3 Reasons you Should be Online Already

Before I make my argument, please do 2 things….

    1. Type your name into google 
    2. Based on the search results, please ask yourself these questions:

               – How much of what comes up did you write or approve?

               – Are all the results consistent with who you are, what you stand for and clearly branded?

              – Is there sufficient content for you to be considered an expert in your field?

            My guess is that you answered “No” to at least one.

      This is why you should care…

      1. You are online already, like it or not!

      Medical practice registries, patient reviews, social media posts/comments, a LinkedIn profile that you created 15 years ago and forgot about… that is what your patients or colleagues see when they look for you! (yes they look for you!). You may think you can avoid having an online presence, but that is no longer possible.

      Here’s the bottom line – you have no control over what other people say about you, but you have 100% control of what you say about yourself… and you need to help Google decide which comes up first! Think of your online presence as your digital “soap box”, who is talking from yours? I hope it’s you!

      Your digital presence has many components. Ensuring that they are all consistent, clear and controlled by you builds trust and helps you be viewed as an authority. 

      2. Your Patients are consumers, and they are online!

      You need to be where you patients are looking… and that is on the internet! A study in 2018 reported that 80% of patients had used the internet to make a healthcare-related search in the previous year, The same study reported that 63% of the respondents will choose one practitioner over another because of strong online presence! My prediction is that those figures are way higher now!

      We have entered a consumerist era in Healthcare and these stats shouldn’t surprise you. I would guess that the vast majority of people do research before making even minor decisions. (Have you ever googled “best pizza”? ), and choosing a medical practitioner is hardly minor!

      3. Help Clean the internet!

      The internet has become a major source of health information. Not only are patients looking for practitioners there, they are doing their health research, often along with self diagnosis based on what Google shows them first! There is also a major shift towards preventative medicine, which requires patients to take control of their health.

      Somewhere practitioners have been taught to “stay out of it” and stick to in person conversation, but we have entered a new era, and the influence (and possibly even responsibility) is starting to extend outside the consulting room. 

      When it comes to medical content on the internet, practitioners generally engage in the following ways – passively consuming, actively commenting or verifying information and  actively creating content. Contributing accurate and useful content in your field of expertise (and then making sure to do it in a way that Google gives it full marks) goes a long way in building your authority online, and at the same time helping dilute the sea of false medical information- this too saves lives!

      Convinced? Ready to start taking control back? Got a question? Contact Me! 

      Until next time,

      -Kira