How to Handle Online Reviews: Reputation Management for Physicians
Most new patients rely on online reviews to research doctors before making an appointment. This means a bad review or news article can have a significant impact on your online reputation.
Physicians must constantly manage their reputation to maintain a strong online presence. While this can feel overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be.
1. Respond to Reviews
The online reputation of a physician is critical for professional success and patient satisfaction. Whether positive or negative, patients often share feedback on websites such as Yelp and Healthgrades. It is essential for physicians to monitor these reviews and provide a professional response. These responses help to shape the image of a practice and improve organic search results, too.
If a patient writes a negative review, it is important for doctors to respond with sympathy and contrition. It can also be helpful to ask the patient if they would be willing to talk privately. Many dissatisfied patients are happy to discuss their experience with a doctor, especially if they feel heard.
However, the time commitment required for monitoring and responding to reviews can be overwhelming for some medical practices. Partnering with a firm that can take on the task of managing patient reviews and remaining HIPAA-compliant is an excellent option. These experts can take the weight off a doctor’s shoulders and make sure that their online reputation is always in good standing. This way, they can focus on providing the best care possible to their patients.
2. Encourage Patients to Re-Write Reviews
The good news is that patients are often moved to share their opinions of their experiences with medical professionals. Just as consumers will post a bad review of a poorly made kitchen gadget to warn other buyers, so they may write a glowing review for the doctor that provided them with outstanding care.
For doctors, it is critical to manage their online profiles and address any negative information that appears. They should encourage their satisfied patients to leave positive reviews on Google, Healthgrades and Yelp. Additionally, they should proactively solicit new reviews through an automated system that can send emails and SMS text messages to patients in a timely manner.
It is also a good idea for physicians to promote articles that they have written on relevant healthcare topics in their community or professional journals, and to keep these posted on the practice website. This builds trust with patients and shows that the physician is a thought leader in their field. It can also help to boost local SEO rankings. However, the most important digital property that a physician should have is their own personal website.
3. Be Active on Professional Platforms
Patients who have had a good or bad experience at a restaurant or other service providers are often quick to share their experiences online, and this same enthusiasm holds true for physicians. Whether these reviews are positive or negative, they have the power to make or break a doctor’s reputation, and as such, they should be addressed promptly.
Aside from addressing negative information and encouraging happy clients to leave reviews, doctors can use professional platforms to boost their online presence. For example, a physician can write articles that are published on medical journals or websites, and when these pieces are shared via social media or a newsletter, they will appear in front of potential new clients who will see that the physician is considered an expert in their field.
Another option for physicians is to use a professional network like Ozmosis, which offers a platform for US-based physicians in every specialty to connect with each other and share health information. It’s been proven that social media and website activity carry a significant amount of weight in Google search results, so physicians who regularly post on their online profiles can expect to see their names and practice appearing at the top of the first page of Google search results tied to them.
4. Earn a Place on Local “Best Doctor” Roundups
A doctor’s reputation is a critical part of growing their patient base. Patients often seek out the opinions of others before choosing a healthcare provider, so reviews on review sites such as Google, Yelp, and Healthgrades are vital. Additionally, a well-maintained professional website can bolster doctors’ digital image, featuring a comprehensive list of services, doctors’ educational background and accolades, and other pertinent information.
Another way to boost a physician’s online reputation is by earning a place on local “Best Doctor” roundups. These lists can be a great source of credibility for patients, as they indicate that the doctor is respected by their peers in the community and deemed to have exceptional medical skills.
A doctor can also enhance their online reputation through guest blogging on authoritative healthcare websites and blogs. Writing regular blog posts showcases a doctor’s expertise, positions them as an industry thought leader, and pushes down negative information in search results. A doctor can even generate new reviews via email or SMS text message and post them on their physician or location page for powerful campaign outcomes.
5. Write Regular Blog Posts
Blogging on a regular basis is one of the best ways to showcase expertise and position physicians as experts. It’s also a highly effective way to grow a practice, bolster SEO, establish physician-patient trust and credibility, and improve an online image.
Physicians can write their own blog posts or outsource to professional content writers who specialize in healthcare marketing. For primary-care doctors who frequently get general health questions, one post a week is usually sufficient, and they can focus on public health issues and answering common questions patients bring up in their exam rooms.
Physicians can also enlist the help of a professional reputation management agency to create a consistent blogging schedule and ensure that their website is optimized for local search. Ultimately, claiming and optimizing a doctor’s local Google business listing is arguably the most important technique in a reputation management campaign, but regularly updating the listing with relevant, informative blog content is an equally effective strategy for burying negative results on Google. This is why most reputation management companies make a blogging component an integral part of their strategies.