A Review of the AMA's Medical Social Media Policies

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Good writers occasionally break grammar rules. They do this for reasons of style and because they know the rules well enough to get away with it. Medical social media can be handled in much the same way. The difference is a writer who pushes the grammar boundaries too far has few if any consequences, a doctor who pushes the online content boundaries too far has the AMA to answer to.  Before you add an "attention grabber" to your next post or tweet you should review the American Medical Association's social media use policies. To help get you started here are a few of the AMA's foundation items:

• Always use the highest privacy settings possible
• Abide by all confidentiality laws (never break this rule!)
• Your online interactions should carry the same professionalism as in-office interactions
• Keep separate professional and personal accounts
• Keep in mind that your posts impact others (patients, coworkers, etc.)
• Monitor your internet presence to ensure no one else is posting in your place

Our business is based on helping doctors increase their social media impact safely and effectively. We know and carefully abide by the HIPAA regulations and AMA recommendations. We can help improve your campaign whether you're a novice or an old pro.

Okay, so back to the rule breaking. Here is an example of what it looks like to bend without catching the ire of the AMA. Dr. Rian Maercks, a plastic surgeon in Florida got himself some press coverage by announcing his blog series "Cosmetic Surgery Buyer Beware." His tell-all didn't name any doctors directly. Instead it provided an overview of questionable industry practices. The series didn't have a long shelf life so Dr. Maercks transitioned to a video series that documented an ongoing experiment he conducted on himself--a cosmetic contouring modality that literally has his name written all over it. He certainly knows how to earn a click!

Doctor Blog: We Have Another Winner

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We can talk and talk (or blog and blog) about best practices, but sometimes you really need to see how other doctors are managing their social media presence to get a clear picture of what works. Orthopedic surgeon, Howard Luks sets a great example to follow.

Luks aims his blog entries at doctors, healthcare organizations and traditional/social media users. His blog is not a high volume page. It showcases how powerful occasional posts can be when focused on relevant topics capable of generating interest and audience feedback. This strategy is most successful when the blogger is active in other areas of medical social media.

Logging time in front of the camera can be a real advantage as this post demonstrates.  It is laudable but not surprising that CBS chose Dr. Luks to appear in a segment about social media and its effect on the practice of medicine.

Doctors with the capability to represent themselves and the industry well on video have a significant advantage in the public relations arena. Where do you excel? Can you leverage that skill-set to garner good press? Our digital media consulting services can help you answer those questions and move in the successful direction of Dr. Luks.

The Growth of Long Tail Keyword Primacy

People are becoming increasingly specific with their search terms and it might surprise you to learn that this means adding additional qualifiers. The experts at Quick Sprout say that the rise of long-tail keyword primacy is an important SEO trend to watch in 2013. A single keyword search can return thousands if not millions of results, thus internet users are adding more in order to get less--and better results. This is a positive development for doctors building a web presence. A customer who finds your practice through a highly specific search has a lot of new patient potential. And long-tail keywords are less expensive to rank for due to less competition.

In order to take advantage of the long-tail trend you will need to know what your patients are looking for online. Geographic keywords will continue to be important with descriptors added for specific medical issues. For example a person looking for a new dentist might search for "Low cost gum care dentist Long Beach" rather than "dentist Long Beach."

We can help you optimize your online presence using the latest SEO strategies, tools and technology. Click here to learn more!

Reputation Management for Doctors: Identity Fraud

Plagarism is a problem in the cut and paste world of online content. Sheryl Cash, a correspondent for American Medical News addressed this issue in a recent article. This type of fraud adversly effects online marketing programs; page rank, visibility and ROI will all take a hit.

For doctors loss of effectiveness is a minor concern compared to complications in reputation management. If someone poses as you online and offers inaccurate advice it will your be reputation at stake and given medical boards stated objective to monitor questionable online behavior this is something you should be weary of.

Cash's article discusses ways to protect yourself. A simple suggestion being to "claim your name" on all social media platforms regardless of whether or not you intend to actively participate. We agree with many of the suggestions listed in the article. But...

You don't have to do it all yourself

This issue has been on our radar for a long time. It is one of the reasons reputation management for doctors is a core facet of our business. We use every resource we have to monitor the internet for mentions of your name or the name of your practice. This includes monitoring all major social media sites and medical specific online forums to see what posters are saying about you. Our job is to help intentify potential online ID theft before it puts your reputation at risk.

A Doctor and a Social Media Rockstar

When it comes to social media for doctors, Mike Sevilla, MD is setting and resetting the bar. Author of Family Medicine Rocks, Sevilla has a great blog offering wise and entertaining commentary about the crossover between medicine and social media. He uses video, podcasts, television interviews, panel appearances, Twitter and Facebook to promote his brand. And somehow on top of all that he manages to run a successful practice.

Dr. Sevilla is a shining example of what a physician focused on the power of social media can accomplish. But, don't feel like you need to interact at that level to achieve real measurable results. We can help you build your medical social media presence and show you how to do that with as much or as little hands-on involvement as you are able to provide.

