subject: Social Media Speaker: 10 Ways Dental Practices can use Social [print this page] A few years ago blogging was extremely popular. It has declined in popularity
recently despite the fact that it remains a popular social media tool.
Blogs provide a number of business benefits, however, many blogs dont get
results because they are not created sI know that a lot of small businesses and practices are interested in social
media marketing to grow their business. I speak with thousands of small
business owners a year (probably just like you) who hear about social media
but don't know exactly how they can get value from social media.
I have worked with many of these business owners to help them find success in
social media, and I know that dental practices can get results using social
media marketing. I know first hand that social media can provide a better ROI
than traditional marketing methods. Social Media marketing can deliver
results when used strategically and with the right plan.
Here are 10 of the most common ways that your practice can use social media
to grow their business:
1) Share Deals and Promotions on Twitter
Twitter is a powerful way to share deals and promotions with your patients
(and future patients)! Big companies like Dell Outlet have sold millions of
dollars through Twitter, but it works for small companies too. Naked Pizza,
a small pizza store in New Orleans had their highest ever-sales day from a
Twitter promotion. Vista Prints sold $25,000 directly through Twitter in
their first year. Find and connect with your target audience and give them
irresistible offers, such as free teeth whitening, on Twitter.
2) Share news and Updates on Facebook
Don't have a fan page yet? If you have fans or patients who are passionate
about your practice, you should have a fan page. Use it to connect with
prospective patients and keep them up to date on your new products or
services. I was recently getting my car fixed and found that the mechanic
frequents the same neighborhood bar as I do. He told me that he checks out
their Facebook page every day to see what food and drink specials they have.
This bar has a creative new drink special for Happy Hour every day and a
different free food item available.
Whether is it food and drink specials, new services in your practice, new
practice news or regulations, a Facebook fan page can be a powerful resource
to keep your patients up to date. Over 1/3 of people who are fans of
practices on Facebook are fans for this reason to stay up to date.
3) Network on LinkedIn Groups
Lots of small practices as well as business professionals grow their
practices or businesses by networking with people. Meeting people and
sharing helpful knowledge drives business over time. People do business with
people they know, like and trust.
LinkedIn groups allow you connect with others based on a shared interest.
You can join a group and contribute to discussions or share interesting news.
By using LinkedIn to build relationships you can attract new patients over
time.
4) Connect with Prospects with a Webinar
Webinars are becoming increasingly popular ways to connect with prospects and
provide value to potential patients. Webinars are virtual and web-based. A
webinar is typically hosted around a specific topic and people sign up, call
in and login on their computer and they can watch and listen to a live
session on a specific topic.
Webinars are very popular in categories that are high-information. Most
B-to-B business fall in to this categoy, but it also works for consumer
products and services. If people are looking for knowledge or information
about some special service your practice offers, a webinar can be a powerful
tool to share information with them and position your practice as a leader in
the industry.
5) Be a Thought Leader with a Blog
Blogs are very popular for a variety of reasons (we'll discuss one more of
them later in this post). One of the reasons is that a blog can establish
you as an expert and thought leader in your industry. If people trust you
and see you as knowledgeable they are more likely to join your practice.
Run a gym? Share workout tips. Real Estate Agent? Share posts highlighting
the people and events in your neighborhood. Restaurant? Show how you make
signature drinks or menu items. For a dentist practice, share patient success
stories or new procedures offered exclusively at your practice as well as
some tips about oral hygiene.
6) Connect with Patients and Prospects with an email newsletter
So maybe *technically* this isn't social media, but it is relatively simple
and cheap for most practices to create a newsletter. Constant Contact and
MailChimp offer services for under $25 a month and are easy to use.
An email newsletter can keep your patients and prospects up to speed on news,
deals and promotions. Email remains the preferred communication method of
most people (1:10 preference over social media) to stay up to date.
7) Join an online community
There are online communities for almost everything these days. Seek out a
discussion forum or community that is specific to your business and
participate!
You can connect with patients (or potential patients) and really learn about
them. What are they interested in? What do they talk about? What do they
want and need in a dental practice? Participating and listening to
communities that are comprised of your target market can improve your
practice and also lead to sales as you build relationships.
