Podiatry and the Internet

Social Media 91 Marketing for DPMs

This is a great way to get new patients—maybe.

By Mark Terry

ocial media is now even no comparison. Dr. Sandra Lee, AKA head removal. Her doing sarcoma more pervasive than ever, Dr. Pimple Popper, is an outlier— removal, all kinds of stuff. She has and in theory, more power- like JK Rowling. But there over 2.5 million followers. ful as a marketing tool than are lessons to learn from her It does translate into busi- ever. Or not. For the sake of approach and success. So, ness. It’s international, but Sthis article, will be de- let’s take a moment to look there are people who will by- fined as Internet-based platforms that at what she does. As she pass other people to go to allow individuals to create, share, or says on her YouTube chan- that practice.” Larry Maurer, exchange information in virtual com- nel, “This channel was first a of Washington Foot & Ankle munities and/or networks. place for me to post Sports Medicine (Kirkland, my television seg- WA), says, “I know that ac- Dr. Pimple Popper ments, with me dis- Mike Crosby count. My kids follow that Dr. Sandra Lee, a cussing and treating common account. You know why? Because board-certified dermatol- skin issues and cutting edge it’s gross. She puts pictures of big ab- ogist, skin cancer surgeon, cosmetic surgery techniques. scesses being popped and they look and cosmetic surgeon, is reg- In the last year, it has be- at it; it’s exciting and gross and my ularly brought up as an ex- come so much more!” boys follow it. She hit it big by just ample of a doctor’s success- Mike Crosby of Provider shocking people with huge pimples, ful social media campaign. Dr. Lee Resources (Brentwood, TN), which is funny. It’s brilliant.” That’s a little bit like holding up JK says, “Her has had over a As we discuss social media and Rowling as an example of a success- billion views. It’s unbelievable. It’s social media marketing, keep this ful children’s novelist—there’s really her doing excisions. Her doing black- Illustration: ©Dreamstime.com; logos are trademarks of their respective owners Continued on page 92

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Social Media (from page 91) example in mind—NOT because the 9 Ways to Market Your Podiatric world is waiting for disgusting videos of foot ulcers. Medical Practice on Social Media

A Social Media Overview n theory, there are infinite ways to use social media to market This list is not comprehensive, Iyour practice—who would have imagined gross videos of explod- but will briefly describe the most ing pimples and abscesses would be a thing? dominant social media platforms. 1) Paid advertising. , for example, has opportunities for targeted paid advertisements, and you can limit the costs by Facebook putting a cap on the ad after a specific number of clicks. It can also Launched in 2004, the other be targeted to regions and groups. also has paid advertising people in each user’s network are dubbed “Friends” opportunities. and messages ap- 2) Identify where your patients are online. Do your patients pear on the user’s use Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? One simple way to approach this “wall.” The wall is to ask patients what they use and if they would be interested in is the page you joining a practice-related group on that platform. One rule, though, view when you is not to overextend your presence. Pick a couple of platforms, not go on Facebook. all of them. It allows users to 3) Keep your information up-to-date. Whatever social media post pictures, vid- 92 Larry Maurer you do use, one of the keys is going to be the “About” section that eos, and share and describes who you are, with links to your practice website and basic “like” posts. One recent innovation practice information. Keep it up-to-date. on Facebook is the ability to conduct live broadcasts, Facebook Live. View- 4) Pay attention to keywords. This is probably less important ers can watch live and interact with on Facebook, but it’s critical on Twitter. Develop a list of keywords you during it, and the video then related to your specialties or the treatments and services you offer. remains on your wall. A 2015 report Integrate them into your profiles and your content.I t will improve compiled by Sprout Social [http:// search engine optimization. sproutsocial.com/insights/new-so- 5) Advertise availability. Similar to keeping information up- cial-media-demographics/#facebook] to-date. Not only should your “About” information provide office indicated Facebook has 1.44 billion hours, but use social media to let your patients know of changes in monthly active users. Despite most hours, vacations, special events, and holidays. people claiming it’s for older people, 6) Become a thought leader. Whether that was her inten- the study found that 33% of women tion, Dr. Pimple Popper, Sandra Lee, became even more influential on Facebook were 18 to 24 years of age. through her presence, which led to or expanded her opportunities in the media to be asked about dermatology and skin-related topics. Twitter Part of social media, from a professional perspective, is to promote Twitter was founded in 2006. a certain identity and brand. Yours may be to push your brand as a Twitter allows users to send and read trusted expert in your field. messages that are 140 characters 7) Build patient relationships. Social media is, at root, about long. The users access it through a relationships. If you can, as a podiatric physician, increase your visibil- website interface or mobile device. ity to the friends and family of current patients and social media fol- (#), are used to denote lowers, that word of mouth may eventually expand to new patients search terms. A message is called in your practice. a “tweet.” Photographs are often 8) Provide updates about services and promotions. This is put up and the most practical usage for Twitter is the use of abbreviat- a way to advertise any special services you might be offering, or sea- ed URLs that can be generated on sonal offerings. services like TinyURL.com, Bitly or 9) Link to content. If you create articles about topics of inter- Google URL shortener. These services est on your website, link to them through your social media pres- take long URLs and shorten them to ence—Twitter is great for this, utilizing specific hashtags as search accommodate whatever content is terms. If you present videos on a YouTube channel—mini-seminars tweeted. For the initiated, scanning on foot care, for example, or any public speaking you might do—link through a Twitter feed can be like to those via your social media platforms.• taking a quick walk through an enor- Continued on page 94

