Benefits of Reputation Management for Plastic Surgeons

Build a powerful and trustworthy brand image with reputation management for plastic surgeons. Our guide below shows you how.

Plastic and cosmetic surgeons work hard to improve the lives and appearances of their patients.

In addition to learning about new surgical methods, surgical practices also have businesses to manage. In today’s highly-competitive business environment, how do plastic surgery practices stand out in a way that attracts prospective patients, builds trust, and develops a positive reputation?

The answer is plastic surgeon reputation management.

In our guide below, learn why this digital marketing strategy can help create a digital presence that puts you at the forefront of your industry.

How Important is Your Online Reputation?

No matter what type of business you operate, how you are perceived in the digital environment is a significant part of your ability to achieve success. This perception is known as your online reputation, and it is based on the information available about your practice in online search results.

As a plastic surgeon, a positive online reputation helps you:

• Attract more patients to your practice. Patient acquisition is the most essential part of developing a robust and visible digital footprint.
• Showcase your expertise in unique services like butt lifts, facial reconstruction, or Mohs micrographic surgery.
• Foster a sense of trust and authority in your field.
• Keep a steady stream of new clients arriving at your facility.

The key takeaway is this: with plastic surgeon reputation management, you have the potential to grow your business in a way that positions you for long-term success, even in highly-competitive markets. In simple terms, this strategy puts you front and center for the people who matter most: potential patients who are seeking surgical procedures to improve their lives.

How Online Reviews Can Help or Hinder Your Healthcare Brand

When you look for a new business in your area, what is your first step?

If you’re like most consumers, you turn to search engines like Google to learn about businesses before making purchasing decisions.

Online reviews stand out in search results. Because of this, these reviews present one of the most critical factors in building and preserving — or harming — your digital reputation.

Every positive review represents the expertise and authority of a business, while every negative review has the potential to damage your reputation. Let’s take a closer look at reviews, including several eye-opening statistics on why online reviews can help or hurt your plastic surgery practice:

Positive Reviews

• Whether on Healthgrades, Vitals, or Google, 92% of potential customers are more likely to visit your clinic after reading positive reviews.
• The average patient spends about 31% more with a business that has positive online reviews and excellent ratings.
• Positive reviews help improve visibility in online searches, with about 7% in improved organic local search weighting.

Negative Reviews

• Negative online reviews can result in customer losses. A single bad review represents a potential loss of 22% of customers; three or more negative reviews or decreases in star ratings mean customer losses of nearly 60%.
• Only 13% of potential patients will consider using plastic surgeons with a 1- or 2-star rating. A minimum rating of 3.3 stars is needed to ensure engagement with prospective patients.
• 94% of all consumers indicate that online reviews are valued as much or more than personal recommendations. If unhappy patients leave reviews that are negative, this can directly impact your ability to grow your practice.

What is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management is the set of strategies designed to establish, build, preserve, and repair your online reputation. ORM professionals provide a wide range of services to help put your best foot forward in the digital environment, helping you gain competitive advantages.

There is a dizzying array of potential services used by online reputation management professionals, including:

• Social media management
• Reputation repair
• Content removal
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Local SEO
• Pay-per-click (PPC) ad management
• Branding
• Business listing management
• Crisis management
• Public relations (PR)
• Review management

Your medical practice is unique, and plastic surgeon reputation management must be tailored to fit your specific goals and needs. In the next section, we will highlight the essential ORM services for cosmetic surgeons to stand out, even in competitive marketplaces.

Essential Services in Reputation Management for Plastic Surgeons

Plastic and cosmetic surgeons operate a wide range of practices, each with its own distinctive services, styles, and personalities. Because each plastic surgery practice is different, there is no single “one size fits all” approach to reputation management for plastic surgeons.

As we learned in the section above, there are many different tools and strategies available from online reputation management providers, but not all of these are applicable to your specific plastic surgery practice.

However, a few of these services stand out. Here is a look at the essential reputation management tools that all practices can benefit from:

Review Management

As illustrated in the section above about online reviews, much of your digital reputation is centered on the quality and quantity of reviews.

Patient testimonials are a driving force to build trust between your practice and prospective patients. These testimonials can also hurt your business, particularly if negative reviews from unsatisfied patients dominate Google search results.

