According to a national survey, more and more Americans are turning to social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ to get healthcare-related information in 2012. Not surprisingly, over 50 percent of those ages 35 and under have used social media in the past to get this type of information. That number is most likely to go up as more people use the social web for everything from filing complaints to getting informational videos.
What does that tell every healthcare marketer? It’s obvious: having a social media presence and strategy set up to engage with these users is very important.
The last thing you want is someone talking about you, whether in a positive or negative light, when you have no presence for response or rebuttal. If a comment is negative, your web presence will give you the ability to at the very least defend the business (or solve a problem) and potentially save a customer or patient. If nothing else, it may stop nehgative commenters from spreading the word in other places around the web.
You may want to set up a Google Alert with your business name. That way, you can get an email or set up an RSS feed whenever your name is mentioned in a conversation on the web. For more information on other ways to manage the reputation of your healthcare business on the social web, please call 305-350-5700 or visit us at http://wax-prod.local.