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Social Media (from page 92) be accurately described as a search ented. It was launched in 2003. For engine for video content. It was the most part, LinkedIn is primarily mous cocktail party, catching snatch- launched in 2005, and a year later, a site for individuals to post resumes, es of conversation. Twitter tends to it was bought by Google for and businesses to post pro- skew younger, with 37% of users age $1.65 billion. YouTube allows files. Because of its gate-ac- 18 to 29, and 25% age 30 through 49. users to upload, view, and cess approach, it behaves This seems somewhat ironic, given share videos. People can cre- primarily as a business net- a certain 70-year-old U.S. president ate and subscribe to various working tool. who uses Twitter regularly to com- YouTube channels. Channel municate directly to his fans, bypass- owners can allow for viewer Others ing what he refers to as the “filter” of comments, if they wish. Google has created its “fake news,” own community to compete Blogs Rem Jackson with Facebook called Goo- Short for “web log,” it is a web- gle+, although it’s nowhere near- Launched in 2010, Pinterest is site that acts as a kind of online ly as popular. There are numerous dubbed a “visual discovery, collec- diary. niche networking sites, such as Stra- tion, sharing, and storage tool.” It va for bicyclists and Fishbrain for tends to be collections of images, diehard fishermen or women. as if “pinning” them to virtual bul- Snapchat is one of the newest letin boards. Users save and share apps. Not much has been published Why Use Social Media to Market Your Practice The primary reason to use social Most people are unlikely media in your medical practice is that 94 social media is where the people are. to view YouTube as social media, which is a According to Statista, https://www. statista.com/statistics/265770/most- video-sharing website. popular-us-websites-by-market-share- of-visits/ Google is the single most popular website in the U.S. as of Feb- pins based on pretty much whatev- about the demographics, although ruary 2016 followed by Facebook, er they’re interested in. It veers far it seems to skew very young and then YouTube. more strongly toward women. The female. Snapchat allows for image Crosby says, “I consider so- age demographic is 34% 18-29 years messaging, but one of the key things cial media one of the keys to driv- of age, 28% 30-49 years of age, 27% about Snapchat is that messages are ing business. Why? Because that’s 50-64 years of age, and 17% 65+. very short-lived and self-deleting. where everybody is. Whether it’s In- Studies indicate that 42% of women That would seem to make it the pur- stagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Goo- online use Pinterest compared to view of perverts sending sexually-ori- gle+, there are a lot of education- only 13% of men. ented photographs, teenagers who al things that are posted that have don’t want their parents to be able to links in them that drives business Instagram Launched in 2010, Instagram is similar to Pinterest in that its focus is The primary reason to use social media mobile photo-sharing and video-shar- ing, with a social networking compo- in your medical practice is that social media nent. The maximum video length is 15 seconds. About 300 million users is where the people are. share over 60 million photographs every day. Over half, 53%, are 18 to 29 years of age, with 25% in the 30 access their messages (not necessari- to your website, from your website to 49-year bracket. It drops dramat- ly mutually exclusive), and spies. Ac- to an appointment, and to revenue. ically after that, with 11% in the 50 cording to Wikipedia, a March 2016 It’s economical. It’s not free, but it’s to 64 age group. Again, women are survey found that 71% of users pre- the most economical thing to work bigger users than men. 29% of online ferred the app for chat, messaging, with.” females use Instagram compared to and imaging services, compared to Rem Jackson, of Top Practices 22% of men. only 5% who used it for various pub- (Las Vegas, NV), says, “For market- lished and public features. ing, you need to go where the peo- YouTube ple are, and the people are on social Most people are unlikely to view LinkedIn media.” He also notes that women YouTube as social media, which is Also dubbed social media, Linke- are the healthcare decision-makers in a video-sharing website. It can also dIn is business and employment-ori- Continued on page 96

