Showing posts with label Doctor Social Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doctor Social Media. Show all posts

Friday, June 13, 2025

Health Care Leader Social Media Marketing?


11 Things health leaders need to know about social media & marketing..

Of the more than 7 billion people on Earth, the number of mobile phone users is approaching 5 billion devices, while toothbrush ownership is closer to 4 billion.



Indicating that both marketing of technology and public health have great disparities, but also that leadership in health care are not executing on their brands, social media or marketing.

But in the U.S., hospital identity and health branding are paramount for success in a community. By listening to patients, getting feedback on wants and needs, and creating new incentives to engage individuals, increased revenue, greater trust and improved health might be achieved.

Here are 11 surprising things to keep in mind when health care and hospital leadership plan marketing efforts for 2019:

1. The brain processes visual data 60,000 times faster than text. Additionally, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Whether it’s growing your brand identity or improving medication adherence through instructions, visuals are a key to interacting with and empowering patients.



2. Surprisingly, Grandparents love Twitter so much their presence on the platform doubled last year. They are also replacing young people who are choosing to leave Facebook. Not only does this indicate they are here to stay for some time, but they are a great place to target our aging population who consume a majority of our health care services.

3. An estimated 31 billion eCoupons will be redeemed in 2019. That means almost 60% of U.S. internet users have redeemed digital coupons or codes at least once. With so many new retail clinic and other hospital services that can use coupon-like strategies for patient cost-savings, this is a must in the new year.

4. Voice search on devices like Alexa, Siri and Google Search already account for 20% of searches on the product or service in question, voice search via virtual assistant is certain to play an increasing role in consumer purchasing.

5. In 2017, it was estimated that 62% of emails were opened on a mobile device. Checking email is the top mobile activity among smartphone and tablet users. So be sure those emails are appealing and informative, as they’ll be consumed on the go.



6. The number of devices connected to the Internet now exceeds the number of humans on earth. This means health companies and hospitals need to be intentional about marketing on multiple platforms and for many different devices.

7. Social media influences 74% of shoppers final purchase decisions. Further, 90% of consumers indicate that they trust peer recommendations. Therefore, previous patients and reviews like those on Amazon are your greatest allies.

8. Instagram has 500 million viewers every single day. And 71% of those are millennials. While plastic surgeons and fitness experts have driven the health trends on this platform, there is a significant opportunity to appeal to and educate the under 35 crowd as they begin making life-long health decisions.

9. More than 78% of U.S. Internet users research products and services online, and every month, there are more than 10.3 billion Google searches. What your top hits say about your product, organization, or providers will influence your bottom line.



10. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing, and, per dollar spent generates about 3X as many leads. When creating a marketing strategy for particular service lines, services, or physician groups, think about exactly who needs to see that ad.

11. 70% of people surveyed claim they would rather learn about a hospital or company through articles or reviews rather than direct advertisements. Therefore, not only are advertising campaigns important, but so are the patient experience testimonies, community reviews, and visual or print articles. It will pay to make sure your company is being written and talked about.

Guest Authored By Nicole Fisher. Nicole is the founder and CEO of HHR Strategies, a health care and human rights-focused advising firm. She is also a senior policy advisor on Capitol Hill and expert on health innovation, economics, technology, and reform - specifically as they impact vulnerable populations. Fisher contributes to Forbes, highlighting ideas and advising companies and people that are changing the health landscape, and curates a monthly international dinner series, “A Seat at the Table,” bringing together thought leaders for an off-the-record discussion of moving health policy and planning forward. Follow Nichole on Twitter.





In the U.S., hospital identity and health branding are paramount for success in a community.

By listening to patients, getting feedback on wants and needs, and creating new incentives to engage individuals, increased revenue, greater trust and improved health might be achieved...

    • Post Crafted By:
      Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at GetMoreHere.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Scottsdale, AZ. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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    Monday, May 12, 2025

    Physicians - Make Or Break Careers On Social Media?


