The Top 5 Mistakes Doctors Make On Twitter
1) Not Tweeting Often Enough
Did you know that 85% of Twitter users post less than 1 update per day? It’s hard to gather a following when you have nothing to say. Also, think about how it comes off to your existing patients… has a bit of a lazy feel to it doesn’t it? You are an expert in your field, don’t be afraid to tweet or be a little bit controversial at times… people pay attention to that!
2) Tweeting Too Much
It’s just downright annoying for your patient to log in to twitter and see their timeline dominated by your tweets. For your practice, 5-10 tweets a day is a good tweeting goal to have. You’ll be posting often enough to show up in the patients’ timeline a few times a day, but not be overwhelming. There was one chiropractor that we were following that we quickly unfollowed after calculating that he tweeted an average of 33 times/day between 9-5.
3) Only Tweeting About Yourself
The tendency for new Twitter users is to tweet about themselves and promotions offered by their practice. While these tweets do have their place, you want to avoid all of your tweets being about you. Limit self-promotion to only a couple of time a week. Instead, monitor what your patients and people in the industry are saying and answer their questions and offer your expert commentary.
4) Following Back Everyone That Follows You
It may seem like the nice thing to do, but you will end up with a timeline that is filled with noise, making it difficult to find and comment on relevant topics. Instead, take a moment to review the profile of a new follower and see if they are tweeting relevant content.
5) Using One Twitter Account For Both Personal and Business
While it is important to let your personality show through your tweets, you likely want to keep business and personal separate. Your family and friends might want to know when you’re out walking the dog or brushing your teeth, but these tweets are not very relevant to your patients. So if you’re using Twitter for personal reasons, create a separate account for your practice. That’s not to say that the occasional personal tweet from the practice account won’t help patients relate to you on a more personal level… just don’t overdo it.
Also, remember that your patients that are following you on Twitter are more on the tech savvy side… let them know you use patient scheduling software , they’ll love it!
Processing your request, Please wait....