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Social Media (from page 94) Reasons Not to Use Social Media sons social media is a bad idea. Anecdotally, medical practice They are: most households. They decide when consultants seem to love the idea they go to the doctor, when the kids of social media 1) No return on investment go to the doctor, and when their hus- marketing. Also, (ROI). Interestingly, one of the bands go to the doctor. And women anecdotally, phy- mantras of medical practice consul- are on social media. sicians seem to tants—and a really good one—is that be less enam- whatever takes physicians away from Four reasons to utilize social ored of it. Dike doing what only they can do—prac- media: Drummond, MD, ticing medicine—can be a problem. 1) To increase opportunities for a family prac- And as Drummond notes, “Remem- new patients. tice physician, ber, no one pays you to log in and 2) To increase brand awareness CEO and Found- Dr. Drummond post on Facebook.” and build the confidence of new and er of TheHappyMD.com, who now Acorollary to this is another state- existing patients. focuses on physician burnout, ment practice consultants and mar- 3) Develop patient loyalty and a wrote a scathing blog post titled, keting consultants repeat often, usu- positive referral base. “Healthcare Social Media is a Waste ally credited to Peter Drucker: “If you 4) Increase patient retention and of Time (or worse) for Most Phy- can’t measure it, you can’t improve per-patient revenue. sicians.” In it, he cites three rea- Continued on page 98

