Medical Social Media: Your Patients are Waiting

Photo Credit: medicalium.co.uk

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!