Investing in Social Media

Tips on how to succeed in cyberspace

Joe Casper: Most ophthalmology practices aren't doing a very good job with social media. They realize they have to partake in it and some are even outsourcing the work. But by outsourcing, they miss out on participating in the culture of social media marketing. Most of the practices I see have some presence in terms of Facebook business pages, but they're not optimizing the use of these pages.

It's important to keep in mind that, even over a period of weeks, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ (Google's social media tool) will change their looks.

How should we be advising doctors and their staffs in terms of involvement in the process?

Evolving Approach

Mr. Prussian: You must respond to the needs of your practice and adapt your approach to internal and external changes as you move forward. In 1999, when most of us were using dial-up, I renamed our practice after a URL that I could register in several variations, including correct and incorrect spellings. Since then, this pursuit has become a passion of mine. I created our first website using brochureware. The site only provided the basics: our hours, location and so forth.

Since then, we've developed a social media strategy. Paramount to that strategy is our opt-in e-newsletter list of more than 20,000 subscribers. It helps us recruit new patients and provides constant reminders to our existing patients. Rather than contacting them once every couple of years, we connect with them once a month.

Rohit Krishna, MD: This type of approach is becoming increasingly important. Social media is growing at a 50% clip, and health care is the fastest growing industry. We should deliver a very specific message. If you're not delivering the message, somebody else will deliver it for you. If you're not engaging effectively, you'll be subject to negative reviews that you can't control.

If you can manage a nice, holistic approach — a branded message — and control what's being said about you through Facebook or other platforms, you have a much better chance of succeeding in this critical space. We used to wonder if we needed a website. Now social media is what we all need to embrace. It's just a matter of who the leaders and followers will be.

Randy Wong, MD: I agree. Anybody who wants to consider social media better have a website that is a source of pride. If you don't, all you're doing with social media is drawing attention to a negative aspect of your practice.

What About Patient Confidentiality?

Mr. Raeman: Dr. Wong, some doctors fear patients will ask questions that will compel them to provide medical advice or compromise patients' confidentiality. What types of questions do people ask and how do you manage that process?

Dr. Wong: I recommend that you stick to the dialogue you would normally have in terms of educating a patient in the exam room. For example, as a retina specialist, I might publish my canned speech on floaters and other issues I address 10 to 20 times a day. Stay away from the liability of giving specific advice or making a diagnosis. Providing educational articles on your website and the Internet doesn't erode the value of a physician. A physician's value is making a diagnosis and treatment plan. All you should be doing on your website is educating.

Mr. Dawes: On our website, we have a special feature called “Ask Jane,” our social media mechanism. Patients click on Jane's photograph and get most questions answered by typing them into a blank question box. Up to 95% of the questions being asked aren't related to a patient's individual condition.

Mr. Prussian: We've never had anybody ask for specific treatment advice.

Dr. Wong: I've never been asked a question that would jeopardize my integrity or medical license. People rarely abuse this type of access to doctors.

Anybody who wants to consider social media better have a website that is a source of pride. If you don't, all you're doing with social media is drawing attention to a negative aspect of your practice. — Randy Wong, MD

Turning a Negative into a Positive

Mr. Casper: Many people in practice say, “I tried Facebook, but someone posted a negative comment about us, so we shut the site down.”

Mr. Dawes: We embrace this type of feedback. We want to know if we've offended a patient or created a negative experience in some way. I want to reach out to find out what happened. Quite often, we've been able to turn the situation around. We had two negative Angie's List reviews. One patient who wanted to give our surgeon a rave review thought one star represented the highest rating. We tracked her down and she quickly changed the rating to five stars.

Monitoring those ratings daily provides a great opportunity to have a real-time conversation with patients. Additionally, a site with all five-star reviews lacks credibility. Better to have an occasional three stars with a response that thanks the reviewer for his or her feedback.

