PRACTICE MANAGEMENT | SOCIAL MEDIA | global. Your existing patients and clients
may ÔlikeÕ your page and by this recommendation, their friends will also be made aware of your practice. Customers can write comments on your page in the form of queries about your products or services, sharing news, weighing in on popular trends and topics, or by talking about their experiences. However, one must assume that at
some point negative comments may be posted on your page, so devise a strategy for how to respond most appropriately ® if at all. Always monitor your page, so that when a negative comment is received, you are able to respond quickly. It is important to listen to your customers and help resolve any negative experiences they may have had with you. Receiving a negative comment may feel like an attack against you personally and/or your practice. Assess the nature of the comment and respond in a constructive way (if at all). Responding quickly is important, but it is equally important to take the conversation offline in private, and to never respond in a defensive or dismissive tone.
Respecting patients’ right to privacy Facebook and social networking platforms are all about engagement. However, the major hurdle for licensed health professionals navigating through social media is that they are held to a higher standard than other service businesses, such as restaurants, hotels and shoe stores. In some cases it may be advisable to
allow feedback, both good and bad. Consumers have become wise to wildly positive reviews on sites such as Yelp, and they may not seem real. Each situation should be carefully considered on its own merit. You can answer questions posted on your Facebook page wall judiciously, but as a health professional, precautions are necessary. If you respond to a post from an actual patient, that can be construed as a violation of the patientÕs right to privacy, even though the patient initiated contact in a public forum. If you have had a detailed and constructive complaint from a customer,
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By enhancing your
Facebook presence, you can cultivate an engaged customer
base and generate more clicks for your website, blog and other platforms.
it is advisable to respond quickly in private only. Listen to the customer, be objective and always avoid escalating a potentially negative issue. Try to understand the intentions and empathise with the emotions of the user whenever possible. Consider ways in which to resolve the situation swiftly and amicably, to avoid having an unhappy vocal patient who can impact on your professional reputation. Never enter into a lengthy dialogue on your page, as this is of course public. Your staff may want to ÔFacebookÕ the individual who has posted in private or request an email to reach out. If this is dealt with effectively, you could even turn this into a positive experience If the comment
posted is not from one of the physicianÕs patients and is vague
in detail, such as Ômy filler didnÕ t lastÕ or that laser treatment was a Ôrip offÕ , it is reasonable to respond with general comments such as ÔWe are sorry to hear about your experienceÉ Õ The viewers of your page will then see that you have responded and are willing to enter into a dialogue, even if the person who complained does not respond. This
September 2012 |
prime-journal.com
strategy may encourage others to post questions or comments, and engage with your page. If you receive a negative comment that
is malicious or abusive, you can simply delete the post. If the abuse continues, you can block any comments posted by the sender. You can also ignore the comments by burying the post; which means that as other posts are added to your page, the abusive post will move further down the page into the archived pages where it will not be as visible. Similarly, self-promotional posts about services, products or other clinics, can be deleted and the user banned from posting on your page again.
Conclusions By enhancing your Facebook presence, you can cultivate an engaged customer base and generate more clicks for your website, blog and other platforms. Twitter is a platform that can help grow your Facebook fan base as well. While Pinterest and Google+ are emerging are the next wave of social media platforms for businesses, Facebook is still the main social networking site on which to focus your efforts.
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