In the past, excellent patient care was enough to earn word of mouth referrals for pediatric practices. Aside from directory listings, most doctors didn't need to market their practices at all. Parents would simply ask their friends for a doctor recommendation or choose from an insurance company's list of providers. Today, parents still ask for recommendations, but they're turning to social media for the information.
According to Pew Research, 74 percent of internet users are on social media. Over 1.4 billion people log on to Facebook each day, including 75 percent of parents. Of those, nearly half look for information about...