Building Better Relationship With Your Clients With Social Media

How do you go about building trust and reputation with your clients that are predominantly present in the online world? Connecting with them in person gives a perceivable understanding of their expressions, needs and feelings. But what about gauging their perception and building an equally strong reputation online? Surely as a successful digital marketer, you don’t want to lose that human feel when you engage with your clients online or in the social media space.

Social Media is a staple in the digital platform leveraged by all marketers to drive business, branding and reputation. There is no dispute that given the indicative number of users across various social media channels (as stated below), this very powerful medium needs careful planning and execution to  enhance your business’ reputation, improve customer loyalty and drive sales.

So here are a few key takeaways that will not only help you attract new client to your business but also build trust and reputation with the help of social media:

• Identify your client’s needs- One of the most basic principles of social media is to focus on your client’s needs in advance and offer quality services/information they would be looking for. According to Steve Jobs, it is important to guess what your customers require in advance as they themselves are most unaware of what they actually require.
• Effective and quick response-This is just as important as posted valuable content, responding within the quick TAT (turnaround time), not only makes them feel heard but also helps in resolving customer issues in real-time. Be confident to address negative comments and grievances promptly, it leads to positive customer experience following better revenue.
• Maintain brand consistency- The tone of your brand message should be uniform across the different channels of communication. This can refer to the use of content, logo, layout and style of communication material, your response to your clients should all uniformly present your brand image across social media channels.
• Reward your customers- One of the easiest and best ways to gain your customer’s trust and confidence is to reward them for their loyalty. This creates a sense of feeling loved and special. A simple monthly completion run on Facebook or Instagram can be one of the ways to keep them engaged and showing them that you care with enticing rewards.
• Share Testimonials from happy clients- After a job/ service is delivered, encourage your clients to share their testimonials on your social media pages. This is one of the smartest ways to leverage your client’s positive experience and building a positive brand reputation and image.

The above simple ways when implemented will ensure trust; credibility and a lifetime of loyal customers that will get your brand thrive. Use the power of social media to help your business stand out from the rest and give you an edge over the competition.

Unlock New And Personalized Marketing Practices For Cosmetic Surgeons

Marketing techniques for cosmetic surgery and the aesthetic industry is a speciality in the medical industry that needs a competitive and pro-active plan. When it comes to elective procedures in plastic surgery, it needs a special consideration in identifying your demographics, your competition and current surgery trends to get an idea of where you should focus your efforts.

Putting an effort to attract the right patient, convert and retain them in today’s ever competitive environment will involve understanding these patients, why they chose you over all the others stay loyal to you and refer their friends to you. Then there is also the need to effectively communicate with your target patients. Patients in this highly informative world, have to be spoken in their language that makes them feel comfortable enough to address and reach out their concerns. Effective communication between provider and patient should be a two-way street, allowing the patient to communicate back with you.

Here are some marketing strategies that will help you boost your patient base and change more lives:

Internet Marketing to drive in targeted traffic - Commonly referred to as online marketing is the most significantly practiced marketing practice to target right customers with huge ROI’s and pay-offs. Broken down to areas such as social media, email marketing and search engine optimization, internet marketing addresses more than 75% of plastic surgery patients looking for Cosmetic Surgeons Online. The target market for such audience should be defined taking into consideration patient age, demographics, education, income levels and psycho graphics.

Craft your online presence with positive and decisive branding - A positive brand perception helps in expediting the client’s decision. Positive experiences, reviews and relationships build a unique reputation and help position your brand in the minds of your prospective patients. Online reputation management with regular review management and increasing patient interactions and engagement creates a positive image and brand.

Promote via Website and Social Media - Most patients follow traditional paths of reviewing your website content that lists your services, provides testimonials and demonstrates your surgery skills with an assortment of before and after photos. Promoting Facebook videos of procedure with details will benefit them with a visual experience and help answer many questions they may have in mind. Facebook Ads are yet another way to spread the message about your practice fast and cost effective. Knowledge is power. Promoting useful and informative content through blogs can increase viewership and help them stay engaged.