Dr. Wong: I applaud this approach. So many physicians miss opportunities to appear as transparent as other businesses. Every business must be subject to a review system. We need to show that we're monitoring our performance and listening to our patients. If you respond in the five-star hotel manner, by thanking the person for taking the time to comment, you show readers that you really do care about the product you're selling.

Dr. Krishna: Often, complaining patients just want you to listen. By addressing their concerns, you can turn them into ambassadors who reach 100 people with a few positive comments about your practice. Reward these people — and all others who engage in conversation on your site. For example, you can offer a 10% discount on eyeglasses.

Mr. Prussian: Agreed. You should mix information about a special that you're offering on LASIK or some other service with a discussion of general health topics related to community-oriented activities or local sports teams. No one will subscribe to your site for advertising messages only.

Step Back

Mr. Prussian: The biggest challenge I see is initiating a strategy. Many practices give up Facebook maintenance because they don't see a payoff during the first week or month. Just as you would not expect one TV spot to work for advertising your cataract surgery or LASIK practice, you can't expect social media to work unless you provide plenty of follow-up.

Getting a few followers takes a lot of work. We partner with local charities, such as the local chapter of the American Diabetes Association (ADA). For 2 months, we give the ADA a dollar for every “like” we received on Facebook. The ADA promotes this offer. We have the related links to all of our social media properties on all communications.

Dr. Krishna: We sponsor an event called Sabates Eye Centers Trolley Run, which is cross-referenced in all of our marketing. We always cross-reference across all of our platforms.

Dr. Wong: You can't selectively grow your “like” or friend lists, which is why I believe every modern website, health care-related or not, should be a blog. I've grown my Web presence, reaching 15,000 to 18,000 unique visitors, by consistently posting videos and writing articles that provide health information and value to patients. Each reader may take your message to his or her own chalkboard or another website, spreading your presence further.

You should also pay attention to search engine optimization. Make sure you rank highly on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Those are organic unions, if you will, where people look for and find solutions to their problems. With time, if your website or your blog covers a good deal of topics, you're naturally going to percolate to the top. That same process may soon apply to Facebook, which is expected come out with its own search engine. As long as you provide value, you'll continue to grow.

Mr. Dawes: You can also have a corporate strategy that might be different than an individual doctor strategy. If I'm looking to have a relationship with a large eye center with several specialties, my best choice might be Facebook. Our “Ask Jane” service, which isn't a Facebook page or a blog, works because it provides information about cosmetic surgery, glaucoma, advanced intraocular lenses and other topics. The key point that you made, Dr. Wong, is that it has to be relevant.

What Are You Spending to Stay Current?

Dr. Krishna: How do the administrators on our panel allocate advertising dollars in today's dynamic environment? What do you consider when choosing from the many platforms that are available? What metrics do you use to measure response and return on investment?

Mr. Prussian: During the 3 years that we've been advertising on Facebook, where we primarily promote LASIK, we have spent $10,000. This effort has generated 81 million impressions from people within a 25-mile radius of our main office. Based on information we gathered from new patients, we estimate that this marketing effort has resulted in nearly $1 million in new LASIK business. So, that's an amazing return on investment.

How do we choose TV, radio or print advertising? The approach is subjective, but based on some metrics. However, you can't get to the business of managing the practice if you spend too much time looking at reports.

Mr. Dawes: Our Internet-based marketing is a combination of social media, pay-per-click, search engine optimization and so on. We spend about 10 to 15% of our total marketing budget in that category. We still spend money on print advertising.

We define a lead as someone sending us an RSVP to a seminar invitation or someone calling us for information or scheduling an appointment. Our cost per lead for Internet-based marketing ranges from $40 to $80. This is one of our lowest costs per leads, when compared to leads generated through print, radio and television advertising.

Dr. Krishna: About 20% of companies spend $10,000 or less.¹ Another 10% of companies spend $50,000 or more. These are general benchmarks that can help practices make funding decisions.

