During the early days of the Internet, blogs were perceived as something used only by teenagers and young adults. But it’s a different story nowadays.
Blogs are now used by professionals and experts in every field imaginable to establish their work and reputation. Even companies make use of blogs to promote their products and services and reach out to their customers. Today, blogs are no longer seen as nothing more than a personal diary, but rather, as an important platform to communicate with others.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of doctors, physicians, and health professionals who underestimate the power of a blog. Many of them also see it as a waste of time where one exerts a lot of effort but receives only minimal returns. This isn’t the case, though.
Here are five reasons why every doctor should have a health blog.
More Effective Marketing
Writing articles and generating content about your practice is one of the best and most effective ways to market your services. When it comes to medical marketing, many have found out that TV, radio, and print ads aren’t that successful anymore. Nowadays, patients want to forge personal relationships with their doctors, and creating a blog is a great way to achieve that. Patients are more likely to trust and have confidence in a doctor whose thoughts and opinions they can read, as opposed to a doctor running commercials on TV every night.
This is also true when looking at doctors and their presence on social media. Each platform is different in their own way, and who their target audience is. This means every doctor or practice should also have their main site and blog content distributed through social platforms like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Additionally, a personal blog allows you to bring more attention to your practice, reaching potential customers at a very low cost. Unlike traditional marketing, creating a blog is completely free, takes only a few minutes, and doesn’t require any major technical skills.
Provide Information To Patients
Medical blogs are a great way to provide patients with information on their health, fitness, and wellbeing. For instance, Dr. Axel F. Sigurdsson, a cardiologist at the Landspitali University Hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland, is the creator behind the popular medical blog, Docs Opinion, where he shares his knowledge on heart diseases and how to prevent it. His blog also has plenty of tips on nutrition, exercise, and achieving a healthy lifestyle. Docs Opinion has over thousands of readers and many find that Dr. Sigurdsson’s articles are reassuring and informative with Healthline even considering it as one of the Best Blogs about Heart Disease in 2017.
Besides informing their patients, a blog also allows doctors to correct any false facts and misinformation that their patients come across. Unfortunately, there is a lot of fake news about health and wellness that circulate on social media. Many of these are dangerous, advising patients to digest essential oils instead of medicine or that a vaccine for diabetes had been discovered in Mexico. A medical blog is an ideal platform for disputing such information.
Answer Common Questions
If your patients tend to ask the same questions over and over again, then you might want to think about creating a blog where you can publish answers to routine and commonly-asked inquiries. This saves you time in the examination room since you can refer patients to your content whenever they require any further information.
Additionally, a lot of doctors have found that their blogs have been instrumental in ensuring that their more forgetful patients can keep track of the general advice that they receive since they no longer have to reach out to their doctor to confirm or clarify information.
Connect With Patients
Being a doctor is a highly stressful job and unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of time to chat with patients and learn more about them. However, the past few years have shown that patients seek doctors that they trust and with whom they can form close relationships with. They want to know that the person whose hands they’re putting their lives in is someone that they can depend on.
A healthcare blog shouldn’t just be a place for publishing medical information. Rather, it should also be used as a platform for doctors to express themselves and give insight into what their lives are like. Many health professionals nowadays are using social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to show their daily routines and the ‘behind the scenes’ of their work. Thanks to these kinds of content, many people now have a deeper appreciation of the stress and frustrations that those in the medical field have to deal with every day.
Taking the time to build personal relationships with your patients leads to better patient satisfaction. Additionally, they’re more likely to remain with your practice long-term since they perceive you as someone that they can wholeheartedly trust.
Network With Health Professionals
A 2013 study conducted by AMN Healthcare showed that over 31% of healthcare professionals use social media for professional networking, which shows just how important a blog is for doctors. Through their blogs, doctors can expand their network and learn from other experts in the field, allowing them to be informed of the latest developments and advancements. With this, their clients receive only the best and the most recent treatment and patient care practices.
Doctors can also use their blogs to share information, as well as taking the time to learn from blogs of other doctors.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.