Why You Must Focus on ROR (Return on Relationships) in 2011

Facebook’s recent interview on 60 Minutes revealed what could be a tsunami in the world of search … Imagine a search engine that feeds you results based on relevant, meaningful, social proof rather than some algorithm Google suggested.  What would this mean to you?  It means that people would find you in search based on what people in their Facebook network think of you.

Search results would be based on those businesses, services and products connected to people in our network.  This is quite profound, because rather than trying to crack Google’s latest algorithm, you’d instead need to ensure that you have many raving fans.  Social capital will become extremely valuable in this situation.  It’s then all about how many people know AND like you.

So, what can you do in preparation for this potential search tsunami?  First and foremost, be sure you have excellent patient relations skills.  Remember people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  Consider getting an “outside set of eyes” to observe you and your team in action.  Now is an ideal time to engage a coach or consultant to help you fine tune and enhance your systems, environment and customer service. Most importantly, coaches hold us accountable for things that we are sometimes too busy to follow through with.

If social search takes off, it’s likely that patients may become even more vocal about what they like—and dislike.  We’ve seen this already, when Facebook recently released their new profile layout … in turn, people began to expand upon their profile information.

With that said, now is the time to get as many quality fans as possible to like your practice Page.   Do you have a strategy or plan in place to help you engage patients on Facebook in 2011? If not, take time to consider what you will continue to do or do differently.

The world of search is moving more toward honest marketing.  Social capital and ROR (Return on Relationships) will become more important than how optimized your website is for Google search.  Those practices who regularly exceed patient’s expectations and who take time to promote their Facebook presence could very well dominate in social search.

Will your practice be found near the top of social search?