I’ve been chewing on this one for a looong while.
The advantages to medical bloggers of, well, blogging. But especially if you’re a busy medpro, who may want nothing more than to promote your practice online, and provide fresh content for your patients.
I could, for example, fire up the Aphex 230 and its assorted attachments and record a show in the spare bedroom I use as my studio. But I’m typing this quietly after the rest of the house is asleep, because I can:
Lesson #1: Blogging is quick, quiet, and can be done from anywhere there’s an Internet connection (including your cell phone). Busy medpros take heed — this post is a blog post, not an audio show.
You can skim the MedSqod home page quickly for interesting headlines — and admit it, your eyes catch on the jpg images — as well as delve deeply via reading. And the speed control knob is in your brain, via how quickly you move your eyeballs. Want to pause to ponder? Look up and off to the right while you cogitate. No pause button necessary:
Lesson #2: Blogging is a full-spectrum visual medium, from the instant and instinctive (images) to the formless and timeless (concept discussions).
If your audience is made up of your rank-&-file patients, you will draw more eyeballs, at least initially, with a visual approach:
Lesson #3: Most folks get 90+% of their info about the world via their eyes. If you’re looking for numbers, you can’t afford to ignore that demographic.
So:
- easier on you
- immediately accessible to your audience
- broadly appealing to the widest number of patients
Why do anything but blog?
The answer: next time, on Podcasting For Medical Professionals.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you. I’d be interested in seeing the comments of doctors in the UK, and others where private practice is not so established, on the benefits of blogging.
Thank you, Anne Marie. So would I — I’m very curious whether blogging to promote one’s medical practice has the same appeal, in countries where the marketing forces and competition models are different.
It is good to read interesting information on your blog. You have covered some good points. Thanks.
Personally, I think that a blog can help one develop a medical practice and that a group blog is the most ideal platform. Involving everyone in the office from nurses, to doctors to billing staff can take some of the load of of a single person and really offer value to patients, staff and other medical professionals. Furthermore, this can be augmented by podcasts as appropriate subject matter presents itself.