8) Monitor and Respond to your Reviews
There are many business review sites from product reviews on amazon to
restaurant and store reviews on yelp! to complaints on The Ripoff Report.
For dentists, RateADentist.com is a site that offers a place for patients to
provide reviews of their dentist. Whatever your business line, chances are
there are review sites that are relevant. Even Facebook has included reviews
on fan pages. Google has reviews in their listings.
Look for and respond to reviews (both good and bad). Saying thanks to a good
review can build an evangelist and encourage word-of-mouth. Responding to a
negative review can help clarify the situation. Showing that you care about
negative reviews and plan to take action shows your side of the situation to
the hundreds of people who view the review.
9) Get Found on Search Engines with a Blog
Another great reason to start a blog is to get traffic from search engines.
Because blogs are content rich (you typically create content for them on a
regular basis) search engines give traffic to sites with blogs.
In almost anything that you search for you'll find a number of blogs show
up in search results. If people find your practice through search a blog can
increase the probability that you will show up in results. This leads to
traffic and (hopefully) new patients.
10) Generate Awareness with a Video
Videos can be great ways to connect with your audience. A picture is worth a
thousand words and a video is worth a million! Video is a great way to share
information whether it is a video showing before & after interviews with
patients, customers talking about their satisfaction or a video demo of your
special service videos are powerful tools.
Create a video for your practice to make a deeper connection with your
audience. There are many different creative ways to use and share videos.
This list isn't exhaustive it is simply a handful of the tactics and
tools that are included in the Social Media Action Pack.
How are you using social media for your practice?
trategically or written correctly for
the web. In working with businesses on their blogs there are a number of
simple strategies and tactics that mean the difference between success and
failure.
Blogs are definitely worth the investment as they can provide immense value
to businesses.
Position yourself as a thought leader. A blog is a powerful way to position
yourself and your brand as a thought leader in your industry. By sharing
your thoughts and views or unique knowledge you can be perceived as an expert
in your area. Most businesses are great at something and sharing your
knowledge is a great way to showcase this. Showing your expertise through a
blog builds trust in you and your business.
Search Engine Traffic. Probably one of the best reasons to start a blog is
for search engine traffic. Search engines are like blogs because they have a
lot of content that is updated frequently. This means that when people search
for words related to your product or your blog posts, you are more likely to
show up at the top of the results. This means more traffic for your website
and ultimately more sales!
To share news. Most small businesses dont have a fancy PR firm or a press
page. That doesnt mean they dont have news! A blog is a great way to
share news about your business in an honest, own and personable way.
Get customer feedback. Blogs can generate two-way conversations between a
company and their customers. Leverage your blog to ask for customer
feedback. You can get feedback on current items or have your customers help
you build new products or services. When I worked at a startup we used our
blog to generate discussions around what our new products should be. Our
blog gave us an opportunity to share what we are working on and give our
customers an opportunity to tell us what they thought. Our blog comments
also helped us to develop our policies, as we got considerable customer
feedback and suggestions from our readers.
Connect with customers on content. Whatever your business line there are
subject areas related to your product that your audience is passionate about.
Zappos, a company that sells shoes and clothes online runs a fashion blog.
They know that frequent shoppers on their site are interested in fashion
trends. So, their blog provides information and updates on fashion. Are
there subjects that are related to your business that your customers are
passionate about? A blog is a great way to make a connection based around
that shared interest.
Show you are human. A blog can show the human side of your business.
Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust. By
posting personal content they feel like they know you. It builds a personal
connection. For example, people connect with me over being Canadian,
or drinking insanely too much coffee. They like you because the blogs show
the nice and personable side of you. You share their interests, say nice
things, comment and respond. They trust you because you say smart things
about your product or subject area which builds trust over time. The human
element also builds trust.
Provide context about your business. Prior to making a purchase most people
do some research online. If it is a big purchase they want to know if you
are legitimate, provide a good product and know your stuff. Often, the
corporate website is canned and shiny, but doesnt provide real,
transparent and authentic seeming information. The blog can do this. A blog
can show the real side of the company and build the trust that ultimately
leads to purchases. It provides more context about you as a business and
your products.
Social Media Speaker: 10 Ways Dental Practices can use Social
