Only a few years back did things like PR and Reputation management seemed like matters of concern for big businesses and celebrities alike. But that is no longer the case. Nowadays, anyone and everyone should care about their online reputation especially if they belong to the medical and health industry.
The internet has made the era of active audience possible, where people express their opinions about brands, products, services, and so on, on several platforms online all the time. Around 71% of the consumers start their journey with a Google search making online brand reputation management crucial.
In this article, we discuss the importance of Online Brand Reputation Management for dentists and shed light on how to manage it successfully.
What is online brand reputation management?
Online brand reputation management is aimed at creating a positive public perception of the brand, business, practice or person.
Reputation management includes monitoring the reputation, addressing patient feedback or reviews that could potentially damage the brand of your dental practice and using strategies that prevent and solve problems before they damage the reputation of your dental office irreparably.
In the next section, we discuss the pitfalls of not managing your online brand reputation correctly.
Pitfalls of not managing your Dental practice online reputation properly
Did you know that 85% of patients treat online reviews as personal recommendations and trust them as much as a tip from a friend? In the age of social media where news can spread like wildfire it can be absolutely disastrous if you don’t manage your online brand reputation of your dental practice properly.
Case in point:
- United Airlines lost over $1 billion in market value when a video went viral showing a passenger being forced away from an overbooked flight. The video earned over 100 million views and over a million mentions all for the wrong reasons.
- Nestle too faced a similar situation when they were publicly accused by Greenpeace of harmful environmental practices. It turned into a social media crisis and Nestle failed to take the appropriate steps. In the aftermath, the company was forced to temporarily shut down its public page when people started posting altered versions of their KitKat Logo all over the internet.
In the next section, we have discussed strategies that will help you manage your online brand reputation better.
How to manage your dental office’s online Brand Reputation?
We have discussed a process that you can put in place to manage your online brand reputation better.
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Audit your online brand reputation
This process helps you uncover how people see your dental practice online. You can read through the reviews online and try to understand the general sentiment.
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Establish an online brand reputation management strategy
Now that you know the online landscape regarding your brand, it is time to set up a strategy. Based on the audit of your online brand reputation you can establish online brand reputation goals.
Utilize a certain tone of voice to reply to negative reviews and comments. Have a sound crisis management strategy that prevents things from escalating online. Draft your response carefully to every negative feedback and make sure you don’t copy and paste it enmasse to all negative feedback.
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Dominate SERPs for brand searches
No online reputation management strategy is complete without the magic of SEO. Showing up on the SERPs for branded keywords is the key and the best way to get there is to have a dental website that ranks highly.
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Encourage Positive reviews online
Modern age patients depend on online reviews when searching for a dentist but there is also the angle of search engine optimization to this. Your dental office online reputation can impact the rankings.
Google confirmed that its algorithms are wired to rank websites that provide poor patient experience low and negative reviews signify this. That is why it is necessary for you to encourage your patients to leave positive reviews online.
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Manage negative reviews online
Negative reviews are part and parcel of any business or practice. But this doesn’t mean you should ignore them. Addressing negative reviews proactively is the need of the hour. Answering negative reviews showcases that you care about your patient and you are actively trying to resolve their negative review.
34% of consumers will remove their original bad review once they hear back from the business or practice according to a study from Right Now. Showing empathy and understanding will go a long way with patients.
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Create content that is always on brand
Branding and online reputation go hand in hand and although visual aesthetics are important maintaining a consistent message and tone of voice is critical. The content your patients come across largely shapes their perception of your dental practice.
So, by having a good online brand reputation management strategy in place you have the power to project yourself in the way you want to be seen. The content you post across all social media channels is instrumental in shaping your brand/ image in the eye of your patients.
To Recap
Online brand reputation management is essential to any business or practice even for the ones who aren’t online. People are talking about you and will continue to do so and it is your job to manage the narrative for the better. Having a solid online brand reputation strategy goes a long way in this.
If you don’t know how to go about this or you don’t have the time and resources to do so then you can contact Helenzys Dent. We are an exclusive dental digital marketing company and our expert digital marketers will provide you with all the solutions. So, if you want to have a stellar online brand reputation contact us at the earliest.