I was doing some research in the past and then thinking about some of our clients and the medical industry in general. While online or content marketing is now a virtual given for most physicians and their clinics, various aspects of this marketing may be lagging behind in terms of implementation. Admittedly, social media is an area that can be a bit of a mystery in terms of how it plays into a comprehensive internet marketing strategy for any organization.  While it might be easy to assemble a list of reasons why a physician may not want to engage much on the social media side of  life, there are some statistics that reflect a reality which might be worth considering:

• 80% percent of Internet users (59% of US adults) look for online health information [iHealthBeat]

• 90% of patients consider online review sites such as healthgrades and others [Harris Poll]

• 47% of Internet users search for information about doctors or other health professionals[Pew Research]

• 38% percent of Internet users search for information about hospitals and other medical facilities[Pew Research]

It’s been a well-known fact that in the medical industry, revenue is tightly linked to reviews and reputation [Harvard Business Review], by influencing the new patient’s decision making process. Then there are those situations that occur outside of the normal professional practice referrals, and here reputation along with the typical personal recommendation influences physician selection. Reviews and reputation are two reasons why we have developed our MDWebPro site, to help physicians navigate those waters, (see www.mdwebpro.com).

So, while it might be easy to list things like insurance reimbursement, privacy issues and the typical over loaded schedule as reasons why not to pursue social media engagement, there are other factors that suggest it could be a good investment of time and financial resources.

Let us know if you would like to talk further about this, or anything else related to your internet marketing needs.