Is there room in your practice for social activity? on East Tennessee Medical News

Is there room in your practice for social activity?

By: SHANE RHYNE

As the online community becomes even more crowded with social media sites and participants, physicians and medical groups remain mostly on the sidelines and wondering if there is room in their medical practice for social activity.

Reluctance from physicians to join online communities is understandable to a degree. As with any outreach and marketing tools, physicians must be mindful of maintaining patient privacy, consumer ethics, and a professional demeanor. But, as select specialists, medical groups, and hospitals are demonstrating, these are not insurmountable obstacles.

With some forethought and strategic planning, physicians are finding social media tools to be a benefit to their practice through improved patient communication, professional networking, and marketing to prospective new patients.

The main factor pushing physicians toward social media these days is the patients themselves. Patients have long been early adopters of using the internet to research medical questions, network with others sharing a diagnosis, and share critiques and recommendations of medical services in their communities.

For better or worse, these conversations have been taking place without the participation of the people most likely to provide beneficial and useful information: the physicians. It’s a good reminder that just because you aren’t listening to the conversation, it doesn’t mean the conversation isn’t taking place.

That’s not to say that physicians should start using Twitter to diagnose a patient. However, physicians do have an opportunity to engage in online conversations to help educate their patients and prospective patients on relevant topics. There are a variety of platforms available for just this sort of activity.

For instance, a physician with a high percentage of patients suffering from diabetes could:

set up a blog providing general information and lifestyle tips on managing the disease
post a weekly recipe on the practice’s Facebook page
tweet a suggested weekend activity to encourage physical activity.

These same tools have the ability to enhance the value of the short amount of time usually spent in the physician’s examination room. With, on average, only about fifteen minutes of face-to-face time between physician and patient during a regular visit, physicians are finding opportunities to “prime the pump” through social media by offering daily tweets or regular Facebook updates with suggested questions for patients to ask during a visit.

Simple steps can make the patient feel better informed. And, since marketing is a part of the strategy, such a patient should be more likely to recommend the physician to a friend, family member, or colleague.

What of marketing? Is it appropriate to use social media to advertise your practice? Yes, but the marketing is different than the simple process of placing a newspaper or radio advertisement. Unlike traditional media, remember that social media is a two-way communication system. Simply pushing a message to the consumer is no way to build a following of potential and current patients online.

The good news is that many of the platforms popularly used are free to set up. The investment comes from time spent engaging with the patient or customer, and in providing regular new messages and content. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. Take Wellmont Health System’s award-winning use of Facebook (as described in this issue of East Tennessee Medical News) as an example.

Wellmont regularly makes use of their Facebook presence to post simple, but informtive, content such as:

“getting to know you” background introductions to staff members
announcements of community events
links to videos on the group’s YouTube page
photos of special events
links to interesting news topics.

Comments and questions from customers and community members are met with an appropriate response with either direct information or information on how to contact someone at the group. With more than 2000 fans on Facebook, Wellmont is finding their approach to online marketing and communications is working to their benefit.

The benefits of social media, when employed in a strategic and well-planned fashion, can far outweigh the fears often expressed by physicians. By using social media platforms as part of an education outreach and marketing program, savvy physicians and medical groups are laying the groundwork for future success.

Social media represents a new item in the physician’s bag of marketing and communication tools. It won’t replace face-to-face communications or your advertising. However, when used properly and strategically, it has great potential to enhance those other efforts, producing beneficial and profitable result for patient and physician alike.

Shane Rhyne is a digital communications associate with Ackermann PR. He may be contacted at srhyne@ackermannpr.com.