Reputation Management for Doctors: The Hospital Effect

The relationship between doctors and hospitals must be symbiotic, anything less can spell disaster. Whether you work primarily at a hospital or benefit from specific hospital privileges that support your private practice reputation is of the utmost importance. Negative PR toward you is bad for them. And negative PR toward them is bad for you.

Don't sit around worrying about the negative what-ifs. The Becker Hospital Review posted an article “8 Best Practices for Managing a Hospital’s Reputation.” The article poses a lot of interesting questions. Questions that you should take the time to answer. What are your hospital’s strategies and policies for reputation management? How do they plan to protect you if hospital’s reputation comes under fire?

As you'll see responding to negative press is an important factor in reputation management for both doctors and hospitals. Given the proliferation of online forums and reviews you may want to consult a SEO management firm to insure that you are fully versed and protected. 

2013 SEO Trends: Encrypted Search

Encrypted Search... 

Sounds chilling, right? It just might be. Until now online marketers have leaned heavily on free analytics and the ability to see which specific search terms are sending users to your website. That information may become severely handicapped thanks the safety measures behind encrypted search. A recent HubSpot.com article gives a detailed description of how HTTPS works. The article was penned by Hartely Brody. Brody believes that these changes are not a ploy by Google to force changes, but rather a security necessity. That said it is hardly a leap to assume that a reduction in free analytics will lead to an upswing in paid Google ads.

It is important that you consult your SEO marketing firm before adjusting your strategy. As always the true solution will be more about content than clicks. According to Brody, “Optimizing your website will be less about tracking keywords and rankings, and more about capturing visitors once they’ve landed on your website.” Focus on creating the kind of content that will capture the attention of your audience and keep them coming back. It's healthy for your patients and for your practice as well.

If social media sinks its fangs there may not be an antedote

Facebook is a public forum. This rather obvious truth is often overlooked. Doctors who have impeccable professionalism at the office neglect to bring that same level of professionalism to their online communication. Accepting patients as social media friends and followers is a dangerous game because it leaves little room for human error.

Recently Yahoo.com ran a front and center story about an OB-GYN who in a moment of frustration posted an annoyed update about a patient's tardiness. Colleagues responded with sympathy suggesting to drop the patient. At which point the OB-GYN revealed sensitive personal information about the patient's prior stillbirth. This probably felt like a private conversation. It wasn't. It was out there and eventually it made its way to Yahoo reporters.

The doctor's actions are currently under review. It seems likely that she will escape with mild slap on the wrist. But, that does little to soothe the eroding effects of bad publicity. Who is going to request a doctor known to blab on FB?

A patient's privacy is a sacred thing and fiercely defended. However, it is not a two-way street. Doctors are provided with none of a patients protection. Bad press doesn't have to come from professional reporters. Social media fallout can be damaging enough. And the amount of license doctors have online seems to be shrinking.

We implore doctors to use their Facebook accounts (professional versions) for censored work topics only. Post about these safe zone healthcare media topics and stay away from virtual finger pointing.

• General questions related to your specialty
• Special offer promotion
• Discuss your research endeavors and academic publications
• Direct patients to helpful resources
• Promote blog posts

Big Brother is Reading Your Tweets

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This article posted on NPR.org is an eye-opener for doctors using social media for medical practice marketing. The information you publish on your blog or social media sites has the potential to trigger an investigation from your state licensing board. Obviously this is a big concern for physicians. And unfortunately reviews from actual board members regarding what constitutes inappropriate content is hardly reassuring. They mentioned the expected red flags; using a patient's photo without consent, posting false or misleading information, romantic involvement with patients. Other less expected red flags included placing doctors under scutiny for posting anything disrespectful about patients, even if there is no identifying information.

Posting disrespectful information is unprofessional, but worthy of an investigation? How much sway should your state licensing board have over what you can and cannot post? Tell us what you think in the comments section.

2013 SEO Trends: Rise of the Targeted Agency

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We've reached the half way mark for 2013. Let's take a look at how SEO for doctors may evolve in the second half of the year.

The ever changing world of search, social and web/mobile tech is always difficult to forecast, however, a switch to targeted online marketing agencies seems to be in the works. Nigel Muir at TheDrum.com predicts that "Big media agencies will lose their hold on search marketing." He refers to "Shicklegate" as a prime indicator of why. The Shicklegate scandal started over a resignation letter tendered by an over-stressed UK account manager in which he detailed the various misdeeds of his boss. The letter went viral and the Twitter army hashtagged the exec and his boss into internet infamy.

The salacious details garnered most of the attention, but the fine print is where the effects on SEO marketing can be seen. It seems that designated account managers at some of the big agencies are being stretched dangerously thin. Their excessive workload can only equal negative neglected results for your marketing plan. An agency's name has zero relevance in SEO marketing. The only thing that matters is results and if the big boys can't deliver you may want to consider switching to a smaller more dedicated firm. With a targeted agency you can be confident that your representative is spending ample time focused on your business. They will make sure your keyword research and implementation is maximized because their success is directly tied into yours.

