When’s the last time you googled yourself or your practice name? Have you checked what patients are saying about you on review sites?
Online reputation management is a crucial component of dental marketing these days, and if you’re not staying on top of what people are saying about you online, you could be putting your business at risk.
Many dentists consider hiring outside experts to handle their reputation management, but that can often be expensive. Here are simple strategies that any practitioner can employ to remain proactive in protecting his or her reputation online.
- Be vigilant in collecting patient reviews. Building a repository of prophylactic comments will counteract anything negative that should come along. Every one in the practice should be responsible for asking one patient to post a review each day.
- Claim your online profiles. There are an infinite number of websites with business listings and patient reviews, but the most commonly used by dental patients are Google, Facebook, Yelp and Healthgrades. Be sure each of these is updated with current practice contact information, business hours and links to your website.
- Don’t forget to monitor your profiles. Delegate this task to a trusted staff member who will be responsible for checking each online profile on a regular basis, and alerting you if any questions and concerns are posted.
For more details on how to protect your online reputation, check out my recent Dental Practice Report article here.
A dentist client of mine recently decided to join Twitter and made a disturbing discovery when she attempted to create an account: someone had already created a Twitter account using her email address. Who could this imposter be? What lessons can be learned from this experience?