    For doctors in the digital age, your social media fingerprint has the power to either advance or damage your career..

    Whether you're using social media to post pictures of your vacation in the Cayman Islands or to reach out to colleagues regarding a challenging patient, the line between personal and professional, as well as what's appropriate, can sometimes become blurred.

    Research has shown that many physicians using social media report minimal formal training in professional conduct online, as well as a lack of awareness regarding which guidelines to follow.

    A number of recent studies have highlighted the level of unprofessional social media content posted by physicians.

    These included profanity, references to (or appearing to be) intoxicated, and sexually suggestive photographs. They also included possible HIPAA violations, which have the potential to damage careers.

    While this behavior has been observed across all career stages, including attending physicians, the levels were highest among residents and recently graduated physicians.



    It's easy to get caught out when talking about patients online, as an article in The Hospitalist highlighted.

    Even supposedly innocuous identifying features can "turn a seemingly harmless post on social media into a patient privacy violation."

    "Any physician who uses social media has to be mindful and conscious about protecting private patient information even on personal accounts," said Toni Brayer, M.D., chief executive officer of Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation in San Francisco, CA.

    But your online presence and interactions can also be powerful tools, said ophthalmology resident Steven M. Christiansen, M.D., an avid blogger and Twitter user based at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

    How can you turn social media to your advantage? And what guidelines can you follow to make the most of professional social media?



    Using Social Media For Your Reputation

    Matt Dull, M.D. - who is due to start his critical care fellowship at the Spectrum Health Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI - became interested in using social media professionally when he heard a keynote speaker at a national medical conference discuss the fact that patients were looking for providers on social media.

    "He said that being engaged with your patients on social media will be of increasing importance in the years to come," Dr. Dull explained.

    As a resident, he said, he doesn't need to engage patients outside the hospital. But, he added, "In the future, I will be looking for ways to reach patients and potential patients through social media."

    Indeed, an increasing number of patients turn to doctor rating sites such as Rate MD, Yelp, and Vitals when choosing a physician.

    "We know that [those sites] are increasingly important avenues for patients seeking more information about healthcare providers," said Dr. Brayer. "We've learned that 'stars' matter and we celebrate good reviews internally and respond to any patient complaints directly for our physicians."



    As Dr. Christiansen noted, "We have worked too hard in our training to let a few poor ratings keep patients from coming to see us. Social media can help us create and establish an online presence we control."

    One of the greatest benefits of social media for physicians is the ability to connect with colleagues to improve diagnostic and other medical skills.

    "I only recently started using social media for professional purposes," said Dr. Dull. He started by joining the International Hernia Collaborative, a large Facebook group for surgeons to discuss complex hernia operations.

    "From there, I found all of the other professional ways to leverage social media," he said. "I now regularly find interesting journal articles, medical blog posts, and discussions of new therapies through Twitter."

    Indeed, a survey of 153 Dutch clinicians found that 76 percent of them used Twitter to extend their network of colleagues, while 71 percent used it to update their colleagues about their work.



    Pathologists, for instance, use social media to share images with colleagues, students, patients, and even the general public, while professional medical organizations such as the American College for Chest Physicians use it to promote their specialty and provide education, which extends to patients.

    "I use social media to promote health and wellness and as a way of letting people know what is happening in my organization and in the community," said Dr. Brayer. "As a physician I have a strong voice and see myself as an expert with useful information."

    Twitter is also becoming a hugely effective tool for communicating content live from medical meetings.

    Dr. Christensen and his colleagues published a study in Ophthalmology in August 2016, comparing Twitter activity during the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 2014 and 2015 meetings. The "tweets" reached 23.7 million Twitter users in 2014, and 24.5 million in 2015.



    Social media is also a powerful outlet for advocacy, says Dr. Christensen.

