How Important Is Your Digital Reputation Management?

I've been blessed to witness doctors reacting to patients' emergencies, even coding. In those moments, real-life heroic battles by medical professionals humble anyone. Then, you get a negative review because "it's their fault," "they don't care," or "no one explained anything."

 Dear Doctors, if you work at a hospital, you might not worry about targeted advertising since you are part of a network with a robust marketing plan. In this case, your medical outcomes are the critical variable to increasing your new patient base.

 And for the brave souls running a private practice, the old-school charms of word of mouth, medical directories, and referral networks still hold power.

One thing is critical to dominate the world of medical practices: Digital Reputation Management.

Raised in the era of digital reviews, younger patients and their kin won't hesitate to broadcast their experiences, good, bad, or downright funny, across the internet if they believe they have had an avoidable bad experience.

 Remember, the voices online don't just belong to those you've treated; they're also from their network of friends and family, ready to amplify their thoughts to the masses.

 Doctors who ignore these "special patients," non-sense and unreal online comments, can pay the price dearly. You don't have to do it yourself; affordable services are available and dedicated to creating, monitoring, and maintaining your presence in the digital world as part of your marketing strategy.

The best way to counterbalance unavoidable negative reviews is with, yes, positive reviews.

 Let me tell you a secret, which is also the oldest trick in the book: have every patient complete a quick survey after seeing you or your staff. It has to be in their own writing on a piece of paper (no iPads), yes, with those old things called pens. There is a psychological reason, and this exercise will accomplish two things:

 1)      The patient will have a precious opportunity to say their piece (beautiful, or bad, bad, bad) in their own words. They will even draw happy or sad faces, fingers (middle or thumbs), or hearts. This will significantly reduce the urge to take this online.

2)      Based on this heartfelt and direct feedback, your staff, who will see it first, will immediately align their attitude, knowing that you, the boss, will review all of them. If very positive, buy your staff Starbucks or whatever they love. Encourage them to keep this up. If negative, look them in the eyes uninterrupted for 5 seconds, and problem solved.