Most industries are keen to get in on the publicity generated by trending topics. Perhaps you’re wondering if healthcare professionals can appropriately raise their voices in the hubbub. Indeed, healthcare groups can offer the interesting and trustworthy content that makes a trend a teachable moment. This way, they provide genuine community service and solidify client loyalty.
Healthcare professionals can add unexpected information. Or they might confirm an influencer’s take on a wellness issue. A healthcare organization can help sort fact from myth by explaining what the science does and doesn’t say.
We hope you’ll agree that high-quality, well-edited commentaries can create the online voice of a healthcare business, draw public interest, and raise the level of discussion on social media platforms. Let’s see just how this works. Consider the buzz about the importance of moving your body at the office.
Averting Death by Desk Chair
A recent piece by Adriana Velez for the popular online site Lifehacker offers lively commentary on What to Do Throughout the Day to Keep Sitting From “Killing” You. It has plenty of vetted tips—just what readers want. Getting up, stretching, walking during the workday, and even working on a yoga ball can offset the health risks of sedentary work. The piece also links to 2013 and 2017 studies indicating that breaks for movement can lower blood glucose and insulin levels, as well as blood lipid levels.
Healthcare pros know that muscle strains and back pain, which can result from maintaining any one posture for too long, fall within the category of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs). Employers are still learning about the health risks connected with sedentary work. Your company can inform this vital public-health message.
You can also go into the potentially mood-enhancing effects of interrupting sitting with walking, as discussed in some hot-off-the-press research.
Other Health-Related Trends for Your Blog and Social Media Channels
What other concepts might your readers want to explore with you? Many wellness-related subjects come up when we check the pulse of online discussion trends.
Rev up your company’s PR power by knowing what current news events relate to your area of knowledge. If you work with a nonprofit focused on healthcare provisions, you’ll see no end to the findings and news that affect your readers.
And keep abreast of gadgets! Fitbits, smartphone apps that count footsteps, flights of stairs and running or walking distances are popular. So are standing desks, quick workouts, and bone-strengthening exercises. Any of these can make for a worthwhile exploration of the art of content marketing by tapping into popular, health-oriented topics.
Know What’s Trending
What wellness-related topics are people talking about right now? Find out. Search for #health on Twitter.
Let’s stop and try this out. As this piece goes to publication, the first things we find buzzing at the top of our search screen are:
- Benefits of climbing stairs;
- Eating vegan;
- Robots in the healthcare system; and
- New apps that give mental health advice possibly filling in for traditional therapists.
Filling in for therapists? Whoa! Can a leader in your organization inform this discussion—or those other interesting topics? Your commentary will enrich the conversations of so many of your readers.
Now, set up a few Google news alerts around keywords that matter to your organization.
Current Tips and Best Practices for the Online Healthcare Industry
- Picture your organization as a thought leader. Advertising your services and supplies is one step in the development of an online presence. Healthcare corporations and nonprofits can go further. To enhance your company’ s potential for contributing to breaking news and top trends, comment. Converse. Share information with reporters. Make your organization available to the media.
- Motivate action. Include tips for readers. Some readers will change their habits because your post educated and inspired them. Your important advice will be best remembered when people act on it. Make personal change easy to begin.
- Share information about projects and events your community will find meaningful. You need not advertise your competitors’ doings, of course. That said, it’s generally best to avoid showing up your competitors by naming them in critical comments online.
- Be mindful of the difference between the clinic and the online forum. This is done by keeping the focus away from personal health issues (that could embarrass some of your readers), and instead focusing on benefits available to everyone, is usually possible. And it’s the best PR practice online.
- Prepare your trend-savvy spokespeople. While a story is on everyone’s mind, seize the moment. In the current social business environment, organizations must be more agile in PR than at any time before. If bureaucracy at your organization delays news releases, blog posts, or a tweet to an online media rep, take the time to create a workable system that allows for more flexibility. Enable social media messaging by people in your group who purposefully follow news and trends.
- Get outside support for content marketing. Are your personnel too busy to handle the trend-spotting task? Employ a content writing firm that allows direct access to skilled writers. Then, you can oversee and post accurate, high-quality content on behalf of your group.
Trending topics matter to today’s healthcare messaging. So get set to jump into the conversation. Know that content marketing is a natural fit for your healthcare business. An ever-growing population is looking online for new wellness knowledge. It’s never been easier to respond.
About the author
Lee H hosts three blogs, and writes for several others. Topics include non-profit management, higher education, finance, environmental law and policy, gender studies…and, on the lighter side, everything from word origins to historical explorations of food and drink.