    A 1-minute YouTube video that highlighted his ophthalmology-related discussions with congressional representatives was viewed 1,700 times in the first week of its posting.
    "I can tell you that my involvement in social media has opened up countless opportunities to network with others both within ophthalmology and many other specialties." -Steven M. Christiansen, M.D.
    Whether you are going to use social media to connect with your colleagues, reach out to potential patients, or educate the general public, adhering to professional guidelines is key to protecting yourself and turning social media to your own advantages.

    Practice Safe Social Media

    The American Medical Association (AMA), and most specialty medical societies, have developed ethics policies on the use of social media during the past few years.



    These recommendations tend to revolve around the privacy of both you and your patients. Here is a summary:
    1. Do not post any patient-identifiable information anywhere, ever.
    2. Set privacy settings on media sites to protect your own information and content, but know that even if you restrict your posts to your own network, the information can leak out. A good rule of thumb is to never post anything that you wouldn't want to see in a peer-reviewed journal.
    3. Maintain appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship. Just because you are online doesn't mean that the rules are relaxed.
    4. Separate your personal and professional content. Set up a separate Facebook page to promote your practice or talk about professional issues, and leave the personal one for family and friends - not patients.
    5. Say something if you see a colleague posting unprofessional content that may violate professional standards.
    6. Recognize the potential consequences of your online life, including negatively affecting your reputation among patients and colleagues.
    Dr. Brayer has first-hand experience of putting these guidelines into practice. An emergency department physician who Dr. Brayer friended on Facebook frequently mentioned patients that she had treated.


    "Even though no names were used, it bothered me to see those posts," Dr. Brayer said. As the AMA policy suggests, Dr. Brayer told her friend that these posts could violate privacy rules.

    "I would recommend health professionals should never post anything with stories about patients or conditions, even if they think they are shrouding identity. It's too close of a line to walk and patient privacy is our oath and responsibility," Dr. Brayer said.

    If you are new to the professional side of social media, here are five simple tips to follow:
    1. Start a professional Twitter feed and share things that you are already doing - for example, medical conferences that you attend, clinical research, and important clinical studies in your field.
    2. Keep the personal and the professional accounts separate. For instance, have two Twitter handles, two Facebook pages, and two Instagram accounts.
    3. Make it clear that you are speaking only on behalf of yourself and are not representing your employer.
    4. Don't ever give medical advice in a public forum.
    5. Expect criticism from colleagues. Use that to educate them on the value of social media done right.
    Related Article: Healthcare Organizations Missing The Social Media Boat?

    "With all of its problems, there is no doubt that social media is here to stay," Dr. Brayer commented. "As healthcare professionals we should use this tool as much as possible to promote health, nutrition, medical-political points of view such as information on the Affordable Care Act, healthcare legislation, and changes in Medicare and Medicaid. I believe the public is hungry for accurate health news they can trust."

    Guest Authored By Debra Gordon. Debra is an independent healthcare communications consultant specializing in health, medicine, and health policy for consumer, medical, and corporate audiences since September 1999. Her particular specialty is healthcare reform, with in-depth knowledge around the Affordable Care Act; new healthcare delivery models, including Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-Centered Medical Homes; Medicare and Medicaid policy; value-based purchasing; health information technology; quality and cost issues; managed care; and patient empowerment. Debra is one of only a handful of medical writers who can confidently communicate about the juxtaposition of healthcare reform and the clinical side of medicine for a variety of audiences, ranging from consumers to physicians to healthcare organizations, businesses, and vendors. She brings more than 25 years experience in the healthcare field as a newspaper reporter covering health and medicine for two major daily papers; provider relations manager for a mid-sized managed care organization; book editor and author; and, for the last 15 years, an independent medical communications consultant. Follow Debra on Twitter. 





    With all of its problems, there is no doubt that social media is here to stay," Dr. Brayer commented.

