Monday, September 24, 2012

Social Media Makes Plastic Surgery Decision Making Simpler



Social Media Makes Plastic Surgery Decision Making Simpler


Businesses all around the globe are trying to figure out how best to make use of social networking to further their financial goals and enhance customer service. Though social media has definitely found its niche, businesses are still struggling to figure out how to use it best. In the medical sector, this hasn’t been easy. The special legalities of doing business as a medical practitioner create convoluted questions about what’s okay and what’s not in social media. But nonetheless, doctors are starting to make an appearance on Facebook and Twitter, trying to see what works and what doesn’t.
As doctors experiment more and more with social media, there are several themes emerging that seem to provide some direction to doctors who are trying to decide whether or not to try social media for their clinic. Patients are able to get questions answered via Facebook, for example, and surgeons are able to market some of the latest surgical procedures to their existing clients. Surgeons who use social media are able to better inform their patients and make sure they receive detailed information about the procedures they’ve signed up for. This is important given that many patients feel as though their questions weren’t answered by their physician prior to surgery or they didn’t receive all the information they needed to feel fully comfortable with the procedure.
The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery recently released survey results demonstrating that 42% of patients have received information about facial plastic surgeries from online social networking web sites. Doctors have mixed feelings about these results. Some doctors realize that social media could help enhance patient communications and patient care, while others feel that the topic of plastic surgery is not appropriate for social networking sites. According to this view, patients should not be making decisions off of information gleaned from a resource as unreliable as Facebook.
Social media has opened up a whole new dialogue between doctors and patients, which has, for the most part, been positive for both sides. Open communication and feedback can be helpful for quality improvement and to encourage a better relationship between a doctor and his or her patients. And prospective patients can get a feel for a particular clinic by simply joining the online community and seeing what the buzz is about. If the buzz is mostly negative, prospective patients can find a different surgeon.
Though the social media market is still evolving and plastic surgeons are still trying to find their place in the web, plastic surgery patients have definitely found benefit from using social media as a tool because it provides much-needed education in an informal and yet personal setting. And plastic surgeons are able to learn more about the patients they serve, which can help them make important changes to serve them even better. Though the profits directly attributable to social media so far have not been remarkable, indirect marketing could be substantial. As patients find it easier to develop a relationship with their doctor via social networking, word-of-mouth marketing may increase demonstrating a  more obvious connection between profits and social networking.

Now you can visit www.plasticsurgerycoupons.com to get coupons and discounts on your cosmetic procedures. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting! Please visit us at : www. plasticsurgerycoupons.com