Cancer by the Numbers in the United States

Don Draper Couldn't Have Promoted Your Doctor Blog

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Did you know that prior to 1978 individual physicians were prohibited from advertising by the AMA?

The funny thing is that even without that law many mid-century physicians wouldn't have advertised. They would have abstained out of pride and a belief that they could grow their business through the quality of their treatment(s), bedside manner and organic community feedback.

This belief continued in the decades after the ban was lifted. An article from the Chicago Tribune in 1989 showed a lingering hesitancy about maintaining an active marketing program, “Whether it`s reluctantly or enthusiastically, physicians agree that a successful career may indeed hinge on marketing efforts. An excellent education and expertise in a specialty may no longer be enough.”

With the proliferation of Doctor Blogs it probably seems as if the medical community has fully embraced traditional and digital media medical marketing. That is not necessarily true. We meet countless new clients who come to us with an If I have to do this attitude. After they see the results their attitude changes but that initial hesitancy is still a hurdle that needs to be leaped. The dream of a flourishing practice built off of relationships and word-of-mouth is wonderful but antiquated. Forums are essentially word of mouth, as are comments and online reviews. The dream is the same, just a little more digital.

Would Your Doctor Blog Earn Oprah's Stamp of Approval?

Is your doctor blog good enough to get on Oprah's radar? Does it really matter?

You can certainly succeed without Ms. O, however, her considerable influence should not be overlooked. Oprah's multi-media empire holds a lot of sway over most female demographics. Her voice is a trusted voice, and when seeking out a physician patients will lean on advice they know is dependable. Check out this list of Oprah approved physician blogs.

You will notice that each of the blogs is written with a personal touch; doctors talking about their loves, struggles and concerns about the present and future of healthcare. This is a smart digital media strategy. Pulling the curtain back and letting readers see who you are allows readers to feel like they are communicating with a real person, a person they can trust. And that will earn you repeat readers.

Reputation Management for Doctors gets the Katie Couric Treatment

Online reputation management for doctors can be a thorny path to navigate. Good reviews are great. Bad reviews happen. These are the ups and downs of an open online forum. In the extremes there have been contentious battles between doctors and patients that have peaked the curiosity of mainstream media.

In this YouTube video, Katie Couric discusses how certain physicians are trying to bar patients from posting online reviews. This level hand-cuffing is problematic. Patients are unlikely to be comfortable with, let alone honor any demands to keep their opinions offline. And the effects on word-of-mouth referrals isn't difficult to project.

Couric proposes a solution where third party companies would verify the accuracy of all online doctor reviews. In our professional opinion this won't happen any time soon. The logistics, costs and privacy issues are just too complex to untangle.

But, let's just take it as a hypothetical. If the third party solution could be implemented would you support it?

Let us know in the comments section.

Taking the Mystery out of PPC

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Acronyms are supposed simplify terms, but with so many to remember in the digital marketing field (PPC, SEM, SEO) it can be a bit dizzying.

PPC and SEM are one and the same:
Pay Per Click (PPC) is a simple concept. The ads at the top and along the right column of every search page are paid spots. The companies they feature pay for each click through. The amount the companies spend is controllable. While simple in concept it is not simple in practice. It is easy to underspend. And equally easy to overspend on the wrong things. Both are the equivalent of burning money.

And then there is the bidding issue... There are a limited number of effective keywords and phrases for doctors using digital media to take advantage of. Search engines give preferential position to the highest bidder for each term. If you get caught in a bidding war over an ineffective set of search terms, again flame meet money.

Return on Investment (ROI) is in the details:

Yep, another acronym. If you have been following our series Strategic SEO for Doctors, you are well versed in the importance of using effective targeted keywords for your website and social media. This is true 10x over for PPC campaigns:

• You need targeted key phrases that are consistently used by prospective patients who are ready to set appointments, engage in live chat, etc.
• You want your ads to appear specifically to users in the geographic area you pull your patient base from.
• You want to identify and capture high quality keywords physicians in your area may have missed.
• Your copy should be succinct and push for click-throughs
• You MUST have a way to track results (preferably with split testing) so you can nix what isn't working  and perfect what is.
• Your landing page needs to be exactly what the perspective patient was searching for, and instruct them how to take the next step. This will help your Quality Score.
• Don't forget tablets and smart phones. Many users will be accessing your media via these devices. Caretransitions.com offers an intriguing reason why you should add a "call now" button for mobile device users.

Believe it or not, that is just the beginning. A top-notch PPC campaign requires in-depth knowledge of all the relevant tools and trends as well as a flare for writing great copy. Keep reading for more important tips! 

Best Practices: Patient Photos in Medical Marketing

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The looks on your patients faces say it all; gratitude, relief, friendliness and trust. Without words they capture much of what you want prospective patients to know. With the right patient photo you can enhance your medical marketing, but you'll have to be careful in how you go about it.

Don't start snapping pictures until you have crafted a policy that will protect both your practice and your patients. Privacy regulations coupled with the sensitive nature of medical procedures make this imperative a must.