Review management is the key to getting the most from your review profile on Google reviews and third-party review sites like Healthgrades, Vitals, RateMDs, and many others. It is comprised of four integral parts:

• Review Generation
• Review Responses
• Review Removal
• Review Monitoring

More positive online reviews translate into a more visible digital presence. Through techniques like a review encouragement program and soliciting patient reviews through surveys or feedback collection methods, healthcare practices can encourage patients to leave genuine reviews about their experiences. The more reviews your practice collects, the greater your visibility in search results.

Responding to reviews is another critical aspect of review management. Reputation management professionals can help you craft a response strategy that demonstrates your patient-first mentality while highlighting your commitment to outstanding patient satisfaction. It is a good idea to respond to all reviews, even those containing a negative patient experience. By doing so, your practice is able to restore the trust lost by this negative information, helping new patients feel confident about their selection of your practice.

Negative reviews are an everyday part of business life; not every customer will walk away completely satisfied and may write bad reviews as a result of perceived issues. While these are virtually unavoidable, it is the fake reviews and false or defamatory reviews that can severely damage your online reputation. By incorporating review removal into a broader review management strategy, you can flag these fake reviews for removal.

Finally, review monitoring allows every healthcare provider to identify problems before they can cause damage. If patient reviews, patient feedback, or negative mentions consistently point to the same issues, this monitoring can help you take corrective action.

Branding

As a plastic surgeon, do you have a recognizable brand? Believe it or not, your brand is perhaps the most valuable intangible asset you have. A brand tells others who you are, what you stand for, and what values you contribute to the medical practice industry.

Branding touches every aspect of your digital footprint, including your clinic website, social media profiles, review profiles, and advertising materials.

Research shows that prospective patients respond to visible brands. As a plastic surgeon, your brand can be made into a powerful force that enhances the other components of your digital marketing campaigns. ORM professionals offer a selection of personal and professional branding options to help you stand out.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the set of principles and practices that optimize your practice website for maximum visibility in online searches. Remember, people are looking for you online in search results; if they can’t find you, they are unlikely to visit your practice.

Patient acquisition is the goal of SEO and local SEO, bringing prospective clients to your clinic before they choose your competitors. When patients see your website, they can get the information they need to take the next step.

SEO use on-page factors like keywords, image optimization, visual assets, title tags, and meta descriptions to help search engines accurately categorize and index relevant websites based on a user’s search query.

For plastic and cosmetic surgeons with growing practices, developing positive digital content using SEO principles and publishing it to company websites, blogs, and social media not only helps you build a powerful brand but also propels you to the top of search engine results for your branded keywords. This increased visibility improves “discovery,” or the ability of potential new customers to find your website first.

Negative Content Removal

As shown in the section on negative online reviews above, it is all but inevitable that not every patient experience is fulfilling. Unsatisfied patients may leave online reviews that are less than flattering; in fact, they may opt to post information that is false, misleading, or derogatory.

To combat this threat to your online reputation, negative content removal is an essential tool. Reputation management professionals use various strategies to identify harmful online content, then remove it once and for all. With content removal services as part of your overall plastic surgery reputation management campaign, you can protect, preserve, and repair your reputation like never before.

Social Media Management for Plastic Surgeons

Social media has become a game changer not just for personal communication but also for business as well. Having an active social media presence puts a human face on plastic surgery practices, fostering a sense of engagement and trust between you and your patients. With social media, you can help tell your story that shows you are the best plastic surgeon in your field.

Reputation management teams can assist you in building your social management strategy. It’s no secret that social media management has quickly become a vital part of plastic surgeon reputation management. Strategies for social media may include:

• Video testimonials with happy patients sharing their experiences
• Offering insights into your plastic surgery practice
• Sharing emerging technology used in your practice
• Information about how your practice works to secure patient data

Social media posts that feature patient testimonials go a long way toward building a trustworthy, visible, and engaged brand for your plastic surgery practice. Satisfied patients showcased on your social profiles work to establish the trust you need to thrive, no matter where your practice is located.

Social media is also good for actively gaining positive reviews and favorable online ratings, nurturing customer relationships, and even building a healthy brand reputation.

Contact OnlineReputation Today

OnlineReputation is a leader in information resources for the online reputation management industry. Our guides provide the details you need to make informed decisions about choosing the right services for your reputational needs.

Cosmetic and plastic surgeons who wish to build powerful and visible brands need reputation management services to get the most from their digital profiles. By harnessing this powerful tool, your healthcare practice’s online reputation is able to drive practice growth and success.

To learn more about reputation management for plastic surgeons, including review management and social media management solutions, contact our team today at 844-230-3803 for a free consultation.