Why You Need To Care About Facebook...

We've seen a growing response to our posts about Facebook over the past year, and are excited to see doctors beginning to realize what facebook can do for their practices.  Still, the number #1 question we get when we say "Facebook" is something along the lines of "yeah, my kids are on it…but what does it have to do with my practice?" Here's a simple explanation of why you should care about Facebook…

It's not just the 'kids' on Facebook - it your Patients!
The numbers don't lie - the largest group of Facebook users are 35-49 years old:

Also take into account that over 40% of North Americans use Facebook.  That's over 120 million patients -  some of which are surely your own.

Facebook users refer services
About a month ago, Facebook released their 'like button' to provide a simple way for websites to promote themselves via Facebook.  Since then, over 100,000 websites have jumped onboard because the realize the potential for word-of-mouth referrals via Facebook.  Here are a few stats from some of the more notable sites:

ABC News increased Facebook referrals 250%

IMDB.com has seen it's users create 350,000word-of-mouth referrals on Facebook

NHL.com (Go Sharks!) has reported an 80% increase in visits referred from Facebook

Facebook users are loyal
For websites that fully integrate with Facebook via Facebook Connect, patient engagement is even better.  Job search engine SimplyHired.com has found that job-seekers logged into Facebook while on SimplyHired.com use the site's services twice as much as a non-Facebook visitor.

Plus, when a website integrates fully with Facebook, it allows patients to have their comments distributed to all of their friends on Facebook as a genuine word-of-mouth referral.  It's the exact same word-of-mouth marketing you've used for years at your own practice, only scaled 100x over via the Internet!