An important part of any policy regarding the use of patient photos in medical marketing is informed consent. You can find an excellent article on the Plastic Surgery Education Network website about the dos and dont's of using patient photos. The article includes a customizable consent form. They advise informing patients up-front how and where their photos will be used, e.g. educational, social media. And it would be a good idea to double check before the pictures go live to be sure your patients aren't having any second thoughts.

One more thing. When you save your patients photos use a number rather then their name so you don't accidentally leave back-door identifiers that could show up in an image search.

Good luck!

Get an SEO Boost with Hub Pages

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We like what Google likes. And for the time being Google treats hubpages.com as a quality source of content. So let's look at the nuts and bolts to see how hubpages can be used to bolster your medical SEO strategy.

The Hubs Blueprint
These single-topic web pages attract content writers looking to increase ad revenue or product sellers pushing their merchandising sites. When a new hub page is added to this massive informational site it tends to be indexed quickly, meaning that it may show up in search results faster than other recently added content. If you are building a new website for your practice create a handful of hub pages linking back to your site as they may generate a boost in ranking thanks to high-value backlinks.

The Guts of a Good Hub Page
Deep down hubs are meant to be informative and educational. Browse through the health categories and you will see that opinions from a real doctor would be extremely helpful. Creating a series of hub pages specific to your specialty will give you the opportunity to highlight your expertise and will provide readers with a trustworthy information source.

Don't neglect key words when building out your hub pages. Keyword optimize by creating content that targets the same keywords you use to rank your website or blog. Use those keywords as anchor text to link back to your site. Hub pages are social so you'll want to encourage your readers to engage in chats and comments. And you'll want to add followers with your hubs as social signals are important to your SEO strategy.

This may sound like too much extra work. If that is the case you may want to outsource the day-to-day management of hub pages to your social media partner.

Flash Forward: Healthcare Marketing in 2033

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Prognostication isn't easy especially when it comes to healthcare. Advancements in medicine have been rapid and profound over the last 100+ years. Today we are seeing great leaps in the merger of medicine and mobile technology. Pills that take pictures of your gut and pacemakers that can be programmed remotely already exist. We are not for from a time when all or our major vital signs will me monitored around the clock by nanomedibots in our bloodstream.

The gap between today's medical marketing best-practices and tomorrow's unimagined upgrades will be equally as vast. Imagine explaining medical social media to a doctor working when the internet was in its infancy.

None of us can know exactly what will be in use in 2033. All we can do is stay on top of our respective games. Let us do the medical marketing deep-thinking for you. You worry about those nanobots.

Diagnosis: Start a Doctor Blog. You're Overdue!

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To answer your question, yes, it is time to start a doctor blog. Your skill and exemplary service to your patients are enough. But, enough is not enough. Regional medical markets have become extremely competitive. A colleague with an active social media and blog presence will, not may, will poach potential patients in your area due to their higher search ranking.

Patients are hungry for information and when they need it they don't pick up the phone. As a successful doctor you are the source they trust most, the source they trust to deliver unbiased information. By providing concise and true details about topics of interest you will be providing a valuable service to current and potential patients. Added to which media outlets are constantly trolling for reliable quotes and opinions. You never know when a blog post could go viral earning you a shot at a much wider audience.

Hot Button Topics Include:

• Healthcare reform (Unbiased or in defense of, make it straight forward and they will appreciate it)
• Nurse and doctor shortages (how staffing problems impact patients now and what may happen in the coming years)
• Medicare reimbursement
• Emerging health threats (For instance those due to vaccine-preventable illness or antibiotic resistant bacteria)
• Workplace wellness programs

You have the knowledge patients search for. If you don't have the time to write the blog yourself hire a ghostwriting blogger to interview you and write the article(s) on your behalf. It is your thoughts that matter not the fingers that type them.

Medical Marketing: Naysayers are just Jealous

Big Pharma and healthcare insurance giants have been aggressively marketing their products and services for years. Their tactics are a core issue of complaint against the medical industry. For this reasons doctors have often chosen to quietly build a regional practice and let their work speak for itself.

But, today with cost of running a practice going up, the cost of medical school loans going up, the cost of malpractice insurance (as always) going up, doctors are delving into the world of marketing. It makes good business sense.

And with rise of social media medical marketing it is becoming a much more organic process. In the past doctors aimed for strong word-of-mouth. The same is true today, only that word-of-mouth message gets spread across forums and review sites, Twitter and Facebook likes.

It is imperative that doctors remain active in their marketing efforts. And it is strongly advised that they engage the services of a medical media marketing consultant. But, ultimately it is the strength of their practice and their bond with patients that will market their practice and build their business.

Medical marketing naysayers know this. If a colleague says, "You're doing well because you're always blogging and tweeting." What you should hear is, "Your doing well because you're talented and people are talking about you."

Reputation Management for Doctors: The Office Environment

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You don't have to wait out there. They do.

The waiting room is a hiding in plain site factor that needs to considered. The "Office Environment" is a growing area of focus for healthcare giants and private practices alike. Kaiser Permanente for example is putting both thought and money behind this issue. A well reviewed doctors office is about more than comfy chairs and new magazines. According to a HealthGrades survey it includes cleanliness, lighting, comfort and temperature. Creating a better waiting room environment may be easier than you realize. Here are a few suggestions.