    "As healthcare professionals we should use this tool as much as possible to promote health, nutrition, medical-political points of view such as information on the Affordable Care Act, healthcare legislation, and changes in Medicare and Medicaid.

    I believe the public is hungry for accurate health news they can trust.."


      • Authored by:
        Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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      Sunday, March 2, 2025

      Growing YOUR Business On Social Media?


      How to grow a business using social media?

      When Desiree Yazdan first graduated from dental school, she chose to work in several well-established dental practices.



      Each day as she walked into work, all she could see was opportunity!

      To one day have her own business, to refine her skills, to use those refined skills to help people from all over the world.

      About a year and a half after school, she became a partner in what she thought was a very well-established office. Little did she know what a turn the business would take. Shortly after the buy-in, the other partner that was in the office stopped practicing dentistry and I was left without any patients and a staff that expected to be paid. Most of the patients became angry and left, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to make it.

      "At that point, I didn’t have money for marketing, so I turned to social media. I saw it as a way to market myself for free. I figured since everyone was on it, I may as well start showcasing my work. And I’m so glad that I did. Today, my practice looks much different than before. Today I have people traveling from all over the world for me to redesign their smiles. I have plenty of new patients in my office each month. And today, I have built the freedom in my business — and my life — that I had always dreamed of. And it's all because of social media.



      In a world where the internet has taken over, it’s silly to think that a new business would choose to not use social media as a marketing strategy.

      My first step was to start using Facebook and Instagram to connect with people individually about my business.

      I started sharing my passion with the world. Social media is all about the one-on-one connections and recognizing that early on can be a game changer. If you’re on social media, you need to be social. And that is exactly what I started doing — being social."

      So, how do you grow a social media page that brings in new business? It comes down to four simple steps.



      1. Pick Your Niche

      When you niche down, it will be easier for you to grow. Why? Because people are looking for specificity. One mistake I constantly see is trying to have a very broad audience so that as many people as possible notice you. In my experience, that's the wrong approach.

      If you’re trying to establish yourself as a dog-training expert, then you will be marketing yourself to dog lovers and dog owners.

      You should be creating content about training dogs: what type of collar to use, what kind of leash to use, what hand signals to use, what age to start training your dog.

      If you instead created all kinds of content, such as posts about refurbishing furniture, you’re never going to gain a true following. Pick a niche and then create your social media content around that niche.



      2. Edit Your Bio

      Your bio is the first thing people see when they land on your page. Use it to make clear who you are, what you do, where people can find you and how they can reach you.

      3. Nail Down Your Ideal Audience

      You aren’t going to be able to attract everyone, and you shouldn’t want to. It may feel effective in the beginning, but it’s hard to sustain long-term growth with this method. Why? Because when you’re talking to everyone, you’re actually talking to no one. When you are talking to a specific person, they will be drawn to you because it feels like your content was created for them and their needs.

      Let’s say you’re a bride and you’re looking for a wedding photographer. You land on a page that has pretty photos, but they're lifestyle images. You're probably going to keep scrolling. But, let's say you land on a page filled with beautiful wedding photos. You will feel like this page was made for you, and you will likely start to be interested in the content they have created.



      4. Be Consistent

      Your following on social media grows when you are consistent. In order to get people to follow you and engage with you, and in order for you to have opportunities from the platforms, you need to be consistent.

      You can't expect to post 10 photos one day, then disappear for two weeks and still see growth.

      Remember, you're building one-on-one connections. So if you aren't consistently showing up, people won't engage with you. They won't want to see what you are doing next.

      If you want a platform that grows, you need to show up every single day, no matter what.

      Guest Authored By Desiree Yazdan. Desiree is an expert in Reconstructive & Cosmetic Dentistry. Follow Desiree on Twitter.





      Now that you have your four steps, it’s time to put them into action. 

      And remember, social media is about long-term growth. It’s not a get-rich-quick strategy, so stick with it and stay consistent..
      • Post Crafted By:
        Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, CO. where I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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