Social Media: A Patient’s Information Tool of Choice

Most patients and healthcare consumers prefer using social media to look for information relating to their health and medical care. Take a peek at why social media is an emerging trend that you can utilize to boost your online medical and dental marketing efforts.

According to the digital marketing agency FathomDelivers.com, around 40 percent of consumers comb through Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Healthgrades and other social networking platforms to find healthcare reviews. When browsing for medical information, patients prefer websites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. About 25 percent of these healthcare consumers have shared health-related information on these social media websites. Moreover, roughly 41 percent of people admitted social media plays a significant role in choosing their healthcare provider.

For medical, dental and other healthcare practitioners, social media is your friend; your ally. Use it to gain valuable access to the lives of people seeking care. Social media can also be used to increase your practice’s awareness, improve patient engagement, manage your online reputation and augment your practice’s marketing and advertising efforts.

Connecting Lives

Social media is a great platform for interacting with and educating healthcare consumers on matters relating to treatment and care. As a healthcare provider, you can also provide expert support through online conversations with your patients experiencing certain health conditions. But make sure you don’t discuss any private patient information.

Increase Practice Awareness and Patient Engagement

Do you want to spread the word about your practice? Do it through social media. According to SocialBakers.com, Facebook has about 1.15 billion users. On the other hand Twitter has around a half–billion users. With these websites’ massive reach, along with today’s prevalent use of mobile devices and smartphones, you are sure to engage your patients where they hang out.

Nurture Your Reputation

Since everything is accessible through the Internet, you, as a healthcare practitioner, should be mindful about how online healthcare consumers perceive you and your practice. You can use various social media platforms like Yelp, Healthgrades to manage your online reputation and improve online users’ impression of you and your practice.

At a time when people turn to online resources like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to look for everything they need, concentrating your practice marketing efforts through social media is a smart, practical move.