• Fill the area with natural light or use LED lights that closely match the sun's spectrum.
• Update the wall coverings and flooring. A variety of easy-to-sanitize textiles and materials are available.
• Update the artwork on your walls and add non-allergenic plants throughout the office.
• Organize chairs and end tables into pods. This will give patients a greater sense of privacy.

Don't get us wrong, you can't rip a few pages out of style magazines and interior decorate your way to sterling online doctor reviews. It is simply one factor among many. You have to monitor patient reviews on the various doctor rating sites. You should hire an online marketing consulting firm to monitor and help mitigate any harmful reviews. And as always you must maintain a positive bedside manner, return calls promptly and make an effort to reduce wait times.

But, a good couch isn't just psychiatrist business, it's doctor business too. Improve your office environment and watch the reviews trend up!

An Unbiased Look at Biased Doctor Reviews

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Recently Rob Lieber at the The New York Times took an in-depth look at reputation management for doctors and why it will be a contentious issue for the foreseeable future. As stands it is difficult to find accurate doctor review information online. Other business sectors have settled into trustworthy ratings from reputable sources. So, why is the medical community having such difficulty shedding biased reviews. The NYT article highlights some of the many factors that come into play:

• Unhappy patients are more likely to leave a detailed review
• Patients refrain from posting out of (legitimate) fear that they will be sued
• Certain patients refrain from posting negative reviews because of ties they share with their physician in their small community
• There is a demographic that believes doctors are essentially mistake free (an unhealthy view no matter how gratifying from the physicians perspective)

The sum total of this information suggests that unbiased reviews are more the exception that the rule. This may change over time, but until the medical sector settles into trustworthiness the way other sectors have it makes sense to have a professional team managing this issue as it evolves. Let the medical social media professionals manage your online reputation so you can continue to hone your in-office reputation one patient at a time.

Effective Social Media for Doctors is About More Than Likes and Tweets

What tangible benifits will social media bring to your practice?

In the world of social media what you get depends on what you give. You have to be active and you have think beyond the standard practices of posting, linking and commenting. To get a real pulse reading from the local community you need to use more advanced social media practices.

For example, use a social media survey to determine what type of health screening event to host at your practice. A survey could also gain you a head start on the competition. If you specialize in dermatology or plastic surgery social media responses may tip you off to new procedures people in your area are interested in. With this valuable information you could take the steps necessary to add that procedure to your repertoire before the competition even realizes they need to catch-up. If those particular procedures are outside of your sphere of interest you could still offer needed consultation.

What doctors discuss among themselves isn't always what the patient population is interested in. Social media gives you the power of a focus group without any of the logistical headaches. 

Think beyond likes and tweets and discover what social media can do for you.

SEO Tips for Doctors: Part Four

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This edition of Strategic SEO for Doctors focuses on the ways Google gives preferential treatment to users who are loyal to its brand. We are not talking about Googling yourself only to find out that a Hungarian opera singer with same name is more famous than your are. We are talking about Google's +1 system and how it can have a positive effect on your branding and social media efforts.

Google+ is Making Moves

In an earlier post we talked about the importance of social signals. Google loves its own unique signal. When people give your content a +1 Google uses that information to update their algorithms. It may be algorithmic nepotism but Google+ is aiming to be the next big thing in social media. Current top dog, FaceBook is giving them a helping hand by charging busninesses (medical practices included) substantial fees to have posts show up in news feeds of people who have already "liked" their company page.

A FaceBook presence is still important of course, but Google+ needs to be a part of the equation. Not only is Google+ free (for now) they also reward active participants with higher search rankings.

Let Patients Know Where to Find You

As the undisputed #1 search engine Google has a lot of influence in determining what prospective patients will see when they search for a doctor in their area. By setting your geographic location in your Google+ profile the algorithms can use that data when computing which results to show local users. Taking advantage of geography enables you to cast a wider net. Users will find you without having to type an ultra-specific search term like "podiatrist in Austin." And having a higher overall page rank will give you the opportunity to reach non-regional patients who are willing to travel in order to receive the best care available.

To learn more about why Google+ is a prescription for success see what Katie Matlack has to say about medical social media. And then get yourself Google+ updated or have us do it for you!

Don't Let Your Patients Turn to Dr. Google

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A study by MedTera shows that patients leave their doctor's office hungry for more information. Perhaps they don't want to bother their physician with questions they think of as trivial. Perhaps the questions simply hit them later. In any case patients are going online to fill the gaps and unfortunately those gaps are often filled by big pharma companies. And needless to say those companies aren't aiming for unbiased reporting.

The survey shows that in addition to information about their particular treatments, patients are looking for broad topic information such the importance of following up with their physician after tests and lifestyle changes needed to manage a disease.

By being savvy about online medical marketing doctors can provide legitimate unbiased information to current and potential patients. Patients are going to search online anyway. Why let Dr. Google take the credit? Get patients to your site and give them the education they are actively seeking.

