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With the recent news about Facebook sharing personal information, you (or your bosses) might be concerned about using Facebook as a healthcare marketing tactic. Your concerns are legitimate, but not for the reasons you might think.

While some high-profile users, such as Steve Wozniak, Elon Musk, and Cher, joined the #deletefacebook movement, it appears the campaign was more talk than action. It’s too early to tell how many people actually left Facebook (or altered personal data), but leading indicators don’t seem to support a mass exodus.

Online marketing strategies focused on optimizing keywords is so last year. In 2018, healthcare marketers should be focused on how semantic search will impact their content plans.

In short: Search engines are now interpreting searcher intent — not just keywords — and rewarding “hubs” of in-depth content that provide comprehensive information desired by searchers on a particular subject. That shift requires an updated online strategy that moves away from optimizing individual pages and more toward understanding and answering patient questions in topic hubs.

There’s no denying it: Most of your patients love you. But, every so often, someone has an unhappy experience and broadcasts it to the world in an online physician rating.

Negative reviews on your website or physician review sites could drive potential patients away. Or you can use them as an opportunity to engage with unhappy patients, impress online viewers with your professionalism and concern, and show potential patients you’re willing to address shortcomings and improve your practice.

Developing patient profiles, also known as buyer personas, may seem like a luxury of time that hospital marketers and medical marketers can ill afford. But developing a good patient profile up front saves you time and money later by creating a clear picture of how and when you can successfully engage a patient.

HIPAA Compliance and Digital Marketing: Can you have both?

It’s a question every healthcare organization wrestles with: Can I provide information online and through social media to potential patients – and gather personal information from them—without violating privacy laws? The answer is, yes, you can. But you have to do it very carefully. And you might want to get some expert advice to help navigate the delicate waters of marketing effectively while still complying with HIPPA.

Each day a million consumers go online searching for a doctor or looking up physician reviews. A large number of these online healthcare consumers will click on Healthgrades, as it is typically one of the top sites to appear in search results. In Colorado alone, where Healthgrades is based (and, coincidentally, so is Clementine), between 50,000 and 60,000 people visit Healthgrades’ website every day.

While the demand for senior living facilities grows, the marketing resources to reach potential customers seem to dwindle at an equal rate. With old “outbound” techniques like buying ads and email lists, you’re part of the clutter, competing for attention, even as you juggle other duties, like move-in coordinator and resident-relations manager. For overworked and underfunded senior living marketers, inbound marketing-- pulling interested potential customers toward your company with quality content that answers their questions-- is a time-saving, highly productive, and nearly automated way to generate promising leads. That leaves you more time to build the relationships that convert those leads into residents.

From picking a restaurant or buying shoes to choosing a doctor, consumer decisions are increasingly crowdsourced — often through online reviews.

And while doctors may not always appreciate being shopped for and rated like a set of tires or a steak dinner, the reality is that, as patients pay more out-of-pocket, health care is becoming increasingly consumer-driven. And in our digital culture, healthcare consumers get their physician information online, from sources like ZocDoc, HealthGrades, RateMD, Yelp!, Vitals, Facebook, and countless smaller, less prominent patient-review websites (PRWs).