Using Q&A Websites for Patient Acquisition

Marketing is an excellent way to reach a wide range of audiences and generate leads. However, social media platforms are not the only place you can go to. Q&A sites can be a great platform to connect with your audiences. It is also a great way to generate interest in your clinic and establish yourself as an authority in your field.

Q&A sites, such as Quora or Yahoo Answers, are very popular among many demographics. It is an easy and free way to get answers to complex questions from within the community.

You can get answers to questions such as, “how do I ace my driver’s test?” to “how do I plan my dental treatment?”.

The platform works based on user-generated content. For any question, the uses of that platform answer it.

The people who answer a question can be a rookie who just started or an expert in that field. The answers can get upvoted or boosted by the users or the person who posted the question. This means that the answer is accurate and valid. The more upvotes a question has, the more popular it is.

How does this factor into your marketing strategy?

Having at least one Q&A site included in your marketing strategy can help you establish yourself as an expert in your field and help you build on your brand awareness.

What does this mean?

A clinic only runs if there are patients who are making bookings. And the key to scaling up a business is to acquire new patients while you retain the old ones.

Now, you can get these patients or leads from social media platforms, where your campaigns can be a hit or miss. Or you can build a community on Q&A sites, whose members will convert into your patients. Users on Q&A sites are actively looking for solutions. Therefore, all you have to do is give them a great valued solution or answer.

The more questions you answer, the more your brand awareness increases. Which then leads to more people who follow your profile and become community members.

What can Q&A sites do for your clinic?

These platforms are a content marketing haven. You have your platform and audience ready to consume content. All you have to do is put out quality and relevant information.

With a little work and a bit of time, you can boost your brand awareness and engagement. The more upvotes your answers have the more people will read them.

1. Attract new patients:

Users who follow your profile or topics relevant to you are potential patients. If you set yourself up as an expert in your domain, then people will look to you for advice and information.

This lets you build up a community that regularly sees your content.

2. Boost traffic to your social media and website:

The first point leads into the second one. People who follow you on a Q&A site will check out your social media pages and website. Therefore, increasing your traffic and reach.

You can link your products and website to the answers you provide. Hence, you are giving your customers value as well as marketing your services.

3. Improve SEO:

If you have high-value answers, people are bound to upvote your answers. And if you add a link to your website, it not only increases traffic. It also improves your SEO.

Additionally, you are improving your services’ exposure with a simple tactic.

4. Target Audience Research:

Q&A platforms don't follow trends as social media platforms do. Since the platform depends on user-generated content, the topics are based on new technology or popular questions. Hence, it becomes easy to conduct audience research and find out what people are looking for.

A few things to remember when building a presence on Q&A sites:

• Answer questions relevant to your work/expertise
• Keep it short and concise
• Answer recent questions. Cap the timeline at a month or so. Don't answer questions a year old
• Provide statistics and relevant links where you can
• You can link your website or social media page. However, be cautious as to where you are linking them. Don't link it for every answer or don't provide too many links
• Use images and videos where you can

Which Q&A site to use for your clinic?

There are several platforms or websites that you can use. However, which platform you use will depend on a few factors:

• Your clinic’s business aim
• Your overall marketing objective
• And the audience you are trying to reach

Quora and Reddit are by far the most popular Q&A sites for brands. Mainly because they have the biggest chunk of demographic and a wide range of audiences.

1. Quora

Quora is used by every imaginable demographic. Here are some statistics provided by siteefy.com:

• Google has indexed about 54 million words on Quora
• 18 to 24-year-olds make up for 45% of total users
• 25 to 34-year-olds make up about 32% of users
• Quora ads have a 4x conversion rate compared to other platforms
• 98% of brands have at least one thread
• 65% of users have higher education degrees
• 54% make more than $100,000 a year

All these stars point to one thing: Quora is one of the best Q&A platforms for a brand to have a presence. And, this includes your clinic.

People with higher education degrees are more inclined to opt-in for healthcare treatment. Additionally, people who have a higher income are more likely to book regular treatment appointments. Moreover, people who use Quora are actively looking for solutions to their problems or questions. Therefore, they make the perfect audience to connect with.

Lead generation is not the only advantage of using Quora, a few others are:

• Establish your brand as an expert
• Build brand awareness
• Build a community
• You can follow similar topics and accounts
• Quora answers appear in Google searches

2. Reddit

Reddit is a community of people who initiate conversations about their interests and passions. The communities can range from gaming to dental health. Hence, there is a big chance that your clinic will also find your community on this platform. It is widely considered a forum. Therefore, users are the ones who generate content for the website.Initially, it can be hard to market on Reddit.

Because Reddit users look for answers that provide value to them. However, if you put out great content that packs in value, Reddit will love you. It is one of the most community-centric platforms, where content is not created for trends but to find new and helpful information.

According to backlinko.com, Reddit has 52 million users logging on every day. About 48% of Reddit users are from the US and about 25% of them are adults. Moreover, Reddit has ranked as the 19th most visited site in 2021.