Build Your Online Patient Community

Why Build an Online Community?

• To advocate for your patient community – whether that is rheumatoid arthritis, sinusitis, cancer, whatever.
• To connect – to engage with your patients beyond the door of your clinic. The doctor-patient dialogue must continue beyond the clinic for the optimal health of your community.
• To be a resource. Patients never get ALL of their questions answered during the clinic visit. If YOU don’t provide the information on your site, your patients will find it elsewhere – often inaccurate and misleading. BE their source of trusted information to optimize their health.
• Cost-effective marketing, branding. Helping your community builds trust, loyalty, and builds your practice – whether you are a one-doc shop, or a large hospital.

How to Build Your Online Community?

• Decide who the community is for
• Reach out to specific individuals, invite their participation
• Write about the people you want in your community
• Have conversations – communicate, engage
• Grow – consider a forum format
• Promote your community members
• Above all else, grow it slow!!
• Finally, unite your community – around a common disease, shared experience, or life goal.

Building your online community is part of your brand:

Be a great advocate for your patients.

Be a trusted source of reliable information.

Be connected to your patient community.

This will be your reputation – your brand. 

How?

Write a Blog. Organize a Forum. Send out Newsletters. Emails.

We can show you how.

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Additional Resources:

The best online blog on the topic of Community-building is written by Richard Millington, at http://www.feverbee.com/

If you are serious about building your online community - either for your practice or for your hospital - Richard's blog is a great resource!