Why Creating an Online Community Is Important for Your Practice

When you’re creating a healthcare marketing plan for your medical or dental practice, it’s important to think of your practice as a brand or a business. It’s also equally important to make an effort to create a community within your website and social media accounts so you can connect with your patients and potential patients. Creating a community involves a few different steps. It isn’t just about responding to tweets, messages, and comments within your social media network. It also involves curating your content to what your patients are looking for and providing new health facts and information that they may not already know. Creating a space where your patients can rely on you for sound medical information as well as a place where they feel welcome is imperative to creating a great and respected medical or dental practice. Here’s why:

Patients Feel Valued

Did you know that 51% of patients say they feel more valued as a patient when doctors use social media, blogs, and other digital engagement outlets? Be sure to use your website and social media accounts to value your patients as much as they value the digital space you’ve created. Medical or dental information as well as engaging posts about your practice, contests and specials can help foster a community environment and show you value your patients and followers; this may even prompt them to recommend and refer patients to your practice.

Builds Trust

According to these stats, 90% of adults said they would trust medical information shared by their peers on social media and 41% of patients said that social media influenced their selection of a healthcare provider. Posting sound healthcare information that is relevant and can be shared will help foster an online community between your practice and patients.

Increases Your Profile

Thinking of your social media accounts as a community will help you curate your content. By having specific, unique and shareable content, your social media profiles will have a wider reach, allowing you to gain more followers, more patient referrals or more inquiries into your practice.

Connect Better With Your Patients

Trying to create a community with your patients will help you consider their wants and needs more when it comes to what they need from your practice in person and online. By doing that, you will inherently be able to connect better with them because you’re thinking about what your patients’ want and need. This connection will not only help you gain new referrals, it’ll also help boost a positive reputation online and in your existing community.