Your patients search the web to find you. Are you digitally ready for empowered healthcare consumers? It’s high time you take charge of your online reputation instead of leaving it to Google.
The Internet has an audience more vast than any other medium for marketing products and services. Over the years, Internet marketing has become an incredibly valuable tool for reaching out to target consumers. In the context of healthcare, it allows physicians to leverage digital channels to attract more patients and grow their practice. Here’s how you can boost your online presence:
Make sure to list your practice on important sites and directories
There are a large number of local as well as state directories available on the Internet where you must list your practice. Some of these may be categorized on the basis of areas of medical specialization, some on general health, others with geographical areas and so on. People usually go through these while looking out for a physician. Make sure you also set up a Google+ and a Google Local page for your practice.
Spruce up your social networks
Setting up profiles on popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pintrest and others has become a must for establishing an online visibility. However, these social networks can be valuable tools only if you use them regularly for connecting and communicating with your patients. Social media isn’t just about a like, share, tweet or comment. It now represents new opportunities for how individuals make decisions and manage their health. By reaching out to healthcare consumers on social media, physicians can create impactful communication channels that can drive patient decisions in their favor.
Social media can be used as an ideal platform to share your practice visibility, connect directly with target patients and influence their opinion about your practice. Healthy relationships with patients will drive up appointments and referrals, increasing profits for your practice. Physicians need to think like marketers to better understand and participate in digital conversations as these can directly impact their online brand perception and reputation. Social media spirals up online dialogues from one-to-many to many-to-many — and at phenomenal speed.
Employ SEO
While looking for a healthcare provider online, the first point of action for people is an Internet search. As with everything else, people use a search engine to find the best solution for their healthcare needs. To target digital health consumers, your goal as a physician should be to develop and execute an SEO strategy so that the search engines recognize you, consider your practice credible and rank it high in their algorithms when someone searches about you online.
The healthcare industry is rapidly evolving with digital advancements and competition at an all-time high. An effective online presence can mean the difference between a full waiting room and an empty one. If you still don’t have an online presence, you can lose your patients/potential patients to your competitors. Don’t let your competitors outmaneuver you by ignoring this. Stay ahead and get noticed!