Why Online Reputation Management is Critical to Your Success & How to Get it Right

© Copyright 2015 Afia Inc. 1
Why Online
Reputation
Management is
Critical to Your
Success & How to
Get it Right
Bobbie Rathjens
Healthcare Social Media Strategist

Meet Your Presenter
Bobbie Rathjens
Healthcare Social Media Strategist at Afia, Inc.
 Healthcare IT Consulting Firm
 Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan
 Past Experience:
 Owner of a Web Design & Development shop that
serviced 200 clients
 Electronic Marketing Specialist at a regional hospital
 Corporate Social Media Strategist at one of the
largest health systems in the country
 Education:
 Bachelors of Fine Arts in Visual Communications with
a specialization in Web Design
 Attending UF for Masters of Arts in Mass
Communications with a specialization in Social Media
linkedin.com/in/bobbierathjens
twitter.com/brathjens

What I Do
 Conference Speaking & Webinars
 Executive Presentations & Training
 Authoring of Executive Documents
 Social Media Strategies
 Internal & External Policies
 Response Assessment Flowcharts
 Online Reputation Management &
Monitoring
 Large Scale Social Media Event
Planning
 Advertising Management
 Google AdWords
 Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
With our Manager of Clinical Strategies. We presented at the
Michigan Association of Community Mental Boards on
“Autism & Social Media: Platforms in Healthcare.”

Webinar Objectives
You’ll Learn:
1. Why online provider and practice
reputations are directly tied to the
success of medical practices.
2. Real life examples of online physician
reviews that lead to litigation and how
to avoid this from happening to you.
3. Advice on what to do if you receive a
bad review.
4. How to manage online reputations the
right way.

Online Reputations
Matter!

Why Online Reputations Matter
“If you make customers
unhappy in the physical
world they might each tell
six friends. If you make
customers unhappy on the
internet, they can each tell
6,000 friends.”
- Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO, Amazon

84% of People…
 Take action and trust recommendations from
people they know
Source: Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising & Brand Messages, Sept. 2013

70% of People…
 Take action based on consumer opinions
posted online
Source: Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising & Brand Messages, Sept. 2013
68% of People…
Trust consumer opinions posted online

56% of Patients…
 Consider online reviews to be important or
very important when evaluating a new
physician
Source: JAMA, February 2014

Bad Reviews
I received a
bad review.
What do I do
now?!

Bad Reviews

Bad Reviews
Can’t we just REMOVE or DELETE
BAD
REVIEWS?

Bad Reviews
NO...
Unless it’s written in ketchup

Reputation
Meanwhile, in Jackson, Michigan…

The Fallout

Bad Reviews
The Bad News:
You can’t control
everything
What’s online stays
online (FOREVER)

Bad Reviews
“Google never forgets
and social media
updates are indexed
rather quickly. This has
nothing to do with ‘free
speech’ but more ‘what
do I want my brand to
be associated with.’”
- Scott Stratten
Author, UnMarketing: Stop
Marketing. Start Engaging.

Bad Reviews
The Good News:
You can create
positive content and
information to offset
the bad

What NOT to Do
What NOT to do:
 Do not ignore negative
reviews or comments.
 Do not share details in
responses.
 Avoid fights – you will not
win.
 Avoid litigation at all costs.

What NOT to Do
Litigation Examples
 Dr. Aaron Filler, Neurosurgeon
 In 2011 received seething review on
RateMDs.com
 Said Dr. Filler posed an “unusually high
risk of death to patients”
 Dr. Filler filed suit against the patient
 The judge dismissed the suit on the
basis of free speech
 Dr. Filler was ordered to pay $50K in
legal fees
Source: Boston Globe, “Doctors Firing Back at Patients’ Online Critiques” – March 2013

What NOT to Do
Litigation Examples
(cont.)
 How does this situation make Dr.
Filler look?
 Why was this a poor move by Dr.
Filler?
 What could Dr. Filler have done
instead of filing suit against the
patient?

What NOT to Do
Litigation Examples (cont.)
 Patient’s husband requested a meeting
with deceased wife’s surgeon
 Dr. Sagun Tuli declined meeting
 Husband aired an “open letter” in a blog
post
 Said Dr. Tuli’s surgery led to wife’s death
 Dr. Tuli sued husband for $100K
 Blog post removed
 Still in litigation; Dr. Tuli no longer
working at hospital
Source: Boston Globe, “Doctors Firing Back at Patients’ Online Critiques” – March 2013

What to Do
Listen Carefully
 Social media engagement is
a two way street
 Two mistakes brands & orgs
make:
 Speaking before listening
 Speaking before thinking

What to Do
Take Action
 Create at least one central
source of truth
 Strategically promote review
site as THE source
 Which review sites will you
focus on?

What to Do
Take Action (cont.)
Update review sites
 Profile pictures
 Office details – phone #,
address
 Names should be exact on
all sites
 Use your licensed name,
add your preferred name

What to Do
Take Action (cont.)
Engaging Content
 Nicely written bio
 Links to articles on 3rd
party sites
 Social media channels
IF up to date and
relevant
 Update quarterly

What to Do
Take Action (cont.)
Close the loop on bad reviews
 Send bad review links to trained
staff
 Publicly acknowledge the
complaint
 Privately resolve situation
 Time is of the essence!

What to Do
Take Action (cont.)
Ask Patients to Write
Reviews
 Identify happy patients
 Make it easy for them
 Incentives
 Consider iPad / kiosk for
waiting room
 Be sure to check TOS of
review sites

Key Points
 Never hide from bad news
 It’s not going away on the internet
 Reputation crises only get worse when
ignored
 Get to the source of the complaint; work
on damage control
 ASAP to put best spin on problem
 Resolve issues directly with the offended
party

Key Points (cont.)
 Organization should make amends when
possible
 Org should launch a rep mgt campaign using
SEO processes to bury the offending info in
search engines
 Target keywords associated with the offending review;
create stream of content promoting websites the org.
prefers searchers to find
 Bad news doesn’t always have to = bad ending
 Org can show they respond quickly & proactively to
resolve the issues (corporate responsibility)

Key Points (cont.)
 Bad reviews often rank higher than good
reviews in the search engines!
 If org has a solid SEO foundation for
brand keywords, it’s harder for negative
info to rank
 Long-term strategy includes creating posts /
content and submitting press releases
associated with brand names, products,
services, executives
 If negative news gets noticed, it will have to
fight against currently ranked items

Online Tracking Resources
 Board Reader: boardreader.com
 Google Alerts: google.com/alerts
 Social Mention: socialmention.com
 Twitter Search: twitter.com
 Yahoo Alerts: alerts.yahoo.com

Social Media Services
for Healthcare
Bobbie Rathjens
(248) 587-7810
brathjens@afiahealth.com
afiahealth.com/social

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