In an age where a vast majority of patients turn to the internet for healthcare information and recommendations, the online reputation of healthcare practices has become a paramount concern. The way medical professionals and practices are perceived on digital platforms can significantly influence patient trust, choices, and the overall success of the practice. This article from Buckingham will outline the best practices healthcare providers can implement to maintain and build their online reputation.
Why Online Reputation Matters for Healthcare Professionals
In today’s digital world, consumers, and patients, have an incredible amount of information readily available to help them make decisions. This makes all aspects of your reputation important, but perhaps the most important is your online reputation. This can be especially true for healthcare professionals with the proliferation of medical review sites such as WebMD, RealSelf, Healthgrades, and even Yelp. Patients have indicated that online reviews are the third most important factor in determining whether to use a healthcare provider, behind insurance acceptance and location. In fact, 72% of potential patients read online reviews before choosing a new provider.
Studies of patients have shown that roughly 90% of patients stated that they use online reviews in making decisions regarding healthcare professionals, and 71% of those patients admitted that online reviews are the first step they use in evaluating a healthcare professional. With these statistics, and the increased importance of online reviews, maintaining and building your online reputation is incredibly important for growing your practice and business.
Online Reputation Affects Patient Trust and Choices
Additionally, your online reputation allows you to instill trust in current and prospective patients. While responding to reviews can be a tricky road to navigate, 66% of patients have indicated that a response or engagement with online reviews is very to moderately important in their review. Not only will maintaining a strong online reputation help grow a patient’s trust in your practice, regularly monitoring these reviews can help detect any signs of online defamation and be able to address any such problems early.
Effective Strategies for Managing Your Online Reputation
While online reputation for healthcare professionals is incredibly important, how do you go about maintaining and building your practice’s online reputation? Below are a list of best practices for healthcare professionals to follow to grow and maintain their online reputations.
- Claim and Optimize Your Online Profiles
The first step to take is to know where your practice is listed and portrayed online. Many of the most prevalent review sites, including Google, Yelp, Healthgrades, and RealSelf will have profiles for your practice, whether you set them up or not. It can be incredibly important to know every website your practice is listed, and to make sure that accurate information is being portrayed.
- Monitor Your Online Reviews
In addition to knowing all the websites your practice is listed on, keep a list of all of these sites and regularly monitor them to make sure that there are no problems that are not getting addressed. You should respond to both negative and positive reviews, and maintain that constant interaction that patients are looking for when evaluating healthcare professionals.
It’s important to understand the differences between each platform, and the differences between review sites and social media platforms. Review sites all have different options available to businesses. For instance, review on Yelp have different options for providing information to patients than Google. Understanding the differences between these platforms will allow you to optimize your strategy with these platforms.
- Maintain a Social Media Strategy
Using social media can be an effective way to grow your practice’s online reputation as well. Platforms such as Facebook, X (formally Twitter), and YouTube all have options for businesses to create accounts and provide content to followers. If you decide to use these platforms to advertise your business, it is important to maintain a consistent strategy between these platforms, as well as the information you provide on the review sites.
Publishing Content
Maintaining your online reputation extends past review sites and social media. One thing your practice can do is share general medical expertise and highlight your office through your own website, blogs, articles, and videos. Maintaining a strong website allows you to highlight to potential patients your office and team and create that sense of trust in the patient. Further, publishing content on your website is a great way to demonstrate your expertise in your field and provide the patient with additional information to influence their decision.
Final Thoughts
Healthcare reputation management is crucial for healthcare providers and institutions. Your online reputation can significantly impact patient trust, loyalty, and your practice’s overall success. By proactively monitoring your online presence, engaging with patients in a professional manner, and providing accurate and valuable information to potential patients, you can maintain, and even improve, your online reputation, and be able to handle potential problems quickly and effectively.