Employ Brand Ambassadors - Your previous patients are the biggest resource of your referrals and will encourage new ones to consider aesthetic procedures. Partnering with brand ambassadors who have credible following will help advocate your brand to new clients and optimize your marketing efforts.

Smart Ways To Boost Your Practice’s Online Presence

Today with the digital revolution, everything about a doctor and his practice can be found with a simple search button. But building a healthy and successful online presence may be a daunting and overwhelming task. No matter what the type of business, restaurant, hotel, electronic gadgets, cars or even physicians now are decided based on online reviews and web presence.  It is not just about grabbing the client’s eyeballs, but making your online presence strong, impressive and trustworthy.

Attracting new patients and holding on to existing ones requires optimizing your web presence across multiple channels and capitalizing on consumer-driven trends. Here are a few insights into ensuring your online presence is accurate and optimized:

• Get your directory updated -The first and foremost step would be to make sure your medical information is accurate on physician rating sites and medical directories. Doctor search directories should be made valuable with a unique profile photo, customized bio (your story, experience, treatment and philosophy) and an updated insurance plan that your patients can accept.
   
• Get listed on Google My Business –It is a no brainer that Google is supreme and it is absolutely imperative that you feed your practice information to Google. Making your prospective patients find you is most vital to any medical practice and Google My Business is one such platform that empowers your patients to locate you through the tools like Maps, Google+ and Google places. Make sure you update your business information to Google from time to time in order to provide your patients the maximum, correct information in hand.
  
  
   
• Get a Mobile Optimized Website- Claimed as one of the best SEO practice, a mobile friendly website means that your visitors( patients ) have an optimized experience accessing your website from any device, laptop, tablet or Smartphone. To see if your current website is mobile optimized, copy/paste the URL into Google’s handy Mobile Friendly Tester.

Key Takeaway

Building an optimized online presence is not something to stress about but to get started. A Healthy Online presence will not only help you connect with the right clients but also help you establish your brand and benefit your practice in the long run. It is however not a one time practice and requires continuous updates and patient engagement mechanisms to amplify your business potential. Feedbacks and reviews must be monitored and responded to ensure an open line of communication. Online presence when implemented adequately and precisely will make you shine!

Healthcare Now At Your Fingertips!

Until a decade ago if you were looking for quality healthcare it meant sitting on the fence. From choosing among the abundant clinics and medical practioners or relying on family and friends for recommendations, finding the right doctor that fits your bill was anything but a cakewalk.

When you visited the clinic, a lot of important questions still remained unanswered. How long do I have to wait for my turn? Is the doctor a reliable and friendly one? (If you were a first timer), what are the consultation fees? Will I get an insurance cover? And the list could go on to unearth many unexplored territories screening for locations, speciality, service offerings and others.In the pursuit for quality Healthcare, time and money eventually were the precious means that were put on the bargain.

Thanks to the fruits of technological advancements in healthcare today, we can fend off the mentioned bottlenecks and hindrances in choosing and availing better Healthcare. 

According to a 2011 Pew study, 80% of Internet users look for health information online, making medical inquiries the third most popular web-based pursuit, following only email and search engine use.

How AboutClinic has made the difference in healthcare space

AboutClinic is an innovative digital health platform that helps patient’s find, compare and connect with doctors and care providers at the convenience of time and home comfort. With its user friendly interface it offers reliable and quick solutions to your medical queries, from across the globe. Yes! You can now find the best surgeon to get a nose job done at your home at the click of a finger. An Information Technology Company, AboutClinic is equipped with the crucial know-how of health care services and supported with research in clinical processes; it not only brings together patients and caregivers but also equips them to profitably optimize their experience through this assembly.

