We’ve made it to 2018!
With all of the technology and information changes (that occur on a day to day basis) it’s sometimes hard to look forward and see what’s coming at us.
It’s like driving down the street in your car with hundreds of pedestrians stepping out onto the street as you drive. Your head is whipping to the left and right as you try to watch for each person. There are so many people that you are trying to avoid that you don’t have time to look forward to see the bus coming down the street at you.
To help you look forward and see ‘what’s coming’, I’ve put together my predictions for 2018.
Over the past several years, the use of video has really exploded. It is pretty apparent that video marketing continues to expand in all industries.
Consumers love information. In the health and wellness fields, this is especially true. They want to understand what may be wrong with them and who can solve their problem.
Video, including live video, is expanding at a rapid pace. Technology platforms are implementing ways to make it easier for businesses to create and distribute their videos.
Take Facebook as an example. You can now create a live video feed within Facebook (thats recorded) that can be shared with your audience. It can be watched live or watched later.
The possibilities for this in healthcare are endless. Imagine a provider speaking about a specific topic by video. A potential patient or client can watch this video at home and decide they need care, due to this video. Who do you think that they will choose as a provider? The strong liklihood is the provider that they just watched.
The practices who start first with this process, will be the winners.
In addition to the use of voice technology on your mobile devices, voice technology on home devices is surging. The use of Amazons’ Alexa and Echo or Googles’ Home enables you to search and get answers by simply asking with your voice. Huge numbers of these devices were sold in 2017 and this is just the start.
Envision the future as this. You are sitting at home talking with your spouse. The conversation changes to the fact that your child needs braces for her teeth. You say, “Alexa, who is the best orthodontist near me”? Alexa examines its database of reviews and says, “Dr. Jones is an orthodontist located at 387 Grant Street”. You say, “Alexa, schedule an appointment.” —– Done. A patient just scheduled an appointment with Dr. Jones.
This voice search will be somewhat different than what you may be used to with organic search. Content will drive the data used for voice technology and therefore it will be imperative that local providers create content for themselves (pages, blogs, etc). This content should be created in a way that takes voice search into account. For example, a post titled “How to relieve tooth pain”, would be great for a dentist.
There is no question that one of the issues that we deal with today is fake online reviews. Although the platforms are getting better, they are not perfect. This means that some fake reviews get published on sites like Google, which can hurt a business unfairly.
However, new technologies are being created that have the ability to better determine fake vs. real reviews. Interstingly, I believe that blockchain technology (the same technology that runs Bitcoin) may erradicate fake reviews in the future.
Fake reviews are damaging to everyone. The major platforms are taking a hard stance on fake reviews and any business caught creating fake reviews for themselves will certainly be banned from that platform.
Most of us have gone to a website and a popup shows up asking us if there is anything they can help with. Now, sometimes there is actually a person behind that chat and sometimes there isn’t.
Chatbots are automated systems that enable conversations to occur between the consumer and an automated software. Does that freak you out a little?
What is amazing is that these chatbots are getting better and better. In the beginning, they could only perform small specific functions. That was then. Now, they are advanced to the point that they can actually have full conversations with the consumer. Some are so good that you would never know that you were talking to a system as compared to an actual person!
These chatbot software platforms are recognizing typed words and customizing their conversations based upon responses. In other words, they are much better than canned responses.
Chatbots will continue to become more intelligent and more businesses will use them, assisting their staff at answering questions, providing information and more.
Marketing continues to narrow in that businesses have the ability to become much more specific to their targeted audiences. Old ads on radio or in newspapers targeted everyone in an area, whether they were a good match or not.
Today, the playing field is different and continues to push marketing into a hyperlocal focus. This is why it’s vital that you establish a strong and strategic presence for your business in the online world. Patients and clients are able to search in a much more refined way to find and learn about your services (or your competitions services)!
Platforms continue to move this direction. As an example, Google My Business has recently enabled a new feature of posting on Google My Business. So, posting directly on one of your most important properties is now available to attract those local prospects.
There it is. My predictions for 2018.
This should be a fun year with changes around every corner. But, remember this. There has never been a time in history that has offered more ability for any business to connect with their prospects and community.
Now is the time for YOU to take advantage of it.
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