As a social media ads manager, I’ve seen a lot over the last decade when managing Facebook ads for healthcare organizations or hospitals. The following guide is ideal for those aiming to optimize Meta advertising results for better patient attraction and retention, especially if you’re currently:
- Planning to launch (or scale up) new healthcare Facebook ad campaigns
While developing an initial strategy (that’s flexible yet compliant with ever-evolving social media policy updates) isn’t easy, this work is crucial if you want to successfully reach your target audiences—without going over budget—using Facebook ads for healthcare. - Reevaluating your strategy for healthcare ads on Facebook
In healthcare marketing, changes—big* and small—happen frequently. To effectively manage your Facebook advertising budget and maintain campaign effectiveness, you must regularly review and adapt your strategy to account for evolving rules.
*You don’t have to look back too far to remember how much Apple’s 2021 iOS 14.5 data privacy updates affected ad targeting and performance.
Getting the greatest FOI with healthcare Facebook ads
Healthcare advertising on Facebook and Instagram can be expensive and ineffective, but if done correctly, it can also be very lucrative with a strong return on ad spend. After all, given that the average patient acquisition cost is now $286, wasting money on Facebook advertising in healthcare campaigns isn’t an option. It’s a necessity.
Keep reading for insights gleaned from working with medical clients nationwide, including examples from a major Midwestern healthcare provider’s wide-ranging Facebook campaigns.
Healthcare ads vs. other ads
When you run Facebook and Instagram ads, you often compete against companies from different industries. Unlike Google, which targets people intending to find specific services or products, Meta ads target a persona or type of person. Unfortunately, the same person in the market for a medical product or service might also be in the market for apparel, electronics, or a car.
Now, let’s dive into healthcare and medical Facebook ads specifically and how to optimize them.
Checklist #1: Three ways to improve Facebook ad content
Whether you’re just getting started with Facebook healthcare advertising or looking to optimize your current campaigns, here’s what you need to know.
Answer the questions in this checklist—based on insights I’ve tested and proven to help maximize conversions—to create or improve your strategy for spending healthcare ad dollars with Meta.
Are you sharing content that provides real value?
Unsurprisingly, self-promoting ads never perform well, so don’t make it all about you. Ad copy that addresses the patient’s pain will always get more conversions than ad copy solely focused on your healthcare services or products.
This is because people respond more when ads that talk to them rather than at them. Facebook ads for healthcare always perform better when they are relatable and offer value.
Pro-tip: After testing both ad creative elements that speak directly to patients’ literal pain points compared to their desired end results, we found time after time that copy and imagery that speak to a target audience’s frustrations will resonate more and improve conversions.
Is your Facebook ad for healthcare too “noisy”?
Have you ever heard someone talk about having to cut through the noise? In this instance, “noise” is basically just a polite way of saying clutter.
With Meta ads for healthcare, that noise could be too many unnecessary words or design elements keeping you from what you really want (or what makes your ad have value—see point #1). So, what does that actually mean in practice?
Here are some guidelines to help you refine your assets to maximize results:
- Photo crops: Use ad creative elements that place direct, up-close focus on the condition or area in pain, type of treatment/service, or medical product. Your ad’s image will likely not perform well if it is too busy, too zoomed out, or unrelated to the subject matter.
- If your medical Facebook ad specifically discusses a solution for treating pain afflicting a specific part of the body, opt for an up-close or zoomed-in photo that shows that area.
- Call to action: Don’t make your audience think. Ad copy with a strong call to action will perform better than copy with a weak CTA.
Have you experimented?
Don’t be afraid to test your healthcare Meta ad creative and copy to maximize your outcomes. Doing the same thing the same way isn’t just boring for you. It’s also boring for people in your target audience. Here are some ideas to use as inspiration for experimentation with your ads:
- Show more females: This tip may surprise you, but after running many tests for different campaigns, it’s clear that using photos that show female patients tends to perform better than those with male models.
