While social media offers some great marketing opportunities, it also means that unhappy patients have more places to publish negative reviews. Ophthalmologists seem to be concerned about some patients expressing their dissatisfaction online, which is keeping them from using social networking sites, like Facebook, to market their practice. Don’t let it. Instead face these reviews head on.
You may feel tempted to do anything you can to try to hide or delete a bad review, but the truth is, a negative review is actually an opportunity to make yourself or your practice look even better.
By responding to a negative review publicly, you are showing people that you are professional, that you care about your patients, and that you are committed to providing the best care possible. Apologize to the patient for their bad experience and go above and beyond to turn the situation around. Use the unhappy patient as an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to excellence.
By responding to the review, you will not only save a relationship with a current client, you may just find yourself with a few new ones.
Just at the end of last week, the Dow pushed past the 9,000 point barrier, the first time in nearly 7 months. The good news is that it was not just a one day reaction to a release of information. Rather it has been a three month trend that has percolated at a rate that some consider the first real sign of recovery.
The question for eye care providers is what to do now? Most surgeons have pulled most of their investments (including their marketing investments) out of the market. What will determine long-term returns isn’t necessarily when you get out, but rather, when you get back in.
If your indicators signal it is time to get back into aggressively marketing your practice, don’t wait. Start gaining market share while your competitors sit on the sidelines. Your marketing dollars will go farther and the exposure will be less saturated.
It is no secret that more and more people use the Internet for things they used to rely on the Yellow Pages to do.
Yellow Pages had launched an Internet campaign to recapture some of the audience it had as a captive for generations. Unfortunately for them, the trend does not seem to be positive.
The below is a trend in search traffic on Google that indicates that more and more people are looking for “local” providers, services, businesses through search engines, not “yellow pages.”
If you are still spending money on your Yellow Page advertising, you really need to watch the return on your investment closely. It may also make sense to transition some of those marketing dollars to the building exposure and presence on the Internet, even if your Yellow Pages seems to be still generating a profitable return. Indications are that it will not last forever.
Twitter is becoming an excellent resource for search. People that are online “tweeting” about their day’s happenings are giving the world a peek into their lives, whether they realize it or not. Most Twitter users believe that only their “followers” can see their updates, when in reality anyone’s update can be found in a search.
How does this apply to LASIK? Try searching the term on Twitter. You’ll likely find a few updates from ophthalmologists who just performed the procedure, maybe a couple of news links, but you will also see people talking about it. They are excited about their consultations, admitting their fears and concerns, raving about their clear vision, and often times, they’re asking their friends to refer a good doctor.
Here are some examples of what I found today:
By joining Twitter, you can respond to these types of tweets. You can offer advice, drive traffic to your blog, and probably even snag a few patients. Also, encourage your patients to tweet about their experiences—it will inevitably lead to some referrals.
Questions about using Twitter? Leave a comment below or click here to follow us!
As I mentioned in the previous post, the common optimization strategies to get natural listings on the major search engines, such as meta tags, keyword-rich copywriting, strategic headings, etc. will not likely get you on the top of the Local/Maps Listings for Google and Yahoo.
I did mention Google Loca Business Center in my previous post. In fact, only a hand full of practices and businesses go to the trouble to submit/validate their listings through GLBC.
Although Google and Yahoo do not come right out and say what they use to index the local results, it is believed the local results are greatly influenced by other trusted sources such as the Better Business Bureau, directories such as Acxiom, InfoUSA, and Localeze.
Thus, it also is a good idea to locate other “local” sources and get your practce contact information, particularly accurate and consistent business address, zip, phone number, etc. many local directories, websites and blogs, etc. allow you to list location information which helps entrench you as a “local” provider.
Just because a directory of website does not have a direct link to your website does not mean a listing on that site won’t help you. The fact is, it probably can.
Keep your eyes on the lookout and you will be rewarded.
Most Internet and search engine users have noticed the “local/map” listings on Google and Yahoo results, but now the interest is focused on how to secure them for their own website.
It is important to mention that the strategies use to get high listings on the traditional organic results, may not be effective at securing top local/map listings.
The first and most important set is to be sure your business and all of your information is properly submitted and indexed through the Google Local Business Center (LBC).
There is no cost to get a listing and it also allows you to make updates for free. The main thing, this is one of the most important tools Google utilizes to index and rank local businesses based on certain keyword phrases. What most online marketers don’t realize is that most businesses are either not aware of this, or have not invested the time or energy to do it, so they remain unlisted.
There are additional strategies than can help improve your local/map listings, but I will need to address them in a subsequent entry.
Come back again for more . . .
Ok, so you’ve seen the Google Maps/Local listings on many searches. You’ve probably noticed a similar local listing section on Yahoo searches as well.
One thing to consider is:
How much do consumers use the local listing section? I have not found any accurate data at this time, since Google likely keeps that type of data under lock and key.
However, one thing to keep in mind, Google has been using maps/local listings for some time now and the frequency that they appear seems to have increased when search phrases include local keywords.
Google has always taken a subtle approach to get its users to acclimate everyone to it’s interface and I would bet the farm that the local listings is an important part of Google’s strategy in securing user loyalty. Why else would they take up the most valuable real estate on your screen (upper left hand) and give the only visual/graphic magnet (the map) so much attention?
The fact is, Google Maps/Local is a big part of the search engines increasing ability to replace Yellow Pages, and will play a growing role in the sport of search marketing.
