What no one told you about using social media in physician recruitment

You probably know by now that you should be using social media as part of your overall physician recruitment strategy.  Whether you’ve read articles on the subject, or seen success stories of it working well for other hospitals and health systems, you likely know what it would take to make it work for you. But there are some things about using social media in physician recruitment that no one has told you about.

Whether it’s how well it will really work, or how much effort you truly need to put into it, here are three things about using social media in physician recruitment you need to know.

It Takes Time

In order for social media to be an effective part of your physician recruitment strategy, you will need to invest quite a bit of time. Unlike you may believe, candidate applications won’t begin rolling in  once you start producing and sharing engaging content. Instead, you need to invest months into building a strong following on social media that regularly engages with your content before  you begin to see it pay dividends.

It Doesn’t Work for Everyone

If an organization doesn’t have the time or the resources to really make a sustained effort to build their social media following and engage with a pool of prospective candidates, using social media as part of their physician recruitment strategy isn’t likely to work very well. Effectively using social media for physician recruitment requires time, resources, and buy-in from the administration and employees in order to generate a steady stream of candidates through social media efforts.

Quality is More Important Than Quantity

While it’s important to post content to social media regularly in order to build a steady following, it’s equally important to make sure that what you are posting is high quality, engaging content. Simply posting mediocre content for the sake of posting something will not engage your existing followers – and may in fact cause you to lose them. Instead, make sure to post articles, images, and videos that will draw in prospective candidates and make them want to learn even more about your organization.

Key Take Aways:

• Make sure you have the time and resources to make your social media strategy work
• Concentrate on posting content that will attract and engage prospective candidates
• Post regularly, but make sure that when you do, your posts are high quality