What AboutClinic offers for Patients- Getting a quick yet detailed first hand information about a doctor or a clinic and making an informed decision without having to leave your home can be a significantly comforting. With AboutClinic you have access to not just a wide range of doctors globally, but also empower yourself  to make the right choice by going through doctor reviews, real time treatment results and compare costs. Key benefits to patients include:

• Hassle free, seamless registration
• Find Best Doctors from a wide range of listed MD’s
• Know your doctors well with up-to- date  ratings and reviews
• Quick Response from Clinic
• Book an Appointment
• Find latest health articles and medical information

 What AboutClinic offers for Doctors/ Health-care providers- Doctors and care providers now have a versatile online platform to reach out to a wider set of patients seeking medical help by registering with AboutClinic at no cost. Additionally, they can prescribe and post the line of treatment after necessary medical evaluation of the patient leading to better time management on both parts. In a world dominated by internet AboutClinic aims to offer an effective digital marketing solution as against the old school traditional and expensive medical marketing techniques. Supported with verified patient testimonials, blogs, social media display and consistent SEO efforts, doctors have a bigger and better visibility of their expertise. Key benefits to doctors include:

• Simple and Free Registration
• Post your treatment
• Improve your Clinic
• Reach Global audience
• Market your presence digitally
• Online Reputation Management

 Making good of all the key features, AboutClinic helps to enhance treatment and outcomes by making them quick, reliable, time and cost effective. With the motto of ‘patients first’, along with ‘care for the caregivers’, AboutClinic pledges to make the world around happier and healthier."

How Can The Powers Of AI Be Harnessed To Shape The Future Of Healthcare?

Robert Wachter, professor and head of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco is a national leader in the area of patient’s safety in the digital age and is well known for his views on pressing healthcare issues every day. Having authored the book “The Digital Doctor” he takes a deep dive to address the chronicles and challenges of AI in medicine. In his book he takes his readers to examine the highs and lows of technology tools and how he trusts AI to eventually amplify even the human side of empathy and compatibility besides his emphasis on accuracy and patient’s safety.

What is the extended role AI is expected to play in healthcare?

In the evolving world of healthcare, Artificial Intelligence’s transformation on treatment and diagnosis has potentially saved billions of lives through the application of complex algorithms and data points. As Watcher admits that it is far safer with the intervention of super computers than a scenario without them, there is however a lot of scope for improvement. Referring to the incident where a teenager received a huge overdose with antibiotics, such disasters of poorly designed computers could have been avoided in a conventional hospital. This leaves us doubtful, yet hopeful about what Artificial Intelligence can hold in store for us.

Much hope placed with AI to redefine Healthcare

The digital tsunami has taken over the healthcare space with the disruptive innovation of AI. Be it in the fields of diagnosis, treatments or bridging geographical barriers, with cloud-based AI technology, the dependency on small practitioners can be practically nullified. The same goes for decoding X-rays and biopsy’s and the lesser subjectivity to human errors. As Watcher is optimistic that radiology, pathology and dermatology are three main medical fields that will see the strongest wave of digital transformation.

AI stands for Augmented Intelligence

Augmented Intelligence is actually what it is all about. Systems are built by humans and are further elevated to assist and scale human expertise to make well informed decisions. Hence the collaboration between human and computers is very important in shaping successful health systems. Unlike artificial intelligence it is relevant and insightful. So, augmented intelligence is the way forward in the Digital Healthcare world.

Need For Technological Advancement In The Healthcare Industry

Technology has intruded almost every aspect of human lives. If you were planning a holiday at the hills or shop for best brands online, you are quite likely to search for a health care specialist or a healthcare solution using the irrefutable power of internet. From locating where is the closest dental clinic to getting reviews about the cosmetic surgeon you were planning to visit, technology has changed the way we access healthcare.

At a recent digital marketing event, Google’s healthcare business lead Shivalika Singh mentioned that one in 20 searches on Google are healthcare related. This highlights the internet's ubiquitous ability to potentially empower patients.

The challenge remains in finding the right information!

The way we find information is often the challenge. Healthcare brands and organizations need to evaluate the digital expectations and demands of patients. The wealth of information that is disseminated to patients, is often impersonal, irrelevant or invalidated. The reality of online health that is being offered by healthcare brands or organization is still trailing behind, something that they really cannot afford in this digital age.

