Building Patient Preference Before the Moment of Need

How OrthoSC Uses Social Media, Community Connections & Easier Access to Reach the Next Generation of Patients

FEATURING: Heidi Scarce, Director of Marketing and Business Development, OrthoSC

HOSTED BY: Alison Costello, President, Decibel Media

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION

How do you build patient preference before someone actually needs orthopedic care? 

In this episode of the Decibel Impact Series, Heidi Scarce, Director of Marketing and Business Development at OrthoSC, joins Decibel Media President Alison Costello to discuss how the growing orthopedic practice is reaching a younger generation of patients and the parents making healthcare decisions for their families.

The conversation explores OrthoSC’s shift toward social media and community-based marketing, why entertaining content can still support real business goals, how the team measures impact beyond likes and views, and the role easier access plays in turning awareness into patient relationships.

READ THE CONVERSATION

Prefer to read? See the video transcript below.

02:22   Reaching a New Generation of Patients

Heidi Scarce: Our market is constantly growing, which creates a great opportunity, but it also means we have to stay relevant to people moving into the area who may not know our history.

One audience we’ve been particularly focused on is the mom making appointment decisions for her children, spouse and potentially her parents or grandparents.

We’ve made a strong push behind social media while also focusing on easier access to orthopedic care.

04:20   Humanizing the Healthcare Experience

Heidi Scarce: Social media should be entertaining. We’re not always trying to push a sales message.

We want to personalize the practice and show more than just our physicians. A patient’s favorite person might be someone sitting at the front desk.

Giving people an inside look at the entire team helps humanize the practice and gives families a better understanding of the experience they’ll have here.

05:39   Entertainment With a Business Goal

Heidi Scarce: I look for trends, including popular audio and content that can help get more eyes on what we’re doing.

For Halloween, we created a video around a physical therapist running into Michael Myers and correcting his form. It ended up getting more than 2 million views.

But we always connect that entertaining content back to a practice goal, whether that’s urgent care access, our 24/7 Hurt app or another service we’re trying to grow.

07:10   Looking Beyond Social Media Metrics

Alison Costello: How do you demonstrate that awareness and preference building are actually having an impact?

Heidi Scarce: We track Instagram and Facebook metrics monthly, but I’m also looking at patient volume, zip codes, ages and gender to identify growth patterns.

Over the last year, we’ve grown our pediatric patient population, particularly among elementary school-age children, which was an important goal for us.

At the end of the day, I want to see the proof in the pudding: what patients are actually coming through the door?

09:20   Becoming Part of the Community

Heidi Scarce: I spend a lot of time in the community supporting the organizations that are growing around us.

We want people to feel like OrthoSC is an asset and part of the healthcare team in this area.

We show up at events, support other organizations and focus heavily on patient education. That involvement has given back to us tenfold.

10:40   Building Patient Loyalty Earlier

Heidi Scarce: Two years ago, a lot of our sponsorship investment was focused on high schools.

We’ve shifted more of that investment toward younger pediatric audiences. We’ve also scaled back some of our traditional commercial presence and focused more on streaming platforms, podcasts and other ways to reach parents.

We’re trying to create patient loyalty earlier, before families have already established which healthcare systems they’re comfortable using.

12:27   Where OrthoSC Is Seeing Social Success

Heidi Scarce: Instagram Reels have been wildly successful for us.

People talk a lot about TikTok, but the parents we’re trying to reach are very active on Instagram. For our audience, Reels have definitely been one of our strongest tactics.

13:20   Speed Can Matter More Than Perfection

Heidi Scarce: You have to stay active and watch what trends your audience is responding to.

Then you have to move quickly.

Sometimes that means being willing to put something out that isn’t perfect because you’re catching the front end of a trend. Sometimes it’s really just about speed.

14:34   Removing Barriers to Care

Heidi Scarce: We’ve really focused on taking away limitations to access.

We’ve expanded self-pay options, added orthopedic urgent care and partnered with the Hurt app to provide free, 24/7 access to an orthopedic specialist.

For a parent whose child gets hurt on a Friday night, that means they can quickly find out whether they need to go to the ER or whether it can wait until they can see a physician they already know and trust.

17:29   Community Connection Creates a Return

Heidi Scarce: One of the things that surprised me most was the impact of community connection.

It’s one thing to sponsor an event. It’s another thing to actually show up, lend a hand, support the schools and demonstrate that you’re giving back.

That has created a significant return for the practice as a whole.

19:09   Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something Different

Heidi Scarce: The organizations that may not grow as quickly are often the ones that are afraid to try new things and put themselves out there.

We partnered with a local ice cream shop and created an OrthoSC ice cream flavor, then let the community vote on what the flavor would be. It became one of our most popular social media initiatives.

Sometimes the idea might not have an obvious healthcare connection at first. You have to be willing to be creative.

20:15   The OrthoSC Marketing Playbook

Heidi Scarce: Be on the lookout for growing trends and use the creative side of your brain.

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. When you find something you think is going to hit, move quickly because the trend may pass before the work is perfect.

Perfection can’t always come first.