4. Respond to Comments, Reviews and Posts! There is nothing worse than going to a home health company’s Facebook Page and seeing absolutely no responses to anything that was written to them. You need to respond to everything – whether it is positive or negative. If you have tons of negative reviews, have you thought to reach out to these people to fix this situation? Just leaving them up there to fester is not bringing your credibility higher, it is dragging it down to rock bottom.

5. Post More Than Once Every 10 Years. Nothing says “I’m here and I care” like completely ignoring your Facebook Page. Sarcasm of course. You need to post to your Facebook Page consistently. If someone goes to your agency’s Facebook Page right now and sees that your last post was 3 months ago….why would they follow or LIKE you? People want to engage and follow home health care agencies that are active (on a consistent basis), not those who never even check their page.

These 5 mistakes are easy to overcome, especially with the help of a qualified social media marketing team. If you are experiencing the above problems, or just need some help making sense of the social media landscape for your home health agency, let us know! The Go! Agency are specialists when it comes to the healthcare social media space and we can help you define and reach your goals today. Call us toll free at 866-926-2636 for a free consultation.