Social Media Action Plan Here is a five-step action plan that all practices can follow to engage in social media: 1. Create a brand. Determine the message you want to deliver across all of your platforms. Be sure the message is relevant. 2. Identify the platforms you'regoing to use to accomplish your goals, such as Facebook, YouTube, Google, Linkedin, Twitter, blogging and your website. 3. Identify who in your office has the skills to help you meet your goals.Who will be held accountable for measuring and optimizing your activities? If nobody in your office has the aptitude, your site will become a cyberspace wasteland, branded with your name and practice. 4. Measure how you're doing across all platforms. Count “likes,” followers and tweets. Monitor your website's administrative dashboard for hits, downloads, etc., depending on the platforms you pick. 5. After you do all these things, focus on lead generation. How many leads do you have and, ultimately, how many sales do you record? Whether your marketed activities include LASIK conversions, premium intraocular lens conversions or other services, they require step number four: measurement. Step number five ensures that you've taken advantage of that measurement. Is the person you put in charge doing a good job? Maybe you need to change that person's assignment? Should you be doing this work in house? Should you be outsourcing it? Do you need a professional marketing person, if you don't have one? If you're in a small practice, you may not have the resources to hire a company. Explore search engine optimization and then, of course, use Google. — Rohit Krishna, MD

The biggest challenge I see is initiating a strategy. Many practices give up Facebook maintenance because they don't see a payoff during the first week or month. Just as you would not expect one TV spot to work for advertising your cataract surgery or LASIK practice, you can't expect social media to work unless you provide plenty of followup. — Mark Prussian, CEO of the Eye Care Institute

Who's Responsible for Your Social Media?

Mr. Raeman: The Allergan Eye Care Business Advisor (ECBA) team consists of 12 business advisors and two directors with diverse backgrounds and decades of experience in the Eye Care industry. The ECBA team advises individual provider practices and lectures to community-based eyecare providers on several aspects of practice management and healthcare reform. Aside from an Allergan Eye Care Business Advisor, which you all use, what other sources can practices turn to for social media guidance?

Dr. Krishna: Start with your marketing people. If you don't have marketing people, find someone with experience.

Mr. Dawes: Our Web company urged me to become personally involved by setting up Facebook and Twitter accounts. I found the process to be very educational.

Mr. Prussian: A local college can help by arranging for a student with Web development or communication skills to set up a social media presence for your practice. This person can work on an internship basis or as part of a class assignment.

Mr. Casper: Practices that are most successful take a team approach. First, find a digital expert, usually an administrator, and at least one physician to manage your media.

Mr. Prussian: However, if you're an ophthalmologist who doesn't have a keen interest in social media, you can use your Yellow and White Pages advertising dollars to hire an ophthalmicspecific company to manage your social media for you.

Dr. Krishna: If you hire an outside company — and there are several available — make sure the company is going to interact with a designated person in your office. The person in your office might not have the skills to get on the computer to create these sites, but the outside company will have forms that you can fill out. Be sure the outsourced firm knows that someone in your office must approve all messaging before it's posted to ensure that you are developing an appropriate culture.

Mr. Casper: I agree with that approach. It can be worthwhile to use an outside company to set up the initial platform of the page and assist with ongoing training. If it gets you online right away, it can be appropriate.

Mr. Raeman: It sounds like you have a fairly comprehensive strategy at Center for Sight, Mr. Dawes. Do you have someone dedicated to posts? If so, do you have any protocols to guide communications — for using posts, tweets, blogs, statements and so on?

Mr. Dawes: Yes, we have a dedicated person, who has a clinical and administrative background. Her job relates to patient interaction. I also interact with patients daily, responding to 20 to 40 emails a day.

Mr. Raeman: A staff person with the right skills can help. But be sure you have all of the access codes. I've seen cases in which employees have suddenly left staffs and the practices could no longer access their sites.

We have touched on several important strategies that practices can use to invest in social media. Thank you for your comments. ■

Reference

1. State of Social Media Marketing Annual Survey Report. January 2012. Sponsored by awareness social marketing software. Last accessed July 9, 2012.