Insights: Healthcare Social Media

Social media. It’s all around us. 

For many, their Facebook news feed is the first thing they check when they wake up and the last thing they look at before going to bed. It is where they turn for input before making a decision or purchase — from vacations to restaurants to yes, even physicians. 

One post from a super satisfied patient about your practice can spread like wildfire, sparking interest, building awareness, and generating new patient referrals. 

Unfortunately a negative post can also ignite, fanning the flame of negativity as others comment and share, and burning down your reputation.

No one is perfect. Bad days happen. You are running late. Your billing staff makes a mistake. Your office makes a scheduling error.

Many medical practices charge a fee for cancellations within 24 hours, ask patients to arrive early for their appointments (anywhere from 10-30 minutes) or have a policy and consequences for being late to an appointment. 

None of those seem that unreasonable unless:

1. You (the Dr. office) have to cancel an appointment at the last minute. This happened to a friend of mine this week after she had already taken time off from work and planned her day around the appointment. Worse yet, when she went to reschedule, they couldn’t schedule a new appointment until next month.

2. The patient arrives early or on time as requested and has to wait well beyond the appointment time (sometimes an hour or more). 

What happens then?

We often have practices come to us because they feel like they must engage in social media. However, often there are no goals or plan behind this agenda item. Social media, like any type of marketing, requires strategy, and effective strategies require solid goals. So before you jump into Facebook or Twitter for your practice, ask yourself a few questions:

So many people and businesses jump into social media because it is the latest craze.    However, like most things, that is NOT a reason to do it.  There are however, many valid reasons: