What are the best ways to help your med spa or medical practice gain exposure online? Are there particular things to focus on that will help more than others?
While your best bet is always having a digital marketing professional like
Vitals in your corner, there are a number of things you can do to make sure your business has (and maintains) a good footprint online, and is well-represented. Let's explore the topic.
What is Reputation SEO, and how do you do it?
Reputation SEO, otherwise known as reputation management, is especially critical for healthcare-related businesses. It is all-encompassing, and effects everything from your presence online, to referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations. It's a well-known fact that
88% of consumers interpret online reviews to be as important as a word-of-mouth recommendation, so it's critical to amass as many positive reviews online. Equally critical are those personal recommendations and referrals from other medical industry professionals. We'll get into a few strategies.
Ask for Reviews! Whether it's in an automated follow-up text message with a link to your
Google Business Profile, a QR code clients can scan at the reception desk, or even better yet, ask in person. If you are putting in even a little bit of effort in this regard, the reviews will start rolling in, whether it's on Google, Yelp, Facebook, ZocDoc, or wherever else. This also plays a role in what we call
Search Everywhere Optimization.
The more reviews your practice has, the more it will get. It's like a herd mentality. As an example, there's a dog groomer down the street from my neighborhood in a small strip mall. I took my Yorkie in for a grooming shortly after they opened, (not only to support a local business, but also because it saved me a 15 minute drive to the next closest) and I gave them some tips on how to best use their
Google Business Profile to their advantage. Specifically, I suggested they ask their customers for Google reviews, and to add a picture of their dogs looking great after their grooming session. I started them off with a pic of my Yorkie looking all fresh and clean.
Less than a year later, they have fifty-something
reviews with pics in them. My last time in, I told the owner she's been doing a great job asking for those reviews with pictures. She responded by saying she hadn't even asked for any in months, people just seem to be doing it because everyone else was! I clicked around on some other dog grooming business profiles in the area, and they're lucky to have 5 pics with reviews in the many years they've been open. This is a great testament to the power of suggestion. Not only does her business have
more reviews than the others, she has 10x more reviews with pictures in less than a year, and I've had random people at the dog park recommend her business to me seemingly out of the blue.
While reviews with pictures may not be the best fit for your business, you can still capitalize on the herd mentality with regard to reviews. For instance, it would be hard to add a "results" picture in a review of a physical therapy office, since it's not usually something anyone else can see, however you can definitely
send a follow up text with a link to a linktr.ee page with your Google, Yelp, Facebook, and Healthgrades review links!
Another
review tactic we like to recommend is a
bonus structure for your staff. This works great for med spa, or other healthcare related businesses that may have a "technician" working with a patient, or even dental hygienists, etc. Have them ask for reviews specifically mentioning their first name, (the techs' name) because they get a $100 bonus from the doctor/owner for each one. It could be $50, or whatever amount, (maybe even extra bonus $$ for reviews with pic) the number doesn't matter... the beauty of this strategy is it doesn't cost the reviewer anything, but they get to leave a tip for their favorite tech. Trust me, you won't go broke paying out these bonuses, and specifically with Google reviews, the more frequent incoming reviews will help make your google business profile more visible in searches for the services you provide, meaning more incoming patients. It pays for itself.
What is "search everywhere optimization," and how is it different from "search engine optimization?"
When people think of SEO, it's universally agreed upon that it means "search engine optimization." What that boils down to is, optimizing your website to rank higher in the search results for specific keywords so your website gets more click traffic for those searches relevant to the site.
Local SEO takes that a step further and puts primary importance on local search results, which are mostly driven by Google Business Profiles. This is important because
a local business will typically get 4-6x more traffic to their Google Profile than they will to their website.
In what we call
"search everywhere optimization," we do incorporate those website and local SEO elements, however it goes a step further. Let's explain. Internet searches are primarily executed on Google, and from mobile deices. Google's search engines capture 90+% of all internet searches, that's hundreds of billions of searches a day, and that's why it's critical to optimize for Google. However, there's another thing not considered,
the power of social media.
As you can see in the above image, nearly
half of the world population under the age of 55 are using social media to conduct brand research. This is worldwide data, and these numbers are even higher for United States internet users.
In the next image, you can see the percentage of
each mobile device that has each social media apps installed. This even further drives home the importance of having a digital presence on these social media platforms.
Now if the previous two images weren't enough, this one should convince you. It may be hard to see, but right about in the middle of the graph is the USA.
74.8% of internet users aged 16+ in the United States are using online resources when choosing treatments for their ailments. We also know the younger the users are, the more likely they are to be using social media. This perfectly illustrates the importance for your healthcare-related business to have some type of presence on these social media platforms, and the power of "search everywhere optimization."
It doesn't mean you should set a goal to be a social media influencer, let's be honest, you've got better things to do. What it does mean, is you can not only increase your footprint online, but have
another medium for reputation SEO as well as highlight some of your services and results to users who may not have seen you otherwise.
Different social media platforms will be a better fit for certain types of businesses. For instance,
Instagram works really well for Med Spas, their target audience spends more time there, and there are opportunities to show products, before & afters, etc. That may also work well for a reconstructive, or plastic surgeon.
Another great place to spend a bit of time is on YouTube. It's the perfect place to
post an educational video that may help people, or even a promo video. Promo videos work wonders for a potential client to learn a bit about your practice or med spa. Think of it like a commercial, a few short clips of your waiting room, some of your staff at work, set to some music or even narrated to highlight certain things. You can post it on your website, YouTube, and any other socials.
Speaking of posting,
make sure to cross-post between different social medias. Post a link to your new YouTube video on your Facebook page. Post a link to one of your blogs to your X account, and so on. Another great thing to do is make a
Linktr.ee page that lists your website, Google Business Profile, and all your social media accounts. Some social media profiles may only let you have one link in your bio, and Linktr.ee works great for that, it covers everything.
So, to sum this all up, having a presence on the more popular social medias not only puts your business in front of more potential clients, but it's also another opportunity to grow a reputation online other than just on your website or Google Business Profile.
People are searching everywhere, and your reviews help guide them in selecting providers for health and wellness!
