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Carefully delegate your office’s social media efforts
If you choose not to oversee this project yourself, be sure that the person or company you select can effectively promote your brand.
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It is never too late to kick off a social media effort for your office.
First things first: You must decide who will manage and handle your social media outreach. It takes little work, but a lot of planning.
Agustin L.
Gonzalez
Unlike the clinical or business aspect of your office, social media management does not require much training or expertise, but it does require that you and your office have a brand and a cohesive, parallel message. It also requires that you (or the right people) write the right content.
Recently I have been asked about delegating the office social media effort. I have always preached that social media is about you and your brand coming across and interacting in an engaging or educational way with your patients. Although I believe you are best person to do this, as you are the most knowledgeable about what brand message and interaction you want to deliver, you must keep in mind that the best content and interaction is created when there is personalization and spontaneity.
Delegating your social media management to another person or company is the next best thing to doing it yourself, but you must consider a few things.
Look for familiarity. Remember that social media is all about engagement, branding and marketing. It is important that you delegate any social media effort to a person or company that is familiar with your work, message and effort so they can better advocate the spectrum of services you provide.
Look for creativity and “out-of-the-box” thinking. Creativity and engagement go together, and with few limits to interaction, a creative company or an out-of-the-box thinker will give your brand the best opportunity for engagement.
Look at collaboration. Who said that you have to come up with your social ideas? Ask employees, patients and even other colleagues. The same applies for delegation – ask the originator where they go for their inspiration.
Look at planning. Discussion and planning of your social media efforts are crucial if you will not be directly supervising or involved in the engagement process. Discuss your brand image and decide what type of message (clinical, retail, both) you want to deliver. You will find that this conversation can even create additional engaging ideas.
Before you request likes on Facebook and attempt to lure people with two-for-one eyeglasses or free eye exams, you must formulate your brand. Make sure it stands out and is consistent with your social media effort.
Social media is new, and there are no clear answers regarding to whom to delegate your social media effort. However, it is a process that starts by identifying your needs and the cohesiveness of the person or company to which you are entrusting this task. The best candidate will better reflect who you are and the brand you want to promote.