Social Media Best Practices for Physicians 96 ocial media is a minefield. As I wrote two years smacks of sexism or racism. There is zero room for S ago: “Let’s admit that some people should just political discussion and debate.” stay off social media.” If you’re the type of person 6) Pay attention to security settings. It’s vital who participates in every online argument you’re on blogs, Facebook, and YouTube, in particular. You invited to, especially politics, this isn’t going to be a want to keep Internet “trolls” from taking over your good business venue for you. And if you view social posts. At the very least, you or someone on your media as a stupid waste of time—hard to argue some- staff must monitor the interactions and use what au- times—then you’re probably right and you should thor and super-blogger John Scalzi refers to as “The spend your valuable time doing something else. Mallet of Loving Correction” to eliminate inappropri- With that in mind, here are some tips for social ate comments and posts. media best practices. 7) Use it regularly. It’s better to not use it at 1) Set guidelines. HIPAA is an important part all than to only use it sporadically. It gives a negative of that, but decide what you and/or your practice impression if someone shows up to your blog, Face- will and absolutely will not do on social media. And book page, or Twitter feed, and nothing new has stick to it. been posted in four months. 2) Have a purpose. Don’t use social media 8) Stay neutral and positive. No politics! Jack- just because you can. Use it for specific reasons—to son noted that for the last two years, Facebook has engage with patients, to market your practice, to ex- become the place where angry people scream about pand your presence outside your circle, etc. politics. Be warned. 3) No politics. No religion. These are no-win 9) Use links. Link to your own content. Link topics for physicians, for the most part. to other interesting content. If you’re using certain 4) Keep it professional. If you have a personal types of social media, you can tie the platforms to- online social media presence, keep it separate (with gether. For example, a Twitter post or Instagram great difficulty) from your professional social media post can be tied to push to Facebook, etc. presence. This is extremely difficult to do; however, 10) Keep it short. Twitter demands it, but if you’re always going to be a physician. It’s best to just you want to write long-form, put it on a blog or your keep it professional. website, and link to it on social media. Social media 5) Don’t post or write anything you would really does resemble a cocktail party. not want your mother to read! Rem Jackson said 11) Absolutely never, under any circum- in 2015 and reiterated it this year, “There is abso- stances, provide specific medical advice on lutely no room for bathroom humor or anything that social media.•

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Social Media (from page 96) to work better if your practice or a significant part of it “consists of products or services the client pays cash it.” Determining if your social media presence and efforts for.” Or, he notes, if you have spare time or don’t care are actually bringing in new patients should be as simple about money—so social media is a hobby. This is inter- as asking new patients how they heard of you, but other- esting because Maurer, who is very skeptical about the wise, it can be difficult to determine its ROI. effectiveness of social media in bringing patients into the office (more so now than he was two years ago), has a 2) It’s dangerous. Drummond ties this into his busi- hobby that underpins his social media practice—sports ness, which is treating physician burnout. His point, photography. And in the past, he has tied his social media efforts—primarily focused on Instagram photo- graphs—into raffles that gave away free tickets to Sea- hawks playoff games. But, he notes that it was almost a Being effective on social media total failure on Facebook, with people not even respond- is a learned skill and it takes time and ing, whereas on Twitter, it was so popular it had an over- whelming response. effort to figure it out. What Works One of the things particularly notable about San- which is also a good one, is that being effective on social dra Lee is that she didn’t start on social media with media is a learned skill and it takes time and effort to fig- the intention of popping zits. She began with Insta- ure it out. But is it worth it to you? A bigger risk is simply gram, and according to an article in New York Mag- the hazards of potentially violating HIPAA or irritating azine, viewed it as an experiment. She took selfies existing or potentially new patients. from different places. She’s very photogenic, so that 98 didn’t hurt, but it’s not as if photographs of attractive 3) It’s a fad. Drucker is probably crazy in terms of people are hard to find online. She made a decision, this. But his point is that social media outreach seems

If certain types of posts or approaches work, do more of them.

a rather unusual one, to document her work on some of her patients. Without going into how she man- aged that in terms of permissions and HIPAA issues, she noticed how certain types of posts were being viewed and shared more often than others—videos of her popping pimples, cysts, and blackheads. That’s not something she viewed as a particularly exciting part of her practice, but people were apparently into it. The point isn’t that you should start asking your patients if you can record and post their procedures, or that “gross” photographs are the way to go. It’s to pay attention to what’s going on with your social media. Mark Terry is a free- If certain types of lance writer, editor, posts or approach- author and ghostwriter es work, do more specializing in health- of them. If things care, medicine and fall flat, abandon biotechnology. He has them. And if the written over 700 mag- azine and trade journal whole thing starts articles, 20 books, and to seem like a dozens of white papers, chore or a waste market research reports and other materials. of time—find For more information, visit his websites: www. something else to markterrywriter.com and www.markterry- do. PM books.com.

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