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Connect With Patients Using Google My Business Question And Answers

FAQs are a popular feature that many websites feature. As a business owner, you want to make sure that potential customers know all about what you have to offer if they’re still researching online, hence the creation of these informative pages.

Google My Business is working to create an online one-stop-shop of information, where users can look up businesses and practices closest to them, find their hours, websites, and phone numbers along with the numerous reviews others users have left. The Questions and Answers feature was just rolled out to iOS users after being available for Android users over the past few weeks.

google my business question and answers hospital

As a doctor or medical practice manager, you’ll want to be sure that potential patients have all the information they need right away – lest they move on to your competitor’s website. Thankfully, the first place prospective patients are likely to land is your Google My Business profile, the platform linked to you and your practice’s names that collects reviews and displays your vital information.

Google My Business has already launched quite a few features this year, like Google My Business Posts which allows business owners to broadcast news, specials, and other offers, directly from their profiles.

Google My Business Posts

This latest feature is another brilliant addition that allows medical business owners to manage expectations and impress potential patients with services offered. Add your most frequently asked questions (and their answers) to let researching patients know if the latest technology or procedure is available in your office.
google my business GMB QA

While the mobile user groups are testing out the feature, it gives the rest of us the time to get up to speed with this new feature and strategize how to make the best use of it and begin implementing it through our mobile devices. That being said, no one is quite sure when business owners will be able to easily access the Questions and Answers feature through their computers the way other features, like Google My Business Posts, are.

Improvements You Can Expect

Up until August 24th, 2017, Google My Business Questions and Answers was only available to businesses who could access Google My Business through their Android phones. Now that it is available to all mobile devices, it’s much easier to begin implementing. However, there are a few things you should know about the Questions and Answers feature its current state.

Notifications

Right now, users are unable to get a notification when a question comes in. In the backend of your Google My Business account, there isn’t a tab dedicated to “Questions and Answers” (yet) that allows you to view what users are asking.

Instead, you’ll have to be logged into your Google My Business account, use your browser to find your business through a Google Search, tap into the “Questions and Answers” section and respond directly through that interface.

It’s safe to say that this functionality will change and become much more user-friendly as Google My Business Questions and Answers becomes a full-fledged feature and is no longer in Beta mode.

Start Planning Now

As a business owner, you know first hand the types of questions that filter through your online platforms or even in person. Is there someone there to take calls after hours? Do you have emergency appointments? Do you provide flu shots in your office without an appointment? What insurances do you accept?

These are all perfect points to add to your Google My Business Questions and Answers section because it gives prospective patients (and even your current ones who are checking in for more information) answers to their most pressing questions all without them needing to navigate through your website (which should also have a FAQ section) or picking up a phone to call you.

By managing the Questions and Answers feature on Google My Business properly, and incorporating it into your overall reputation management strategy, this feature is a way to leverage what you offer against competitors. Monitor this feature (through mobile, for now) and start filling in information and answering questions as they come in – you may just find a few more patients coming through your doors as a result.

Google my business questions and answers new feature 2017

Who should be using Google My Business Questions and Answers?

If you are a medical or healthcare professional, you should have this feature turned on and filled with information once it rolls out to the general population. Because patients will always have questions, they will be able to either view the answers they need or ask it themselves through Google My Business.

This tool not only allows you to input the questions and answers you have encountered most frequently, but it gives users the ability to post questions they want to ask directly to your profile. If you have a great reputation management strategy in place, you will be able to see this question quickly after it is posted and respond directly and publically for everyone’s benefit.

Similarly to how having numerous reviews and a visible history of you responding to these reviews, Google My Business Questions and Answers allows you to demonstrate your dedication to providing your patients with the correct information in a timely manner.

So, start compiling all of the most frequently asked questions you’ve encountered and ask coworkers and staff members the same. Take advantage of these novel features Google is releasing and use them to your advantage by staying ahead of the game and incorporating these tools seamlessly into your patient outreach and education plan.

Garrett Smith

Garrett is the Founder, and Chief Marketer at InboundMD. Garrett has been successfully leading internet marketing campaigns for health care practices across the US for almost a decade. He's a frequent speaker at events, and author of "Book Now! Internet Marketing for Healthcare Practices", and the host of The Practice Marketing Podcast that details how successful practices are winning online.

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