SEO Tips for Doctors: Part Three

The previous posts in this series were intended to give you a basic SEO foundation. Now it is time to build on that foundation by discussing some advanced SEO strategies and their ever-changing nature. Social media is the newest measurement to have a major impact on search ranking.

Sharing Matters

Search Engine algorithms have been updated to account for the rise of Social Media. The assumption is that people typically like and share information that is relevant to them and thus of high quality. Naturally people at times repost things in an attempt to be funny or outlandish, but most often they directly support people, organizations and subjects they have a genuine interest in.

Reader actions on social media are considered "social signals." The more "+1" an article gets on the Google Plus platform or "like" on FaceBook the higher the likelihood it will outrank less popular content. With this in mind the minimal amount of time it takes to promote your content via the top social media channels suddenly seems well worth it.

Why the Change?

As usual unethical types have found ways to shortcut the system. As black hat SEO practices become more prevalent the search engines are downgrading the importance of proven techniques such as back linking in favor of organic feedback. Social signals will eventually find their way into the unethical repertoire, by which time the algorithms will a new layer of measurement.This is the nature of the beast. But, as long as you have a reputable SEO firm handling your content promotion you can be confident that your practice will stay abreast of the trends used to build traffic and page ranking ethically and with strong results.

Don't Over-React. Trust in Reputation Management.

As the saying goes, people remember insults not compliments. With this in mind reputation management for doctors can at times require the ability to take a deep breath and walk away.

A couple of years ago a patient's son wrote a scathing review of the neurologist who treated his father. The doctor sued for defamation of character. Legally speaking this was a good move as the posting was removed pending the outcome of the case. In terms of public relations it was a total nightmare. When the online community found out about the lawsuit they laid into the neurologist posting a stream of negative reviews. You can read about the lawsuit and backlash here.

Most of the negative reviews were fabricated, but it just goes to show that cutting the head off the snake is not always the best defense. If you encounter a bad review, no matter how outlandish, the best thing to do is step back and breathe. Don't reply with an angry rant or witty retort. Give yourself time to gain perspective. A lawyer's primary concern is whether or not a case is winnable. Your reputation management partner's primary concern is insuring that you have an excellent online reputation.

Who would rather trust with an explosive situation such as this?

A Funny Look at Marketing, PR, Branding and Advertising

We got a laugh out of this depiction of the differences between marketing, public relations, branding and advertising. But, we have to ask, where is social media!? @great #lover

SEO Tips for Doctors: Part Two

The second installment of our series focuses on off page SEO for doctors. At its core off page SEO is centered around getting links to your site published elsewhere on the web. There are a variety of ways that you can do this yourself:

• Comment on other healthcare blogs and include a link to your site
• Participate in forum posts on medical or doctor websites and include a link in your signature
• Submit articles to "article directories" like Ezine and include a link to your site

These methods are among the oldest SEO strategies. That said nowadays certain forums and blogs prohibit links to weed out spammers. Article directories are also bloated with poor content so they don't have the SEO muscle they did five years ago. The old school methods are still worth the effort but you may get a higher return by placing links on social media portals like Twitter and YouTube.

Self-Promotion Has its Limits

By far the best back links are that ones that are intentionally placed by the site administrators of reputable, high-traffic sites. Unless you happen to know important people in important places the best way to do this is by creating content they feel compelled to link to. In healthcare circles for instance a link on www.mayoclinic.com would give your site a big boost in traffic and search engine ranking. Not to mention reputation!

Make Sure Your Links are Relevant

The anchor text (word or phrase readers click) should include one of your keywords or terms. At the start of this article we linked to 'off page SEO' which is optimized to be relevant to that particular site/subject. If you are doing a link exchange ask the website owner to link to your site using specific anchor text (e.g. cosmetic surgeon in Santa Monica.) It is a common request and one that you should reciprocate.

Quality is the Best Strategy for New Medical Practice Websites

Do a quick search and you will find forums discussing the best way to rank a medical practice for specific geographic locations. Although everyone has tweaks and tricks to offer about off page medical SEO strategies, everyone agrees that the foundation of any campaign is quality content. Back links and appropriate anchor text are important, but without quality content on your site visitors will not come back for more.

Is Your Practice Manager Qualified to Handle Medical Marketing?

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Chances are you depend on your practice manager to handle a variety of tasks; HR, IT, Risk Management and Accounting. Their expert ability to deal with the day-to-day tasks allows you to concentrate on your patients and the treatment they require. You need your practice manager, because you can't do it all. And as much as it may seem like it, neither can they.

Your practice manager may have the full compliment of capabilities discussed on this medical office management hub page, which includes knowledge of traditional marketing. But, given that online marketing strategies grow in scope and diversity on a near daily basis it is unlikely they have the capability to deliver the highest level ROI and business growth. Imitation does not work in online marketing. You need a plan targeted to the needs of your practice. By outsourcing to an online marketing firm with the skill, resources and experience required to meet your growing online medical marketing needs you can gain the growth you seek without risking the happiness and sanity of your practice manager; a team member you couldn't imagine being without!

Medical Social Media: Your Patients are Waiting

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Time is precious when you have a medical practice to run. The lack of extra minutes in the day, let alone hours leads many physicians to wonder whether the commitment to medical social media is really worth it.

