Boosting Your Practice with Nextdoor
Engaging patients online can be a quick, simple way to increase awareness for your practice
Are you looking to boost your practice? Before paying for an ad in the newspaper or mailing out expensive glossy postcards, consider focusing your efforts online.
These days, most patients are pretty tech-savvy and are more likely to look for their next doctor via the Internet. In fact, 90% of patients say they use online reviews to narrow down their search, with more than 70% relying on this tactic as the first step. It’s the modern-day version of word-of-mouth marketing.
So, meeting your patients where they are will be fundamental to your success. Nextdoor is a free, private social networking app that could be the online shot in the arm your practice needs. As of April 2022, registered users have shared over 55 million local business recommendations, including their favorite medical practices and doctors.
What is Nextdoor, and how do you get started?
Just like friends who share their latest news over lunch, Nextdoor members publish their experiences online. Those posts go out to all other members in their close geographic area — their neighborhood. Nextdoor is unique among social networking apps because it keeps targets and categorizes posts based on member-provided zip codes. Consequently, members know they only receive local information.
Nationwide, there are over 250,000 neighborhoods that use Nextdoor to exchange information. There’s a good chance many of your existing or potential patients live in these communities. Connecting with them through a local platform is a great way to increase awareness for your practice.
But how do you do that? The good news is that you don’t have to wait for a patient to mention you in a post. With Nextdoor, you can launch a business page to proactively engage with your patients.
Creating your page is simple:
- Set up or log into your personal Nextdoor account
- Search for and select (claim) your business
- Confirm your listing
- Add your business information (logo, Facebook, Twitter, contact details, welcome message)
Boosting your practice with Nextdoor
Like your other social media accounts, you need to be strategic when managing your Nextdoor business page. Fortunately, you can encourage your patients to interact with you online in several ways. And each comment or post can help enhance the reputation of your practice.
Gather recommendations: Pick a few of your happiest patients and ask them to write a Nextdoor recommendation for you. Once you gather several positive reviews, use Nextdoor’s “share recommendations” button to publish the posts beyond your immediate neighborhood. Doing this will instantly increase the number of people who know about your practice but still live relatively nearby.
Request patient involvement: Your business page may be about your practice, but don’t forget your patients are the reason your office exists. Ask them to share a positive experience with your office or an uplifting health-related anecdote. These interactions can help patients view you and your practice as warmer and more approachable.
Highlight services: It’s important to share details about your services. Your existing patients may not know everything you can do, and new patients need to know if you can meet their needs. List any telehealth or virtual services you provide. If you can, plan some of your posts around awareness months for various health conditions to raise additional visibility for your practice and demonstrate your level of knowledge to patients.
Share updated protocols: Even though the height of the pandemic has passed, many patients are still nervous about exposure to the virus. Use your Nextdoor page to publish specifics about the health and safety measures you follow. Your existing and potential patients will appreciate that you’re going the extra mile to protect them.
Respond to comments and messages: Pay attention to all comments you receive and respond in a timely manner. These comments are valuable opportunities to thank satisfied patients for recommending your practice. And even though it may be uncomfortable, addressing any complaints you receive is important. Potential patients will consider those reviews and your answers when deciding to make an appointment.
For any complaints, it’s best to keep your replies short and neutral. Avoid additional negativity. Acknowledge the patient’s concern and list the steps you will take to investigate the problem. If necessary, move the conversation into direct messages so you can contact the patient for a more detailed discussion.
Traditional advertising can be expensive and will only reach a limited audience. As an alternative, building your Nextdoor business page gives you a free option to engage with new and existing patients while bolstering the reputation of your practice.