The Digital Practitioner: Social Media for Doctors
Showing posts with label Social Media for Doctors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Media for Doctors. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 August 2018

The Two Key Elements To Practice Growth And Business Success

August 08, 2018 0
The Two Key Elements To Practice Growth And Business Success

You often hear people saying, ‘keep it simple’. It’s a phrase that I have heard on numerous occasions throughout my business life. 



It is a concept that I can fully appreciate, however if I’m being honest, is something that I used to have difficulty with. 

My busy mind and imagination always tended to overcomplicate the simple, mainly based on the fact that if it appeared to be so simple I automatically believe there needed to be more to it. 

The same applied when considering the growth of my practice in that I needed to be doing all things and covering all angles in order to achieve success and growth. It turns out that in fact, in order for my practice to grow, I actually needed to step back and do less. 

To simply focus on the essential.

The need for overcomplication and busyness is quite possibly a growing pandemic that is fuelled by our fast-paced lives, connectivity and expectations of things being done instantaneously. 



I feel; however, that this can blindside us into not focusing on the essential aspects that will really influence growth.  

I have discovered two key factors of influence when wanting to specifically grow your optical practice. Indeed, the same principal can apply to any healthcare business. 

Identifying these two key influencing factors has come from 11 years in practice and from my recent training with one of the leading digital and social media marketing experts.

So here it is…in order to grow a successful optical practice or any business for that matter you need:

1.    To differentiate.
2.    An effective social media strategy.

Simple, yes?

It is simple. But the simple fact is that the vast majority of practices are focusing so much on their clinical work and offering that they are blindsided to these two factors. 

And the practice owners that are aware of this need are either too busy to focus time and attention to these areas or are paying an external marketing agency with no actual in practice experience and are frustrated by the results, or lack of!  

Differentiate

You must know what you stand for and you must be in a position to differentiate yourself in a saturated marketplace. 



This applies across all industries but is particularly apt within the optical industry and especially so if you are an independent practice. 

The vast majority of opticians appear to be trapped in a price and brand war with each other that has been caused by a shift in the market, influenced mainly, by the gradual takeover by the larger multiple companies.

In my opinion, us opticians are a confused lot. We are toiling with mixing our clinical service with the retail sale of eyewear along with trying to please anyone and everyone who attends our practice. 

There is no key differentiating factor and we have no clear identity in what we stand for. 

This has to change if you want to grow and thrive. The most effective way to differentiate your practice is through your product offering. This is the one thing that has the biggest influence on your bottom line and one of the easiest things to change. 

Social Media Strategy

In the age of social media driven culture and society the business world has a lot of catching up and re-learning to do when it comes to marketing their businesses. 



There are a few key components that should be adhered to in order to get it right with social. And when I say get it right I’m not meaning the perfect set up or best lighting for your latest Instagram post.

I’m talking social media driven, growing your business, that relates directly to bottom line, results.

The power of an effective social media strategy is still to this day overlooked by the majority of healthcare practices. 

This is crazy when you consider between 65% – 80%+ of your current and potential clients will be present and active on social.

I will go into more depth on each of these aspects in the coming weeks and have an exciting 7-part video series focusing specifically on effectively setting up and optimizing your social media accounts for Healthcare Practice. 



In summary: 

I would advise any Optical or Healthcare Practice owner to take a step back from their current practice and take a long hard look at what exactly it is they are traying to achieve from their business. 

Is it just a job that puts money in your pocket or is it an investment to grow and potentially sell as part of future wealth creation. 

If it’s the former and you are happy with your situation, then keep on going. 


If it’s the latter, then you really need to reassess your market position and your strategy for growth. 

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. 

Let me know if there is any aspect of your business growth or marketing that I can help you with. Contact me on Instagram: @thedigitalpractitioner, on Facebook: The Digital Practitioner, or email me on support@thedigitalpractitioner.

by: Alan Bryden 



Thursday, 24 May 2018

Social Media for Doctors

May 24, 2018 0
Social Media for Doctors

Becoming a doctor is a great thing when your passion is to help people by saving their lives. It is evident from the fact that doctors today, using the most advanced and cutting edge technology are able to save many more lives. 

There are numerous doctors who do not fully understand the concept of social media which can improve the count of patients at their respective clinics. Social media plays a vital role when it comes to marketing your practice and fetching more patients.
Connecting with your patients outside the hospital or clinic can be an uphill task. A lot more doctors use Facebook, Medical Blogs and even Twitter accounts to contact their patients. This is proving to be beneficial as the doctors are pretty well marketed and they can provide in-depth knowledge of their practice area via these social networking sites. Apart from this, doctors can use various cost-effective methods to stay connected with their current patients.

Many patients today are social media friendly. They make good use of the internet to find correct information regarding their disease, symptoms, treatment procedure and a relevant doctor. Making full use of the opportunities presented by these social networking sites, doctors should follow their passion of saving people's lives.
Doctors can succeed in attracting more patients by constantly providing significant information about their practice and regularly updating it. Now the question arises how to update one's data which is already on the website? The answer lies in Search Engine Optimization. Get an SEO done for your website by a reputed company. They will use numerous techniques including exclusive content writing to rate your website sufficiently higher than the others on Google's front page. In layman's language, you'll get a higher PR. Patients searching for your practice area will then contact you and eventually your patient count will rise.
Online marketing and social media together have made the lives of doctors worldwide a lot more flexible. The operating cost of setting up a hospital, multiple offices, teaching and conferences have drastically come down. All the information a patient seeks is now just a few clicks away. Social media has built such a reputation that it connects patients with relevant doctors after the office hours and on weekends.

But that's only one side of the coin. There's a flip side to marketing your medical profession using social media. Doctors all over the world must take care of the fact what to be posted on social network and what not to be. Any misleading information can put someone's life in danger. Though, doctors should emphasize on providing top-notch health services and treatment to their patients.
Want to know how social media can help your practice achieve greater heights. Visit Practice Builders. We have been providing top-notch medical marketing services to physicians across the United States for the past 30 years.

by: Larry Holman 
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Larry_Holman/1405450