Negative media coverage or reviews about doctors can cause a one third drop in visits. Social media reputation management can prevent or mitigate the effects of negative online buzz by promoting positive coverage for a medical practice.
Oftentimes, the first thought with reputation management is to remove any negative reviews or coverage. Even when the negative buzz is false, this can backfire because the websites seldom take the content down and pursuing legal action can be expensive.
Instead of fighting fire with fire, doctors can bury negative information with positive social media content which will rank above any current or future negative information.
There are three social media reputation secrets which can protect doctors from negative coverage online.
While SEO best practices are important for ranking high in Google, social media platforms are search engines as well. More and more, people are turning to social media to search for healthcare companies and medical practices. Ensure your own content, and not any potential negative reviews, comes up first in social media searches by creating quality content your audience wants to engage with across platforms.
A happy customer is an important part of a marketing plan, yet happy customers don’t just spread the news of your amazing services by word of mouth; they can also Tweet, post an Instagram story, or post a Facebook review about your service. Facebook reviews in particular can be beneficial to your business and a great resource for potential customers. Consider encouraging happy customers (or even incentivizing with a discount or free offer) to share their experience with your practice on social media.
Another effective way to express the value of your practice to your clients is to have an engaging social media presence. The rule for effective social media reputation management is the more, the better, both in terms of content and platforms. The more platforms you’re on, the better chance you have of:
These are just some of the many benefits of a social media presence for healthcare professionals.
Interested in learning more about how a great social media presence can help with your practice’s digital reputation management? Fogg Media offers reputation management as part of our public relations (PR) services.
PR is not something that should go unmanaged, even when a company is experiencing an excess of customer feedback in a positive light. When the occasional patient leaves less than desirable reviews, a solid PR campaign can help a practice bounce back quickly.
Fogg Media has been helping medical practices in the Carolinas and throughout the US to increase their visibility and drive patient conversions. If you’re struggling to get search visibility, or if your patients struggle to use your website, we’ve created a simple, straight-forward package deal that gives you exactly what you need to get started in the world of digital marketing. We offer targeted, optimized digital advertising services for healthcare, including Pay-Per-Click
(PPC), Google Ads, Search Engine Advertising, and more. Simply put, we’ll handle the behind-the-scenes digital marketing so you can get back to medicine. Learn more here:
