It is no secret that digital technology is influencing the health care sector and the surgeons globally. But significant number of the surgeons haven’t realized the power and huge help of strong digital presence. The high competition in the industry suggests that it is an absolute necessity for surgeons to build a strong digital presence if they want to continue to gain more name, fame and patients.
Here are the 5 reasons why surgeons need to build a strong digital presence:
1. PATIENTS ARE NOW ONLINE
When people are suffering from something, they tend to look online and search for the best cure. They will immediately look up for the best surgeon online first and the social media accounts to learn more about them. If a surgeon can’t be verified digitally, patients will tend to doubt the existence and legitimacy. So, it’s very important to establish visibility and credibility online.
2. SIGNIFICANT LEAD GENERATION
Digital medium represents a latent source of new patients. When a surgeon has a strong online footprint, a website with social media accounts, emails, awards, conducts webinars, etc. he/she is more likely to get new prospects/leads as compared to the surgeon who is digitally inactive. The surgeons with an active online presence increase their search traffic by more than 30% year after year and thereafter, see that traffic converting into their main leads.
3. DIGITAL REPUTATION MATTERS
In digital world, reputations are more important and more permanent. Reviews, comments, social media profiles, photos, posts, etc. shapes the online search results. These factors not only end up on the search engine website pages, but immensely impact behavior, decisions, and above all, reputation. For a surgeon, getting away from online platforms is no longer a sustainable option if they want to actively manage their online reputation. Proactively participating on social platforms with relevant content is essential to building and maintaining a positive online reputation. During this process, one can easily monitor their targeted audiences’ reactions and control their next plan of action accordingly.
4. DIGITAL WORD-OF-MOUTH
The role of word-of-mouth have evolved with the arrival of interactive digital platform patterns. People like to continuously talk about their experiences. These experiences forms an overall opinion regarding a brand or individual. In the digital age word-of- mouth, any type of information can travel very fast and hence it can be of immense advantage for surgeons if rightly planned. For a positive word-of-mouth to take place, it is important to go beyond the obvious and come up with innovative digital strategies that will urge the patients to see, read and take an instant action.
5. COMPETITORS ARE NOW ONLINE
The importance of having a strong digital presence is very well understood by everyone and involves the competitors. They might be doing a lot better and for this reason it is important for a surgeon to build a strong digital presence and surgeon-patient relationship to match and thereafter, beat the competition.
i-engage specializes in planning, communication and lead generation for surgeons. We have been researching and analyzing patient psychology online and thus, have an edge over understanding their mindset. If you too want to increase the number of patients you operate yearly over 30%, contact us and let’s together take it to the next level in just a year.
