3 Billing Service Questions about Social Media Answered
Q: How important is social media in your billing service marketing? What role does it play in recruiting new providers?
A: These days the majority of people are on social media and online in general. This includes physicians and practice staff. We are now comfortable looking for services online, and we trust the information we find there. If you aren’t online with a strong website and social presence, then those who are looking may go elsewhere. It also allows you to build social credibility. Since we do business with people we know, like and trust, social media can play a role in supporting your reputation. Social media may not be the most valuable marketing tool you have and it may not bring in the most business, but it should be an important piece of your overall strategy.
Q: Are physicians really using Twitter? If so, can you give some best practices for using Twitter?
A: There are a good number of physicians on Twitter, but as you might expect, the bulk of doctors would rather be caring for patients! To find those who are active, you can use search terms like “Dr.” or “MD” and you should get a good list. For all these channels (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, etc.), make sure you are personal and professional, that you engage your followers by posting regularly and responding to mentions and any tweets that you find interesting, and that you post useful information that has a meaningful call to action. If you are actively taking these steps and regularly following physicians and other practice staff, before you know it, you’ll have a new community of potential customers.
Q: You talked about strategies for focusing on local SEO, are there strategies I should use for national approach?
A: Strategies for local and national search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns are quite similar. The biggest difference is that local SEO relies heavily on location tagging. For example, a national campaign might focus on the keywords “medical billing services” whereas a local SEO version would simply be modified to “Houston medical billing services”. As you might expect, it will be more difficult to “rank” on the best keywords nationally if you are in a competitive industry. This is where a blog or other content on your site can help attract visitors more proactively versus the traffic that will come more passively through Google.
If you missed the presentation, you can check out the slides here, or find out more about the Kareo Billing Partner Program and how it can help you grow your billing service.