Making it Work: Key Features of a Health Care Calendar

In our last post, we discussed why you might want to rely on an online event calendar to get the word out about your health care events. Let’s look a little closer at the specific features any health care calendar should have in order to make an impact.

It’s crucial that your event calendar contain a few key features if you’re marketing to a health care audience. These include:

• Consistent branding - Visitors to your website and brick-and-mortar premises have come to expect a certain atmosphere. Don’t shake things up with your calendar; instead, let this tool blend seamlessly with your main website and other services so visitors never miss a beat.

• Intuitive UX - Health care is known for advancing both patient needs and industry technology. Let your calendar reflect this with an intuitive user experience that puts your visitors and admins in the driver’s seat.

• Filters - Content organization is key for health care. Make sure your events are segmented in your calendar based on target audiences and event types that patients are already familiar with. This may mean listing things as screenings or support groups rather than just a traditional event.

• Social connections - A calendar that connects to social networks is one that will enable your patients to share your events far and wide, potentially increasing the size of your audience at any given event.

• Subscription options - Subscription options for recurring event series like fitness classes or blood drives allow patients and visitors to export events directly to their personal calendars, ensuring that they’ll always be present and accounted for.

• Newsletters - A newsletter functionality for your event calendar will allow you to send weekly roundups or targeted emails to help your audience discover events they might not otherwise have seen.

• Widgets - Your health care organization’s website will have many other pages and destinations besides just your event calendar. Make the most of this space by embedding event widgets on heavily trafficked pages, thereby boosting event awareness, traffic and attendance.

• A space for groups - In a health care setting, you often have many different groups or organizations hosting events. Carve out space for them and their missions on your calendar using the Group landing pages functionality.

• Automatic reminders - Patients have a great deal going on in their lives. Even the best-intentioned RSVPers may forget about an event after they’ve committed to going. Make things easier with automated reminder emails to users who indicate they will attend. It’s a win-win for both of you!

• Easy administration - This feature is behind-the-scenes, certainly, but no less important than a front-facing feature. If your staff is spending all their time managing events and the calendar, that’s less time they can devote to patients and other health-care-oriented matters. Make sure the calendar you choose is easy to administer and “just works.”

Why are these features important? Taken together, they’ll help you reach new audiences, increase event participation and raise awareness of services. Bring your hospital to the forefront with minimal lift from your team -- see a Localist demo today.