In healthcare, we typically focus on the moments that drive a prospect to become a patient of your organization. These moments include patients finding your organization in search engine results, clicking on a paid ad, or scrolling through your site to learn more about your treatment options for a specific condition.
However, one moment that often gets overlooked is when a prospective or even current patient visits the blog page of your website.
What do they see when they arrive? Is the information on your blog helpful or generic? Is the content patient-focused, or simply a way for your team to blast out press releases that don’t have much — if anything — to do with patients’ concerns?
If your blog has gone stagnant or turned into a lackluster page where press releases go to die, it’s time to consider a revamp. Even better, it’s time to consider launching a healthcare content hub for your organization.
What is a healthcare content hub?
A content hub is a term used to describe an area of a website where organizations publish quality content that’s useful to their target audience. These hubs often have an editorial look, feel, and tone, creating an engaging, branded experience that goes beyond your basic blog page.
In healthcare, content hubs are used to share vital health information, patient stories, and news-related posts that relate to the services they provide.
If you have a healthcare content hub that needs some TLC or are just getting started on your healthcare content marketing journey, here are a few tips from our team to get you started.
Keep it timely
Not all of the information you share through your healthcare content hub has to tie in with current events or seasonal happenings. By adding in timely content, you can capture your audience’s attention and make your content hub a go-to place for the latest in health news.
Timely topics could be tips for allergy relief during the spring months, healthier recipes to try out during the holidays, or suggestions from your care teams about health topics in the headlines.
Keep it consumable
If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that consumers’ attention spans are short. This is especially true as Gen Z patients start making their own healthcare decisions, and more and more patients consume healthcare content from their phones.
Aim to keep your content on the shorter side, with a layout that utilizes bulleted lists, headers, and bold text to make it skimmable. You may also consider creating video content, especially short-form videos, as they’re a fantastic way to share critical information while holding viewers’ attention.
Keep it credible
Your healthcare content hub is a place to let your organization’s expertise shine!
This means bringing in providers as subject matter experts to inform the stories you cover, provide quotes, and even write content themselves if they have time. If your organization is working on a physician marketing strategy, having providers serve as content hub authors is another great way to provide them with promotion and exposure.
Keep it audience-focused
No matter what your content hub looks like, your content strategy needs to be centered around the people who will be visiting it: your audience of patients and prospective patients.
Think like a patient when brainstorming story topics and consider articles they might find helpful, like patient success stories, “get to know a provider” profiles, and health information they can use in their everyday lives. By weaving in stories of the people your organization employs and has helped in addition to health content, you can add a component of social proof and trust-building to your hub.
Not sure about the types of helpful stories patients want to read on your healthcare content hub? You can also employ a poll or survey within the site where users can provide their thoughts and ideas on what they’d like to see next!
Keep it actionable
Every piece of content should include the next steps a reader can take. Examples of these calls to action can include:
- A link to your appointment scheduling platform at the end of a provider profile
- Links to your relevant service line pages in an article about a condition or treatment
- A call to share their experience at the end of a patient success story
- Links to previous articles on a similar topic in a health-related news story
Whatever you do, make sure the posts on your content hub aren’t the end of the line for your readers. Instead, they should open the door to more helpful, engaging content.
Looking for healthcare content hub inspiration?
If you’re due for a new or revamped healthcare content hub and aren’t sure where to start, check out these case studies to see how we helped organizations like Cone Health in North Carolina and Silver Cross Hospital in Illinois transform their content strategies and get results (like a 56% increase in social media traffic!). You can also find inspiration in these content marketing hubs, which our team finds particularly impressive.
When you’re ready to get started with your own healthcare content hub, Geonetric is ready to help! Reach out to our team to learn more about the development process and how we can create a powerful content hub that accomplishes your goals.