According to Mary Pat Whaley the founder of Manage My Practice it absolutely is. In her blog post "9 Ways to Change Healthcare" she talks about the ways in which patient expectations have evolved to include web presence from their physician.

"Patients want to register, make appointments, pay their bill, get their test results, chat online with a staff member, access their personal health record (PHR), watch videos and listen to podcasts you make or recomment."

Informational videos and podcasts are highly valuable channels in medical social media. Not only will patients watch/listen, they'll retweet, bookmark and share. They'll "like" on Facebook adding to your measurable stats. We have said it before, content is king. If you provide quality output your patients will pull the bulk of the marketing load.

It isn't easy to find the time, but it is worth it. Get social, your patients are waiting!

Say What!? Doctor Blog Shenanigans

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Doctor blogs are serious business, right? Practitioners don't air their dirty laundry, do they?

You would be surprised. Just ask Dr. Grumpy.

Some of the most widely read doctor blogs are full of sarcasm and irreverent humor. They mock drug reps, patients and coworkers. They mock the system. And they are hysterical.

But, the doctors behind these blogs aren't standing on a soapbox.They're hiding behind a pseudonym. Aware that they are occasionally crossing the line they take careful steps to cover their tracks.

If you want to write your blog with humor and rants we suggest that you do the same. It is important to protect your standing in the medical community and the sense of professionalism you have with your patients.

A friendly warning: remember that the internet is full of wannabe Sherlocks. Even with a pseudonym there is a risk that a snooping site user could uncover and reveal your name and the name of your practice.

What are your favorite humorous healthcare blogs?

What is the most shocking thing you've seen posted about the medical field?

Let us know. We are always up for a gasp or a laugh!

SEO for Doctors More Trends for 2013

SEO is a practice that is constantly changing and strategies are being constantly adjusted to deal with those changes. More and more information that SEO firms used to use to make decisions about keyword targeting is now being hidden by Google. Encrypted search results seem to be the culprit. Hupsort.com has detailed descriptions about how HTTPS works and what impact it has on keywords.

Google has made it harder for markets to have access to data about organic search traffic, that even includes terms being used to find their own site! Hartley Brody, author of the HubSpot articles, believes this is not intentional. He believes that it is security and privacy that are the big issues. It isn’t difficult to deduce that a reduction in the functionality of free services like google analytics may lead to a higher percentage of firms that will pay google money for their Adwords program.

This doesn’t mean the end for web content:

According to Brody, “Optimizing your website will be less about tracking keywords and rankings, and more about capturing visitors once they’ve landed on your website.” This means, above all, focusing on creating high quality and compelling content. This is something that is good for you, your patients, and your practice.

 http://digitalmediafordoctors.com

SEO Tips for Doctors: Part One

SEO for doctors is a unique science that is constantly changing. In this blog post series we'll highlight the evolving world of Search Engine Optimization best practices.

Part One

If you are in the dark about SEO best practices you are not alone. Most doctors employing a contractor to write web content felt the same going in. Search Engine Optimization is a rapidly developing field. Keeping up with all of the intricacies is best left to the specialists. However, learning the basics is easy and it can have a huge impact on your web traffic and patient interaction. For starters here is a quick SEO guide for beginners.

How to Choose Keywords for Doctors:

While you would be happy to get site traffic from just about anywhere, it is regional traffic that will have the most impact on your practice. Your web content needs to help potential patients in the surrounding area find you (click here for a list of typical geographic modifiers used in search engine optimization). Working the name of a city or region into the text of a post can seem like baiting if the writing isn't clever. Let's face it, there aren't a lot of synonyms for 'Long Beach blepharoplasty.' That said it is important to have a working knowledge of the search terms you are targeting so you don't inadvertently delete keywords when you review ghostwritten content.

Additional Key Phrases to Use:

• Plastic surgeons can find great fodder for posts in the the media. A post about calf implants might be a strong traffic driver. You can use hot topics effectively even you don't offer those particular procedures by commissioning an "Alternatives to..." article.
• Patients can be cost obsessed. And much to their annoyance most practices prefer not to list their prices online. If your patients pay for out of pocket procedures consider posting average price ranges online (with notice that costs may vary).
• What are the FAQs you get from patients? Have your SEO consultant analyse the most highly searched version of those questions. Address those questions in posts to drive traffic.

Enhance Your Doctor Profile with Online Reviews

Word of mouth marketing is imperative to the success of any private practice. Getting positive reviews without damaging your doctor patient relationship can be delicate business. You don't want your patients to feel like they are being pushed for sound bites and quote board material. It is important to carefully choose which patients to target and when to target them. Dr. C. Noel Henley at Physician's Practice provides insight about how to generate online ratings and reviews from your patients.

