What healthcare marketers need to know about online reputation management?

Mike Connolly, January 22, 2015

A recent Forbes article revealed that one company lost more than $2 million in sales because of its bad online reputation. With more and more conversations now happening digitally, a bad online reputation can have a direct impact on your press coverage, hiring process and even sales. At times, having no online reputation could be as devastating as having a bad one.

Try this now: do a Google search for your company and see if there appears any negative result in the first page. Note that. And next, try your competitors’ name and note the results that popup for that search too. This gives you a clearer picture of where your online reputation is taking you. While there are many best practices the marketers follow, there are certain practices for healthcare marketers too, to keep up their reputation online.

1. Always on your toes

Being proactive is the first and important rule to follow. Consumers are more equipped with information than ever and that is what is driving online conversations. Actively take part in these conversations and connect with your audience. Even if not through a long blog post or a whitepaper, share snippets of useful information and seed discussions around it.

2. Maintain consistency

Don’t stop even when the sun is shining brightly. Online reputation management (ORM) is a continuous process and it requires consistent effort to keep up with what is achieved.  It is an ongoing process and continues to evolve as technologies and consumer preferences enhance.

3. Build reputed personalities

Users easily identify with individuals. Brands need to identify those key executives that can be thought leaders in the business domain. These industry experts can contribute to your online content pool thus building your brand reputation. These experts get more attention online than the brand.

4. Integrate social media everywhere

Claim your online presence at every physical location possible and on all brand collaterals. This creates brand recall as well as adds to your authenticity. The frequency of updates might vary from each social channel, but keeping steady updates will prevent from someone else hacking your identity and engage your audience alongside.

At Lake B2B, we enable visibility, better engagement with your pages, social traffic improvement and detailed awareness about your products. Our blog creation, social media audit, competitive analysis, and many other tools help you understand your brand’s position in the online social ladder much better. Contact us today!