For physicians and doctors, your digital reputation is the main determinant of your professional reputation. In this article, we’ll outline the basics of medical reputation management for your medical practice.
If you’re not familiar with the term, digital reputation management is the practice of pro-actively ensuring that you have a positive identity and affiliations on the internet. This is crucial to our professional reputation and development.
It’s become very common for us to regularly interact with strangers on the internet. The way people perceive us online becomes the basis of how they perceive us in reality.
Your medical practice’s current online presence
The first step in taking control of your online reputation is to Google yourself and take note of what people see when they search for you or your practice by name. Be thorough, and perform additional searches on popular healthcare provider review pages.
While you’re searching for your online presence, take the time to set up Google Alerts to notify you if you’re mentioned by name or practice.
Social media
If you don’t have a social media account tailored specifically for your professional identity, the best thing to do is change your privacy settings on your private accounts until such time as you can go through your past posts and clean up any unprofessional content.
Another option is to keep your personal accounts private and create professional accounts where you can cultivate your professional image and identity.
If you don’t have any social media accounts at all, it’s important to at least create a few that you can use to build up your online presence.
Review pages
As mentioned, go through the most popular healthcare service provider review pages. See what is being said about you and your practice.
In the event you do find reviews, determine if there are any common threads. Do you have qualities that your patients love? Are there complaints you can address?
If you don’t find much, that’s okay. It’s easier to build a positive web presence than you think.
Get proactive
If you want to get started building or repairing your medical online reputation, there are some easy places to start.
If you want to but can’t find the time, you can hire a new media firm that specializes in online reputations and use the tips listed as a way to find a pro who knows what they’re doing.
Building your social media presence
Your personal life and right to privacy are just as important as your patients’. Keep your personal social media accounts set to “Private” mode. This way, only people you allow can follow you.
That means that instead of using existing accounts, it’s best to create a professional social media presence that focuses on your identity as a medical practitioner, as well as news about your practice.
Your goal with medical reputation management should be to create posts that are positive, professional, and informative. Some ideas could be answering common questions you come across daily or highlighting stories from within your field, or sharing opportunities for further training and education.
It’s up to you what you want to post, but always remember that whether you live in a big anonymous city or a small town where everyone knows each other, your audience on social media is the world.
Focus on two to three social media sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Start building your audience by following professionals in your industry that have a good reputation. You can cut down on time spent posting by using a social media scheduler.
Create profiles for review pages for your medical practice
A patient is more likely to leave a review on an existing profile than if they have to create one from scratch, so the first thing to do is make sure you and your healthcare service are listed on the most popular review pages.
If you’re not online at all, start by creating profiles for yourself and your practice on a few review sites.
Create a website or blog
Start by registering your name and obvious variations as domain names. That way, you’re not stuck in a position where you have to buy back your domain from a domain flipper or deal with a troll.
Having your name or the name of your practice in your domain name will also vastly improve your SEO (search engine optimization) rankings. This will help guide people to the content they (and you) want to see instead of less pertinent things.
It can be daunting to start a blog, but if you want to get off on the right foot, start by writing a few simple posts, keeping in mind the same principles that you use for your professional social media content. When you’ve got a backlog of content, take your blog live.
Register accurate information about your medical practice
Register your service on Google Business Listings and Google Maps. You’ll get the benefit of ensuring people have the right contact info as well as improved SEO ranking. When prospective patients look up your practice, they’ll have the right information without having to dig for it.
Encourage feedback
If you want feedback, let your service users know! Put up in-house posters or create cards with the address of your preferred place to leave reviews. Make it clear that you want all feedback, especially from people who might be anxious about speaking to you in person.
Dos and don’ts of online interactions
Getting emotionally invested in what is said about you online can lead to choices that harm your digital reputation. Keep these tips in mind to keep things professional and positive.
Authentic medical practice reviews only
You might not have an online presence. Or, you have one marred by negative reviews. In either case, it can be tempting to create inauthentic reviews.
Apart from being dishonest, it’s not worth the risk. The chances of getting caught are higher than ever, as savvy internet sleuths can identify any number of tells to uncover your fraudulent review. It’s never worth the risk of trying to bolster your reputation dishonestly, so keep it accurate.
Always respond
Whether positive or negative, you should respond to comments and reviews; this is an essential aspect of medical reputation management.
When responding to positive reviews, keep it brief and grateful.
Even short comments let your patients know you appreciate them while strengthening your relationship with a small, positive interaction. As a bonus, it shows the practice is monitoring the review pages, and you take their feedback seriously.
Take all negative criticism as objectively as possible. The best option is to acknowledge their concerns in a neutral fashion and offer to discuss things further in person.
Whether the reviewer is in the right or wrong (for example, a patient was abusive to you or your staff), it will not serve you to engage them in public. You want to be known for the quality of the healthcare you provide, not the strength of your clap-back.
Act on your reviews and let your patients know about it
Use your negative reviews as a jumping-off point for improvement, even if it’s something small like sharing information with patients in a new way or more involved, like retraining staff on certain practices.
Once you’ve put in the work, let everyone know! Write a quick post for your clinic’s Facebook profile or LinkedIn page about how you’re grateful for the feedback, you’ve taken it on board, and are eager to incorporate what you’ve learned to provide better service and care.
Consider digital privacy
The internet can move at light speed, so even if you feel you are well-versed in patient confidentiality, take time to research. See if your state has any peculiarities or if there have been changes in legislation around patient care and the internet since you started practicing.
You don’t want to thrown off by a newly adopted professional standard that protects you and your patients from the ravages of the internet.
Read from the same playbook
Whether physicians, nurses, or support team, everyone has to know the game plan when it comes to the service’s online reputation. They can even help develop it. At the next practice-wide meeting, discuss goals and come up with a strategy together.
Final Thoughts on Medical Reputation Management
Taking an active role in your own medical reputation management can take a toll on your mental health. Because your reputation is at stake, it may feel hard to log off when you imagine each interaction could be pivotal to your success or failure.
Remember that consistency is key, and you can set the pace; even a small but positive online presence will pay dividends.