6 Effective Online Reputation Management Techniques for Doctors

With each passing year, your online reputation as a doctor becomes more important. However, many doctors are unaware of the fundamental tenets of online reputation management. Fortunately, a few simple steps can improve a doctor’s online reputation and can also increase online exposure which potentially attracts new patients. Here are some fundamental practices for good doctor reputation management.

1. Create a website for your practice

The first and most important strategy for mending your reputation is to develop a website for yourself or your practice. In some situations, you should think about doing both. A website serves several functions. First and foremost, it introduces the world to a doctor. A useful physician-dedicated website tells the history of a particular doctor, the values to which he or she adheres, and testimonies about the quality of services provided by the physician.

2. Be Proactive in Obtaining Patient Feedback

Request patients to leave online reviews. The more you request, the more reviews you’ll receive. The greater the number of reviews, the more precisely they will represent the patient experience. You can ask in person, through links in follow-up emails, or even through a QR code that patients can scan with their smartphone to go directly to a review site. The best time to solicit feedback is immediately following their appointment. This keeps the experience fresh and easy to recognize.

3. Respond to Reviews, Especially Negative Reviews

Responding to reviews shows that you care about your good name and the experience of your patients. Try to respond to as many negative reviews as possible (giving the reviewer the choice of contacting you to take the discussion offline) and as many positive reviews as possible. Negative reviews can be hard to read, but they provide you with an excellent opportunity to address the problem, improve the patient’s experience, and possibly even persuade them to remove their negative reviews.

4. Staff should be trained in customer services

There are several touch points in the customer experience in healthcare. As a result, each of the patient-facing staff should be trained in how to provide the best patient experience possible. Patients value staff benevolence, ease of scheduling appointments, bill clarity, office cleanliness, and other aspects of the experience. Training and policies aimed at delivering the best patient experience can go a long way toward increasing positive patient sentiment.

5. Take Control of Your Google My Business Listing

Claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing for your practice gives you a stronger online presence and highlights your practice’s best features. Customer reviews left on Google are also displayed here. To produce the best results for your practice, the data in your listing should be accurate and complete. Check your Google listing on a regular basis for inaccuracies and to ensure that the data on the listing matches the information on your practice website.

6. Make effective social media profiles for your medical practice

When ranking content for a particular search term, Google considers a wide range of digital signals. The best way to get meaningful results from a doctor’s reputation management campaign is to address all of the major signals attracting Google’s attention. It is well known that activity on social media influences Google search results. Google is particularly interested in the number of visits to particular sites and blog posts obtain from social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Because of the strong association between Google search results and social media activities, most successful doctor reputation management campaigns include a social media component. Establishing rigorous social media profiles and posting frequently has proven to be an extremely effective reputation management strategy.

Final Takeaway

The above listed points are just strategies to improve online reputation for doctors. However, would you like to partner with a reputed digital marketing agency who can execute these strategies successfully on your behalf? Connect with HealthSoul today!