The need for a positive, radical change in Digital Healthcare
The opportunity for digital healthcare brands is to create services and products that are tailored around the patient. Taking the example of Airbnb's hospitality solutions works perfectly for people wanting to lease or rent short-term lodging enabling simplified transactions and other supports.  Likewise, the need for a simple healthcare solution that offers efficient and streamlined booking systems, patient enquiries and opening the doors to an "interactive healthcare" platform will change the future of online healthcare. Online conversations about health in social networks, participation of doctor's online, all lead to better engagement and open the doors to improved healthcare and well-being. Data needs to be well analysed, real-time with recommendations in moving the way forward for Digital Healthcare.

Integrating the above said is about empowering and inspiring a perfect healthcare and patient equation. Now is the time for technology in healthcare to spell avant-garde!

Why it's time for doctors to say bye to old school marketing techniques?

Keeping up with tips and tricks of Online Marketing Strategies for doctors is as imperative as for any other internet savvy start up you may find these days. It is that age when most patients will consider doctors that can boast of a good online reputation in an unravelling competitive market.  Leveraging the online presence for doctors means getting noticed, establishing a brand name, building loyalty and finally amounting to an increased patient base and improved satisfaction.

A Google Think study that doctor's should reckon on-

This soaring percentage of patients going online for medical information's suggests that the well informed and net savvy patient is not only taking responsibility of their own health but that doctors also have no option but to embrace the digital age.

Although it could be a bit overwhelming platform for doctors, who once thrived on the patient's reference and word of mouth to accept the paradigm shift, it is a good idea to be there and tap the power of internet.

4 Online marketing ideas for doctors that will pay off

A few "must have" online marketing strategies that most doctor's should implement are:

•  Differentiation - Before drawing out what internet strategy will work best for you, it is first important to be cognizant of what distinguishes you and your practice from others. Do you offer patient- centric care? Are you well facilitated in terms of equipments and machines? or that you are the Best Specialist in town? This singular factor can be the key to a successful marketing campaign.
   
• Online Exposure- Exploiting the web exposure is the first step to connect to your patients and market your practice to the Health Care Industry. An attractive SEO friendly website that not only stands away from competition, but also allows easy navigation and a good user experience will go a long way in optimizing your visitors base. Be versatile in updating news, blogs and social networking links. Unleashing the power of social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn& Twitter can hardly be undermined as an effective patient engagement tool. The more you are talked about, the better the recall.Google My Business is a one-stop listing which allows not only  your local business to appear on search, maps and Google+ but also climb higher in rankings. Bring into play all the online practices and create successful stories!
   
• Get Mobile Friendly - Mobile is not the future, it is Now!. Ever since smartphones and tablets have replaced the traditional devices, it would be oblivious to ignore the mobile web traffic. Making your website responsive to  electronic gadgets like smartphones and tablets is the smartest way to unleash your internet traffic.
   
• Campaign Development-  Creating a publication schedule that will keep your patients awareness in sync with your developments and research will help educate them and differentiate you as  a medical provider. Crafting a physician campaign engages a relevant audience and helps you go that extra mile in building credibility.

Digital Marketing Predictions & Analysis for 2017

Smart Insights into Digital Marketing that will give you an edge

Digital Marketing is getting large, complex and sassy. As you would have rung in the New Year fine-tuning marketing strategies for 2017, the most evolving field of Digital Marketing is a serious contender to your marketing success plan. The sooner you strike on the right nerve of internet users, the better the chances of staying ahead of the curve. While every industry is going gaga over this medium, it is important to understand what will or won't work in the digital year ahead.

Based on the research and association of 350 national brands, StacyDeBroff, CEO and founder of Influence-Central(a portal that connects brands with consumer insights) shares her observation about this medium that can re-define your focus as a smart marketer of 2017.

What's the game changerin the digital world?

1.   Brand Revolution through Social Media- social media has given more and more power than ever to drive, change or prioritise consumer purchasing decisions. Online reviews, shares and feedbacks influence consumer choice and thus product rankings. Brands must stay attune to these trends.

