Doctor's Life Magazine, Tampa Bay Doctor's Life Tampa Bay Vol. 2 Issue 2, 201 | Page 20

THINKING
OUTSIDE
THE BOX
I

By Sharon Fekete
The Doctor Whisperer
www.thedoctorwhisperer.com

remember the day I was
talking to my previous
physician employers about
Facebook marketing. We all had
the same hesitation because there
was concern about derogatory
commentary from unhappy
clients. Almost instantly, we both
realized that 95 percent of our
patients actually loved us so what
were we really concerned about?!
Then the research began…how were we
going to create a Facebook page that would
generate good morale and insight a buzz
about our office? We watched the video from
Jeffrey Gitomer called “OH NOOOOOO NOT
FACEBOOK!” It was truly eye opening for my
physicians to watch, since I already understood
that social media was about to take off and truly
HELP businesses like ours. I was lucky in the sense
that my physician employers kept an open mind and
could overcome the “unprofessionalism” stigma that
was going around in the medical community about
Facebook. Now all you have to do is hire a reputation
management company! Here is the video that became
the game changer for us: https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=cdyTO_UI0uM
The decision was made and we started our journey into the
taboo social media land for our medical practice. Our staff was
so excited to introduce our medical family and I began creating a
buzz! I posted signs in the waiting room to “LIKE” us on Facebook
and then I requested everyone’s email signature to host our link. It
was all very exciting! We began by posting educational information
about maintaining good health in the hopes it would create value to our
patients. Then I began reviewing our “likes” and I swore I could hear
crickets in the background. It was pathetic; a mere THREE people liked
our content. AARGH! What could possibly be wrong? My physicians were
providing insightful information that had been researched before posting?!
So I began thinking about what I personally enjoyed looking at on Facebook
and a big ole light bulb went off…FUNNY, anything humorous was worth
20

Doctor’s Life Tampa Bay

Issue 2, 2014