One form of marketing a medical practice online that’s slated to see double-digit growth over the next few years is Google Maps, often claimed to be “the next YellowPages” by techies and online marketing pros.

It’s conceivable the conventional phone book will fade away as local search utilities like Google Maps take over. I mean really, how much do you use your local phone book to find something you need?

You may be thinking that computers will lead this revolution, but wait. With the rise of SmartPhones like the Blackberry or IPhone, you’re going to see many people relying on these Internet accessible devices to find things they need…perhaps when they’re just out and about running errands.

If you’re currently using the YellowPages to market your medical practice, this signifies a transition in how people find you. If your website/listing doesn’t appear in Google Maps and elsewhere, you are potentially losing out on a lot of potential patients.

To demonstrate, a 35-year old tech savvy attendee of an online marketing/SEO training course flipped out his Google Maps utility on his smart phone. With the device’s GPS feature, the phone could tell the person their location and the proximity of businesses that have what they’re looking for, which they searched for using keyword phrases.

So if you operate an urgent care clinic in Paducah, Kentucky and someone in the area needed your services, they can simply take their smart phone and find the closest facilities to their current location.

If you’re currently using the YellowPages or other outbound marketing channels to market your medical practice, it would be beneficial for you to at least consider the opportunities that lie in waiting in the ‘local search’ revolution.

…requires an understanding of your target demographics!!!

Whenever you’re marketing a product or service, understanding who you’re targeting is one of the first things you need to determine. Marketing your medical practice online using social media is no different.

Merriam-Webster defines demography as “the statistical study of human populations especially with reference to size and density, distribution and vital statistics.” Demographic characteristics include things like race, class, education level, employment status, home ownership or any characteristic that can be used to describe someone.

Online marketers can take data from these types of studies to determine their target market. Understanding your target market is a critical part of finding the social media outlets you use to market your medical practice online. Are targeting men or women? What’s their age range?  What’s their background?

Once you have this information, you can use it to find social media networks that cater to that age group. Wikipedia has a great resource that lists major social networks and also provides each one’s description/focus, estimated number of registered users, registration requirements among other things.

Other great resources are available that list social networking sites and their target demographic.

Find all you can on different social media networks and find which appeal to the same people you’re targeting. This way, you can make the most of marketing your medical practice using social media, which is a novel way to attracting new patients to your practice.

Part of successfully harnessing the Internet to market your medical practice online means learning about the new ways prospective patients are using to locate medical services.

Twitter has become a popular tool for marketing online – many large companies like Dell and Best Buy are using it to successfully reach prospective customers. While it isn’t a wholesale solution, Twitter can be a quick and easy way to develop an online following and build your brand.

Below are five ways you can successfully utilize Twitter for online medical marketing.

1. Research prospective customers/patients

Perhaps before embarking on cold calling or other more traditional marketing activities, use Twitter and other social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to research what your prospective clients are saying. Understanding their needs will go a long way and put you ahead of the game.

2. Stay in tune with industry news

Twitter can also be valuable in learning about what’s going on in medicine. More and more industries, research institutions and practices are using Twitter to update their activities in real time. Find out about results from a recent research study or new ways you can help patients with their ailments.

3. Find the best time to call or contact someone

Calling everyday at 9:00 can get pretty mundane and annoying for a prospective customer. While you may not reach who you’re looking for, the chances of talking someone goes up if you can get an idea of when they’re in the office and not out on vacation, sick or in a meeting.

4. Get honest feedback on your services and pitch

If you’ve been developing unique site content or after you see a patient, logon to Twitter and see what they’re saying to their friends about it. This is especially useful since you will more likely see unvarnished critique of where your site and services are strong and where they can be improved.

5. Stay in touch with prospects as they move around

Another useful function of Twitter is its portability – you can easily maintain contact with patients and other prospects as they move jobs, insurance companies or other medical specialists. Being there will reassure patients they’re being taken care of – they will remember this when talking to their friends.

Learn more about harnessing Twitter to successfully market yourself and your services online. Read this informative post from HubSpot and checkout their webinar as well, Twitter for Marketing and PR.