Here are a few suggestions for optimizing your doctor profile online via review requests:

• Include a review card with documents you send home to selected patients. Your review card should include information about your practice and the web addresses of the sites you prefer to be rated on. Either pre-select or come up with a subtle way to alert the front desk when a patient should receive a card.
• Follow up within 3-4 days, preferably via email so that you can include clickable links to review sites. It should be noted that patients who are active on email are the most likely to leave online ratings.
• Keep careful records of the patients you have solicited and those who have posted reviews. Not many patients will mind a single request, but none of them will want to be pestered.
• When patients do post a review be sure to thank them during their next visit!

Time-Management Tips for Healthcare Bloggers

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You are not playing at being a doctor on the internet, you are a doctor. You have patients to see, a practice to manage, research to catch up on and then of course there is a personal life and family to make room for. It can be difficult to squeeze in blog time, but it is important. An idle blog is a useless blog. Here are a few tips to help with your blog time-management and posting frequency.

• Keep it brief. A blog is not a thesis. The medium was designed for quick easily digestible information. If you are posting 2-3 times per week your posts do not need to exceed 150-300 words. If you have a long topic break it up into sections. Leave them with a cliffhanger!
• Writing a healthcare blog is rarely the hard part. Thinking about what to write is. Take notes. Keep a pen and paper by your side and anytime you are reading journals or doing online research jot down bullet point ideas. You can always flesh them out later.
• Take advantage of outsourcing. There is an army of tech-writers out there. Get a qualified scribe to handle the heavy lifting so that all you have to do is approve and post.

How To: Healthcare Marketing Photography

Wouldn't it be cool if you could use Photoshop to create a faux group shot of the all the doctors in your practice? A wave of the Photoshop wand and shazaam a classic photo with arms folded and stethoscopes on. Weekly Probe thought so. They wrote about the "DrClonetastic" Photoshop filter and all its bells and whistles. Unfortunately, Weekly Probe is in the business of spoof news.

Until the magic wand filter is invented you'll have to get photos the old fashioned way. Set a day and time for your staff to pose. Make sure you give them advanced notice, they will want get their haircut, nails done, may be even a quick stop at the tanning salon. For continuity you may want to color coordinate the scrubs! You can use the winning image as your Facebook cover or even on your own doctor blog.

Make the most out of the shoot:

Tell the photographer exactly what you want: employee headshots, building interior/exteriors shots, close-ups of cutting edge equipment, patient photographs (click here for suggestions).

Your photos can be used throughout the social media world; Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, on your website and blog. And they can be used to increase SEO (search engine optimization) so be sure to check with a social media consultant about the potential impact. Competition for keywords in the image market is much lower than in the text content market. But, that won't last long so stake your claim now! 

The Top Doctors on Twitter

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Everyday more and more doctors are turning to Twitter and other social media sites to promote their practices and connect with patients. Whether you are new to the Twitter-verse or a practiced Tweeter it is a good idea to see what the most successful users are doing.

TwitterDoctors.net is a quick and easy way to check doctor rankings. Measured by followers and tweets the high profile names like Dr. Oz are hardly surprising. However, the majority of successful social media physicians are "normal" docs with active and interesting accounts.

The content they generate is varied, from no nonsense advice to tweets about pop-culture and personal hobbies. Take time to review their content and decide what kind of social media presence you want to maintain.

If you would like to be included in the TwitterDoctors directory, click on the green button and follow the prompts.

With the right strategy your name could end up in the top spot!

Healthcare Marketing: Doctors versus Hospitals

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Private practice doctors obviously can't compete with hospitals in terms of marketing budgets, however, they can compete in terms of marketing effectiveness. Patients identify with doctors, the face and voice of the person keeping them healthy. That gives private practice doctors a distinct advantage through the usage of low budget social media channels.

Do a search for medical themed blogs. The highest rankings do not belong to deep pocket hospitals or medical universities. They belong to doctors with a progressive approach to social media. Take a look at what KevinMD and Dr Grumpy in the House are up to.

Social media and content marketing have made promotion a light and nimble endeavor. The ability to update often and provide an evolving presence is far more important than expensive mailers and glossy magazine ads.

Hospitals are often weighed down by multiple departments and multiple decision makers. Doctors don't have these bureaucratic hurdles. With research and commitment private practice doctors have the ability to stay one, two, three steps ahead of hospitals and their enviable budgets.

The Age of the Digital Doctor

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On a recent appointment with my daughter’s pediatrician I stole a look around his office. There were the expected things, diplomas and expensive looking leather bound books. There was also a laptop on his desk, with an external webcam clipped to the top of the screen. The laptop wasn’t there for solitaire. The webcam wasn’t there for Skype. He was using it as a tool in his day-to-day work. A few days later one of my closest friends, a world renowned rheumatologist, asked me to give her a Twitter tutorial. We discovered that a number of key opinion leaders in her field keep active Twitter accounts. A pattern was becoming clear—the rise of the digital doctor.

The push for electronic medical records certainly has something to do with it, but it’s more than that. Doctors are embracing the world of social media with an eye toward their patients. In a September 26, 2011 article, the American Medical Association’s amednews.com reported that the vast majority of US doctors are now on social media. The article cites a study by research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan conducted between April and May, 2011, which found that 84% of doctors use social media for personal purposes.

CLICK HERE to read the full article at SocialMediaToday.com.