2.   AI (Artificial Intelligence) will continue to thrive - Artificial intelligence is making waves in the digital technology. As a marketer you cannot overlook the technological innovation it offers to every technology enabled service, thing, application or pinpoint analytics that predict consumer needs. Healthcare marketers brace that AI is changing Healthcare in its entirety. AI seems to be a great boon for medical practioners for diagnosis and mining medical data that makes it undeniably big.

3.    Mobile Optimization - Finally mobile has taken over the legacy of desktops and laptops. I am also probably assuming you are reading this on your mobile device. On-the-go consumerism is on the rise. Google Smart insights say 80% of internet users own a Smartphone. Innovative apps for mobiles pushes the need for a digital mobile strategy, if you haven't done it already, you cannot ignore it anymore!

4.    Intrusive marketing is a consumer turn-off- As a consumer, you would have resented those pesky tele-marketing calls, tacky magazine inserts or pop up banner Ads that go out of the way to command attention. While social media platforms have been a chosen marketing platform, 2017 is predicted to see consumers walking out of any medium that gets aggressively pushy.

5.    Big Data is Big Money- Big data has changed the way to do business for companies big and small.  The digital age has brought with it tons of data that marketers must leverage to make effective digital campaigns. Detecting changing trends, consumer behaviour and preferences can maximize a digital campaign making it more personalized with the help of Big Data. Big Data inevitably means Big Money!

Keeping the above trends in mind, outline your 2017 Digital Marketing Strategy. It is time for a change now!
 

Leveraging The Power Of Digital Marketing Into The Healthcare Space

Digital Marketing will certainly give Healthcare a makeover! Here is why and how

Healthcare and digital marketing have not been heard going hand in hand until now, the digital age. It was then, when patients spent dull hours reading medical pamphlets or visiting clinics looking for information about best doctors and now the tech savvy, flipping screens and instantly accessing information no matter their location. Anywhere from a simple CBC test to complex Cosmetic Surgeries, healthcare has made its presence in every online forum ranging from mobile apps, social media to digital ads. The trend has actively set in with physicians as well in the strive to gain maximum visibility, so there is no escaping the digital path for both, patients and medical professionals.

Why go digital?

Medical marketing strategies worldwide have undergone massive transformation. Some interesting takeaways for healthcare marketers are as below, (insights by Think with Google’s ‘The Digital Journey to Wellness: Hospital Selection)

• Most patients search for treatments and information related to doctors online. According to one of the research, more than 70% of internet users look for Healthcare Information Online.
• More than 40% of consumers (patients) find social media information not only useful but trustworthy. Social is a wonderful way for patients to let out stories of their experiences online. Most of the users of social media falling in the age group of 18-24 trust medical information online through LinkedIn, Twitter and Face book, making it increasingly important for healthcare professionals to target the young audience.
• Over 70% of patients use search engines like Google before they book appointments online out of which a 44% comprise mobile devices.
• Digital content plays an important role in building trust among consumers. This applies particularly to medical treatments like cosmetic surgery where a doctor's review plays a significant role in the patient's decision making. With reviews being searched extensively, online reputation management through digital marketing remains critical. Building a good brand for healthcare professional becomes easy with online marketing.
• Youtube attracts over 119% year on year increase in traffic to hospital sites. It is more likely that doctors and hospitals find their potential audience on you tube, a highly acknowledged marketing platform.

What is trending in medical healthcare in the digital space?

• Emergence of e-patients (both existing and new)
• Proliferation of online health video, consumers watch more of health videos featuring doctors than food or other topics
• Impact of Mobile traffic. With more than 50% of web traffic coming from mobile device and mobile apps, the spends on digital marketing on this medium is expected to grow.
• Community building. Creating a community around the brand with patient testimonials helps to educate and inform consumers.
• Indian healthcare market is likely to show a growth of a CAGR of 23%. IT health care which is valued at US $1 is poised for 1.5 times growth by the year 2020.
•  Marketing budgets shifting to digital continues to show a positive trend.  

So what is the bottom line? If you as healthcare marketer is not on the internet, you are missing out on a big chunk of prospective consumers, your potential healthcare audience!