- For TBH Creative’s clients, we’ve found this has improved results because, within their target audience groups, women are typically the ones more frequently (and proactively) booking appointments or seeking care options for themselves and friends/loved ones who need care.
- Consider different formats: Our data has shown that image, video, and carousel ads can all perform equally well, provided the ad follows the other guidelines mentioned above—so mix it up.
- Put long ad copy to the test: According to Meta, about 97% of people who see your ad will not click on it. As such, you might as well give them as much information as you would like upfront and see if this helps with conversions.
Checklist #2: Five healthcare Facebook ad setup tips
The following tips are based on what we’ve learned while managing Facebook ads for healthcare organizations and hospitals across the U.S. Use this checklist when setting up your ads to ensure the best results.
Ages
Age targeting can be very effective. Many healthcare services or products are designed for certain age ranges. Don’t get too narrow with age targeting, but it may make sense to maximize the efficiency of your ad spend.
Lookalikes
In most cases, don’t bother with interest or Lookalike targeting. Most medical issues or medications typically don’t have a “persona,” and medical-specific interests are not targetable anyway due to HIPPA laws. However, at the Ad Set level, you can schedule ads to run on specific dates and assign specific budgets to an ad.
Conversion events
Ads perform exponentially better if they are optimized for a specific conversion event, such as a form fill, purchase, or click-to-call.
Ads optimized for website visits, engagement, impressions, or reach are burning money because they tell Facebook you do not care if the viewers perform any valuable action. However, if you are directing your ads to your website, make sure you add UTM parameters to the end of the ad URL so that you can attribute those contacts back to Facebook ads.
- Example: websitename.com/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=advertising
Make sure this information is passed onto a field on the contact record.
Retargeting
Stick with demographic targeting (specifically age and geolocation), and leave the rest open-ended, letting Facebook’s algorithm work for you.
Do not exclude retargeting audiences or existing patients/customers if you have a good product or service because, as seen below, their positive comments or ad engagement can greatly boost your Facebook ad.
Scheduling
The fourth quarter of the year (October–December) is historically the most expensive time to advertise on social media, regardless of your industry. This is due to a massive surge in holiday season e-commerce sales and competition for Facebook and Instagram news feed presence.
There is much less competition for Facebook ad space in Q1–Q3, which makes your ads much cheaper during these months.
Facebook ads for healthcare case study with examples
The following are specific, helpful insights we’ve gleaned from managing a major Midwestern healthcare provider’s wide-ranging Facebook campaigns for many different service lines.
But, before we share some examples, here are a few highlights from our annual performance summary, comparing 2022 versus 2023, to set the stage:
- Despite a 16% decrease in ad spend, we’ve seen a 74% year-over-year increase in contacts—or new patient leads—as well as a 21% year-over-year decrease in cost per click and a 171% year-over-year increase in click-through rate.
What we did to optimize the campaigns
For this client, we decided to give each specialty its own campaign, allowing us to distribute the ad budget evenly and monitor each specialty’s performance separately.
The main ad type we’re using is a lead form ad, which is paired with a value-add for the lead, such as a PDF download with additional information.
For example, our joint pain lead ad asks for a patient’s name and contact information, and in return, we email them an informative, multi-page guide in PDF format. The collected contact information is pushed into the client’s customer relationship management system, where a patient services representative can then follow up with them automatically or manually.
Why hire experts to help you improve your healthcare advertising on Facebook
Facebook ads for healthcare are a great way to:
- Build brand awareness
- Improve engagement with existing clients (and boost overall conversions)
- Increase new patients (and lower the cost per lead)
But, managing healthcare Facebook advertising isn’t for everyone. The process is complex, and it takes a lot of time to do it right (and—often—a commitment to refinement, too).
If you are interested in advertising with Meta but need strategic guidance from an experienced partner, TBH Creative can help. We won’t just set up your ads and then leave you hanging. Our content promotion experts will help you create a strategy and then monitor and refine your ads to ensure they convert and help you reach your marketing goals.
Contact us to learn more and get started.
