Texas Back Institute Chief Development Officer Cheryl Zapata began incorporating smart content into the spine practice's social media strategy last year, and the group has seen an impact.
Ms. Zapata discusses the challenges and opportunities smart content brought to their marketing strategy and the potential for growth in the future.
Question: Why did Texas Back Institute decide to engage in smart content for social media?
Cheryl Zapata: Over the past few years we have seen a significant change in our new patient volumes as it relates to patients who come in through the web, specifically social media. We are always looking for new ways to engage our audience, as well as capture the attention of new visitors. We thought looking for and writing about smart content might meet both of these goals. Our social audience has enjoyed the content, and we often have our content "shared" in various places on the internet.
Q: As a large spine group, what advantages have you seen from using smart content? What impact has it had on the practice?
CZ: We have seen significant increases on our web traffic, time on the site and pages visited. For example, we recently ran a post on Duck Dynasty. It was the week of the season premier. Our increase in web traffic alone was up 300 percent. Our information shows we are getting our message and our name to those who are looking for items which normally would be considered to have no tie to spine pain.
It has affected the practice in that our digital footprint has grown significantly, we are capturing viewers (the information is always in print, but sometimes accompanied by video) we might not otherwise have had an opportunity to reach, and we have do have viewers who are then driven to the practice for spine services.
Q: What are the challenges of engaging in smart content? At what point does the time and energy put into the smart content strategy show a return on investment?
CZ: The primary challenge is keeping up with trending topics and then making the tie to spine care. The second question is a difficult one. We made the decision to commit to the use of smart content for six months, and we reviewed the results each week. Around month six we started seeing some movement in the web traffic, so we continued it through the year. It was sometime in the second six months, we really gained strength. There were other changes in our web marketing during that period which made our smart content more visible as well.
Q: What steps did you take in order to build this program and ensure continued success?
CZ: We would watch the results of the smart content after each posting. We paid a great deal of attention to not only the analytics, but also the information regarding what our audience would do with it. Would they repost? Share the content? Comment? Read it, but do nothing else?
We also consistently reviewed topics to see which were working, and which ones had little effect. We learned a great deal about the trends, engagement and topics over the past year. Another important factor is to look at trending topics with no preconceived notions. As I stated earlier, we often write about topics which would appear to have no tie to spine. Often they are our most successful posts.
Q: What are your goals for smart content in the future? How do you see it growing the practice?
CZ: We will continue to use smart content and in the past few months have found ways to use the content in untraditional outlets with established, well developed audiences. Smart content is a challenge, but the uses are, as far as we can see, unlimited.
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