APMA News - March/April 2022 - 22

Understanding Social
Media Audiences: Part 2
Tiffany Kildale, APMA associate director of Young Physicians and Students
Understanding how your target audience uses
social media can help you achieve your professional
social media goals. According to Statista (www.
statista.com), the most popular social media
platforms for business in the US are Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat.
In the previous issue of APMA News, we covered
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Now we will
look at LinkedIn, TikTok, and Snapchat.
LinkedIn: This platform for professionals appeals
to a large pool of middle-aged users, with 36 percent
in the 30-49 age range. Men edge out women
by several percentage points. LinkedIn offers the
potential to showcase your niche to other healthcare
specialties. The biggest mistake you can make
on LinkedIn is to treat it like every other social
media platform; LinkedIn sets itself apart by being a
career networking platform. Put your best headshot
front and center with your latest achievement.
Known for its B2B marketing potential, LinkedIn's
organic engagement rate is nearly double that of
Facebook. Because this channel is geared specifically
for career promotion and networking, users
are more receptive to posts and updates with a
heavy marketing angle. APMA uses LinkedIn to
showcase and highlight the podiatric profession to
different medical disciplines. It's a place to connect
with medical representatives from all disciplines,
along with colleagues and peers.
TikTok and Snapchat: These channels have a
much younger audience, with an average user age of
12-24. These platforms are great for general career
awareness (APMA uses them frequently in student
recruitment campaigns), but they may not be the
best channels for achieving practice-driven social
media goals. Because the primary audience is young,
it is important to know how to create content appealing
to this demographic. Keep your content brief
and even a bit unpolished; anything that seems too
rehearsed or forced presents itself as inauthentic.
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When it comes to TikTok, hashtags play a critical
role in making sure your content is shown to the
right audience. For your content to be discovered,
you want to land on the TikTok For You Page
(#fyp). The best way to accomplish this goal is to
research hashtags and the accompanying content,
identify content trends, and work to create similar
content that highlights the unique qualities of your
practice and patient care. Remember-TikTok is
primarily video-heavy content, so if you plan to
participate in this channel, be prepared to spend
some time editing video clips.
Snapchat may require some trial and error. The
key element that sets Snapchat apart is the fact
that content (called Snaps) " disappears. " (Thanks
to screengrabs, nothing on the internet truly disappears.)
Remember that Snapchat was created
as a messaging app. This focus sheds some light
on the user experience and why platform features
differ from some of the more traditional social
media channels. Be prepared for filters, stickers,
and other creative assets to adorn your Snaps; this
app relies heavily on these features to personalize
content. Once you publish your Snap to your
Story, it will be available to your Snapchat friends/
followers for 24 hours.
TikTok and Snapchat may not be the best
channels for promoting your practice or achieving
your practice-related social media goals, but
if you're interested in promoting the profession to
future podiatrists or spreading general awareness
of podiatry and the value of foot and ankle health,
they're great channels to reach a young audience.
Narrowing your goals will best dictate where you
should maintain a presence and what type of content
to create and share. Most importantly, it is not
necessary to be on every social media platform to
grow your business. Identify one or two channels
that align with your goals and focus on them to
see the most success.
http://www.statista.com http://www.statista.com
APMA News - March/April 2022

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