Reputation management is something that is incredibly important to any business, especially those in the service industry like physical therapists. Thanks to the growing popularity of social media it is easy for your patients to say anything they like about your services in a very public forum. This can be a fantastic way to spread the word when you are doing great, but if the comments are less than complimentary then it can have a negative impact on your clinic.
Reputation management is basically the process of manipulating or shaping public opinion of your PT clinic by influencing what sort of comments are made about you and your services online. While you can control what sort of content you share on behalf of your clinic, there is no way to control what other people are saying about you. If it happens to be something bad, then reputation management will be working to minimize any damage done.
It is believed that as many as 60% of all social media users post reviews about their experiences of various products and services. If the reviews that your clinic receives are positive then this will be an excellent boost for your business. However, if some of those reviews are negative then it could put people off. However, with reputation management you can address these complaints and work to create a more favourable reputation. This can only be achieved by being honest and approachable. Let's take a closer look at some of the ways in which reputation management is important.
Dealing With Patient Reviews
Patient reviews are one of the largest elements of reputation management. When you receive positive reviews you will want to share them with the world. It is great to get into the habit of responding to these reviews to say thank you and to ask permission to share what your patient has written as a testimonial. In fact, you should be replying to your negative reviews as well. We have discussed dealing with negative reviews in detail in previous blog posts, but in summary you will want to respond to your negative reviews in order to let your unhappy patient and anyone else reading the reviews that you do care about patient experience and that you are working on correcting the issues that have been raised.
Creating a Visible Online Presence
It is likely that your PT clinic's online presence is split over multiple platforms and because of this it is often difficult to maintain them all. Reputation management is about making sure all of your information is current and engaging with your patients. With reputation management you should be able to regularly schedule time for each of your online presences in order to make sure that you have not missed something that could be having an negative impact on business.
Website Maintenance
Your website is one of the key first impressions that patients will have of your physiotherapy practice. It is therefore important that it is kept up to date and that it is integrated with the ever popular social media sites. This is all part of maintaining a good reputation for your clinic and it is important that you or someone more qualified are keeping an eye on your website to make sure that any necessary adjustments are made in a timely fashion.
Reputation management is very important to the success of any business. A physical therapy clinic is exactly the type of service based industry where reputation matters most. To find out how PatientSites.com can help you with reputation management book your free demonstration session now.