Online reputation management is not something that home-based care providers can afford to wear back burners. This is a key point from a recent report from the Truncend Strategy Group.
All businesses need to worry about maintaining their online reputation, but this is especially important for home care providers due to their unique care delivery settings.
“When you're dealing with the intimacy, personalization of someone who comes to your home, and the feelings of your agency about the agency that opens doors for more issues,” Tony Kudner, Chief Strategy Officer at Truncend, told Home Health Care News.
Most providers want to establish a strong online reputation management system, but understanding the best way to achieve this can be difficult.
“The need to manage your reputation online can quickly become overwhelming, especially when you're incorporating reviews and comments about social media platforms across multiple pages,” Jordan Dockery, manager of digital strategy and client services at Truncend, told HHCN. “What is the right tone, what language is the right language to use, and it can cause a bit of a hurdle for the organization.”
Based in Curtis, Ohio, Truncend offers data-driven insights to help home care companies make better business decisions.
Over the years, individuals who have been receiving care services and healthcare employees have increasingly expressed and shared positive recommendations on social media and online review sites when they are unhappy with the organization.
Additionally, 65% of adults use online surveys to learn more about their medical condition. This means that individuals may view online reviews on behalf of official company websites.
“You can read people's reviews in real time, and give your opinion on the care that your organization may receive before you go to the website, before you make a call,” Dockery says. “There's already a lot of information available online about organizations that they may not have control over. You don't necessarily have control over the reviews someone has left on your page.”
Still, providers have control over how they respond to these online comments. This means responding to positive reviews expressing gratitude. It also means dealing with negative reviews in a way that addresses reviewer concerns and provides opportunities to follow up further.
However, providers should not completely ignore online comments.
“If you're ignoring online reviews or ignoring comments on social media, you're making it clear that you're not a responsive organization,” Dockery says. “You want to be committed to being sensitive to those individuals. Feedback is really important and you can identify areas where you may need to look at your care process.”
Overall, providers need to implement internal systems to manage their online reputation. This can appear to be assigning a communication or marketing leader that will stay above online reviews and manage your company's social media profile and presence.
This also means tapping on clinical or operational leaders who can address care-related concerns and HR experts who can respond to employee critics.
Providers should also identify which internet corners the company receives the most feedback. Additionally, the provider must have a playbook that outlines how to respond.
“You don't want to have that panic, 'Oh, we just received this review, I don't know what to do,” Dockery said. “I want a mild response that I can already rely on from the playbook. I want to build that internal infrastructure already, and I know I need to lead to this team member.
