How many times have you or your team members stayed late, waiting for a physician to fit your healthcare blog content request into his or her schedule?
It can be tough and time-consuming. But it has to be done, because rockstar physicians attract patients.
Here are 6 ways to include physicians in healthcare blogs without staying late:
1) Recruit a set stable of physicians
Giving every physician a chance to be highlighted in your healthcare organization’s web content is nice—in theory. In practice it’s a pain because:
- Not all of physicians have the right kind of personality to be promoted online. You’ll end up revamping everything they say.
- Some of them aren’t convinced that social media and web marketing are worth the effort. Go figure. If only they could all be like Dr. Natasha. But they aren’t.
- And, of course, they are super busy.
Web content deadlines tend to be tight as spandex, so it’s best to cherry pick. Select a stable of physicians and make them your go-to’s for your healthcare blog content, your online spokespeople.
Set up a standing appointment with them to review content, brainstorm content ideas and be interviewed for quotes. If there’s no need to have a call that week or that month, great. But still, stay on their schedules.
Hopefully, when other physicians see how popular Dr. Rock Star is, they’ll start clearing their calendars as well.
2) Don’t ask them to write
There ought to be a fine for healthcare marketing teams who don’t produce web content simply because physicians don’t create it. Creating web content is not their job. It’s yours. Waiting on physicians to write content for your organization’s healthcare blog is asking for disappointment.
The best bet is to go to them with a specific idea: “Hi, we want to do an article on this, or a 1-minute video on that.” Then, execute as much of the idea as you can without them.
If it’s a blog post, have it written for them. If it’s a video interview, send the questions in advance. Have their quotes drafted for them. That way, all they have to do is review.
3) Pick physicians who are already on social media
Physicians who are already active on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter for personal use are more likely to understand that web content cycles are measured in milliseconds.
They know social audiences don’t like waiting more than a couple of hours for a response.
Plus, highlighting them on your organization’s healthcare blog gives the social media savvy doc something to share. You’re essentially tapping into their audience and helping them improve the web presence they’ve already started.
4) Test before committing
Before promising a physician a regular spot on the blog or social media channel, do a couple of trial runs first. You’re looking for two things:
- Responsiveness
- Smooth editing
If a physician is reviewing content, how long does she take to get back to you? If the physician has agreed to be interviewed, how many times does he or she reschedule before you finally talk?
We understand their patients will always be first priority, but if the doc cannot make time, you’ll be scrambling for a replacement.
You’re also looking for how smoothly the editing process goes. If the physician comes back with wonky revisions or unclear, nit-picky changes, consider yourself warned.
5) Don’t send attachments
If you need a physician to review content or add a quote, copy and paste it right into the email, even if it’s 1,000 words.
If you send it as an attachment, it will be hard for them to open it on a smartphone or tablet. So, you may end up waiting till he or she “gets back to the office.” And who knows when that will be.
6) Consider highlighting the team, not just the doc
Other clinical staff also form strong bonds with patients and usually work side-by-side with the physician and the patients’ families. They too are rock stars and often receive little applause for their work.
Tapping them to be promoted in web content can actually demonstrate the multidisciplinary approach that so many health care organizations boast. This also saves you time by broadening your pool of possible sources.
