When people begin taking the steps to schedule a consultation about a procedure or medical spa treatment they’re interested in, nearly three out of four of them choose to research the practice and/or the physician in charge through reading online reviews. And while many take the time to fully read through reviews, others may be turned away by anything less than four stars. After all, if the rating implies that you’re not satisfying at least that proportion of your patients, why would others take the risk?

Managing your online reputation for both the practice and the individual doctor has huge implications for your ability to grow and attract new patients. Here’s how to go about it to keep your ratings high and your patients satisfied from their first interaction with you.

Take Advantage of Your Online Profiles

Sites like RealSelf, TopDoc, and certainly Google My Business are hugely influential for patients looking for reputable doctors in their area for any number of treatments or procedures. It’s important to be active and up-to-date on at least one of these highly popular online listing sites, especially Google My Business.

Your Google My Business (GMB) can be linked to individual physician profiles and provides key information for everything from your office hours to the largest collection of ratings and reviews. Failing to activate your GMB profile(s) can lead to a negative impression in which searchers (especially local ones) regard your practice as out of touch or even out of business.

Source Feedback Consistently

Savvy internet users note the rating, review content, and how recently the review was posted when analyzing feedback for practices. This means you not only have to have good reviews in the past, but you also have to source feedback from patients on a regular basis. With email automations and other digital tools provided by DLM Insight, you don’t have to think about sending individual campaigns every time someone comes in for a procedure. Simply set up a template one time and decide how long after an appointment someone should receive an email asking for a review.

Consistency is key when it comes to your online reputation, which is why getting constant positive reviews from recent patients is key to boosting your ratings and growing your practice.

Respond and Monitor Your Reviews

Not everyone is going to have a 5-star time at your practice, since everyone expects something different from their experience before, during, and after a procedure. However, even a few dissatisfied patients can tank your reputation and rating online. That’s why it’s important to not only be aware of them when they arise but to respond to them in a personalized manner.

Many review sites, including Google reviews, do not allow practices to edit or delete reviews left by others. Instead, your practice should have a process in place to respond to negative reviews and encourage those patients to reach out to your team directly to address any concerns they have. This may involve you offering treatments to combat negative side effects or simply listening to them air their grievances. If a review is grossly inappropriate or factually incorrect, it is also important to point it out in your response or report it to the site it’s posted on.

Demonstrate Thought Leadership

This step may be trickier to enact, due to the amount of time it can take, but demonstrating your expertise by blogging, guest blogging, or posting regularly on social media can be a great way to enhance your online reputation as a physician. People already know you’re a medical doctor, so show them with language they can read that you really know what you’re talking about when it comes to specific procedures.

Blogging and posting are free but can be time-consuming, so having writers who understand the ins and outs of both crafting readable language and SEO can save you time while growing your thought leadership reputation. This also helps you appear more approachable and is a low barrier to entry for “meeting” you even before a consultation.

Online Reputation Management By DLM

With marketing tools to help draw new patients to your business as well as automation and integrations to help your efforts run smoothly and in a scalable way, Digital Limelight Media can augment your marketing and help grow your practice sustainably. Our reputation management tool, DLM Review, gathers all your practice’s reviews from various websites and allows you to monitor them in a single place, giving access to your entire office to help gather and respond to reviews quickly. Learn more about our complete set of marketing analytics and software by calling our office or contacting us online today.