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Archive for September 3rd, 2010

Do you know what your patients are saying about you? How about past employees- what are they saying about you, your practice, or other team members?  Are you aware what your competitors are saying? Do you have someone actively “listening” to what’s being said about your practice? 

 A concern often voiced when discussing creating online communities or social media marketing is “What if someone makes a negative comment” or Aren’t we opening ourselves to criticism?”  Their concern is if someone makes negative comments it will harm their business and their reputation. 

Like building your practice, building relationships and a good reputation through credibility and trust takes work, commitment, and time.  As we know, this brings in more new patients and opportunities (through referrals), more treatment acceptance, and ultimately more revenue. 

News, especially bad news, has always traveled fast.  Add to that the Internet, cell phones, instant messaging, and texting and news is now traveling at the speed of light and the news is, geographically, all over the place. 

First, we have to remember, there’s a good possibility negative comments have already been made at one time or another.  In the community, to a neighbor, to a friend or family member, or even a call back to the office after a procedure.  But unless it was a call back to the office, you usually weren’t even aware anything negative had even been said and never had the opportunity to address the issue.  

Negative comments not addressed can grow and can lead to damaging the practice’s reputation, lost opportunities, and less revenue. 

A simple way to initiate and monitor your Online Reputation Management:

• Set up Google and Yahoo alerts for your brand – your name, your practice name, and the names of key employees 
• You can also set up alerts for your competitors
• Use Technorati for tracking your brand in case the post was in someone’s blog 

Note:  The above items mentioned are for simple monitoring for practices without a major or ongoing problem with negative comments and issues. There are companies that specifically monitor businesses brands and go much deeper into Online Reputation Management.  

For the most part, people give very good reviews.  Of course there are always the exceptions to the rule.  Often times complaints can show a practice an area that needs to be improved resulting in better patient services and better patient relations. 

Online Reputation Management allows you to watch your brand, follow what’s being said about you, and allows you to address any negative as it happens.  

This is not to be confrontational, argumentative, or offensive, but rather seen as an opportunity to resolve a negative situation in a positive manner.  It’s not really a question of “What if there’s a negative comment”, but rather the real question is “How will we address negative comments and issues”.

Social media platforms allow you the unique opportunity to address the negative and turn the negative around into a positive.  Even if you aren’t able to resolve the situation (and sometimes you can’t) your online viewers will see you didn’t try to avoid the situation.  Instead the viewers will see you value your patients experience in your office and the positive manner in which you tried to resolve the situation.  Oh, and don’t be surprised if your viewers also come to your defense! 

Online Reputation Management, when used correctly, is just another positive element of social media.

Have you had any negative comments that you were made aware of with social media?  What steps did you take to resolve the situation?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, engaging social media, Google alerts, Livvie Matthews, managing your reputation online, monitoring online reputation, Online Reputation Management, Patient Relations