In keeping with the social media theme, Facebook’s CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg just announced one of the largest profile revisions to date on “60 Minutes” with Lesley Stahl this past weekend. The profile shift will emphasize photos, personal information, and increased usability.
The new look is designed to be more interesting to Facebook users and to display information in an easier way to understand. I’m impressed with how flexible Facebook is and how they are constantly adapting to make the Facebook “experience” the best possible. Healthcare practice owners can learn a lot from this.
The new look is designed to be more interesting to Facebook users and to display information in an easier way to understand. I’m impressed with how flexible Facebook is and how they are constantly adapting to make the Facebook “experience” the best possible. Healthcare practice owners can learn a lot from this.
Facebook remodeled the format of the profile page after listening to feedback from users and watching trends. A strong emphasis was put on photos and sharing personal information. The main profile photo’s size is larger, leading to an emphasis on it being a profile page about a specific person, just as your face and personality should be front and center in the marketing of your practice. The site is now more collaborative, allowing a user to make groupings on their profile of friends, family, music, sports, or projects that are important to them. Similar groupings on your website would allow for easier browsing. What a referring doctor might look for and what a friend of a patient looking to find out about a certain procedure and then book an appointment are very different, yet equally important paths you should have. Understanding what current patients and referral sources want from your practice will help give you a wider range of subjects to consider.
The idea behind the new profile design is similar to the suggestions I gave in a previous blog post about how physicians and healthcare providers should try to develop more personal connections with their target audiences. This can be done on your web site, Facebook fan page and your marketing resume. Creating connections are important to helping patients feel more connected to you as a person as well as their physician.
Are you open to reformatting your business from feedback and trends? Successful medical practices remain flexible and look for new opportunities to expand. Understanding that change is part of the future and embracing that idea will help your practice grow with your patients. This change in a major social media leader leads to the question of “How important is appearance and adaptability?” Patients coming to your office for the first time will take in your personal appearance and the layout of the office. When they visit your practice website, they will look to see if the information they find important is near the top and easy to understand. Whether it’s your qualifications, a professional photo, how to make an appointment, your services, or simply how to contact you, your patients will appreciate you taking their feedback into account and the effort you display in remodeling your web site, and your practice as a whole, in an effort to better serve them. It will also enhance your practice’s brand.
