Recent developments in Google’s Search Plus Your World (SPYW) make it even more important to make sure that your social media presence accurately reflects your medical practice.
In summary:
- Google is now displaying Google+ search results alongside your other search results
- Those search results are displayed ABOVE many of the paid advertisement slots
- Google+ search results are not labeled as “advertisements”. We can infer that, to the consumer, they carry more authenticity and should have a good click-through rate.
There is a lot of controversy about how Google is using search to promote its social network, but one thing is certain – you don’t want your competitors beating you in the Google+ race.
Why is it so valuable? Let’s explore a concrete example. The Google Keyword Tool shows that in Los Angeles there are more than 20,000 searches related to “dermatologist” per month.
If you can position yourself as the most popular socially networked dermatologist in Los Angeles, you may be right at the top of the search results, in prime position to capture as leads many of the people that are searching for dermatologists.
If you could capture just a quarter of those clicks (and you may get as many as half) through great social network search positioning, then you would be benefitting from the equivalent of a $25,000 Google AdWords campaign, every month!
When we look at the numbers this way, it’s easy to understand why your social media marketing campaign is so important to your medical practice. Remember, capturing leads through SEO is just one aspect of how your social network will help you bring in revenue and provide a better customer service experience… there are many more.
