[This is the final post of a multi-post series on using
Twitter and Facebook in your practice.]
What Twitter/Facebook
won’t do for you
Your practice still needs to call patients to reschedule, or
they need to call you. And Twitter/Facebook
won’t reduce all the stray calls.
However, your posts should initially have at least an incremental effect
on reducing your call volume, which should grow over time as patients and staff
get more knowledgeable and comfortable with it.
What you don’t need
to do
Just because you set up an account for Twitter or Facebook
doesn’t mean you need to post constantly.
Most practices can get away with just posting open/close status. However, you could also use it to announce
new providers, new services and changes in hours.
Marketing with
Twitter and Facebook
If you get customers in the habit of checking your website
or social media sites, you have the potential to turn these resources into
marketing opportunities. However, that's a larger topic than I’m writing about here.
If you’re interested in starting a social media campaign, I suggest you Google
“social media marketing medical practice” and look at some of the resources out
there. After that you can think about
what resources you’ll need to marshal if you decide to move forward. Like any media campaign or project, get your
ducks in a row before venturing out.
What you absolutely
should not do
Don’t hold conversations with patients via Facebook or
Twitter. These are public sites and
anyone could potentially see posts. Carefully
consider who in the office has rights to post to these accounts, and those that
do post should be fully trained on how and what to post, as well as HIPAA and
other regulatory concerns.
Who posts or tweets
for the practice?
Carefully consider who has authority to post and tweet on
behalf of the practice. Any
communication will be out there, somewhere, forever. Even if you delete it, assume it still lives somewhere
out on the internet.
Closing words
I hope this little series has given you some things to
ponder. I haven’t laid out every piece of
information regarding how to post and when to post, most of this I’m assuming
you can figure out on your own.
If you’d like more information on this topic, or have other
questions or problems to discuss, feel free to reach out to me at (515)
249-9011 or email me.
Straight ahead,
Bob
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