10 Social Media Tips for Your Dental Practice

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1 10 Social Media Tips for Your Dental Practice

2 Social Media 44% of Internet users are look for doctors and other healthcare providers when they search for health information online. Business professionals in any industry stand to benefit from a (quality) social media presence, so if you aren t yet blogging, tweeting, or maintaining a Facebook page, it s time to get started. More than 80% of Internet users in the United States search online for health-related information, and 44% of Internet users are actually looking for doctors and other healthcare providers when they search for health information online*... Are they finding you? Is your social media helping? Your social media strategy should be streamlined and effective; if it is done well, your dental practice will surely reap the benefits. Here are some tips to help you improve the process: *According to a study by the Pew Research Center s Internet & American Life Project

3 1. Be Yourself Show people that you re a real person by being yourself in your social media interactions and posting about topics that you re passionate about. While it s best to stay on topic most of the time, posting occasional updates about funny things your kids said or the beautiful apple pie you baked over the weekend could make you seem more likeable in the eyes of potential customers. And people usually only do business with those they know, like, and trust. 2. Customize Your Social Media Profiles Don t use the same old generic profiles as everyone else. Customize your social media profiles so that they reflect your company s brand image and complement each other. First impressions are as important online as they are in person. Ensuring that your clients are immersed in your brand while they are on your social media pages will encourage brand recall later on.

4 3. Increase Your Exposure with Video Marketing 4. Monitor What s Being Said About Your Brand/Industry One great ways to connect with potential customers, grow your social media following, and rank highly in search engines is to create relevant, entertaining, and informative videos. Create a custom channel on YouTube, upload your videos there, and then share them on social networking sites. (This will also help you gain a competitve edge... most of your competitors haven t made it to this level of social media strategy.) Monitor what customers and potential customers are saying about your company and industry by creating alerts for relevant keywords using a service like Google Alerts. Not only will this help you keep on top of where you re being found online, but it will also keep you in the loop about what s going on in the rest of the dental industry.

5 5. Devote No More Than 30 Minutes A Day To Social Media 6. Maintain Brand Consistency Many small business owners spend a significant amount time on social media in the beginning and then get discouraged because they don t see immediate results. Build a schedule and form a routine. Devote no more than 30 minutes a day to your social media efforts and stick it out for at least a year or two - it takes time to build a successful social media presence. There are tons of social networking sites out there today, which means that your customers can find you in many different ways. They won t be able to find you, however, if your brand isn t consistent across various social networks. Use your company s name as your username on all social networks to ensure that those profiles appear when people search for your company s name on Google and other search engines.

6 7. Combine Different Social Media Tools 8. Ask Customers to Review Your Business Combine different social media tools to maximize their effectiveness. For example, you could connect your Twitter account to Facebook so that your Facebook fans are able to read your tweets. You might even get some new Twitter followers that way. You could also connect your LinkedIn profile to your Wordpress blog so that links to your most recent blog posts appears on your LinkedIn profile. Encourage customers to submit reviews of your business to social review sites, like Yelp and Google+ Local. Don t bribe them though, and make sure you actually listen to what they said! Their feedback is valuable. You can encourage people to submit reviews by placing badges on your company s website or reminding your social media followers of your presence on these review sites.

7 9. Position Yourself As An Expert 10. Get Involved in Online Communities Make your social media content worthwhile for your visitors by providing relevant information to them. Done properly, this will not only help you demonstrate your expertise in the field, but it should also help improve your search rankings. Healthcare tips, fun facts, and product recommendations are just a few things you can offer. Social media is all about community. Consider growing your online community by starting conversations with people on social networks, commenting on popular blogs in your industry, and sharing other people s content via social media. Not only are you expanding your online presence this way, but you might even learn something useful in the process!

8 Grow Your Dental Practice with A Social Media Strategy by efelle media efelle media is a Seattle-based Internet marketing solutions firm that offers affordable, search engine-friendly websites and social media marketing for medical industry professionals. We offer the best, most efficient solution for managing your dentistry website and keeping your patients engaged through social media. We ve helped medical industry professionals around the nation grow their businesses and generate more revenue, and we re confident that we can help you meet your online marketing goals. We can help you with: Internet marketing strategy & best practices Social media page customization Social media tie-ins & website integration Blog marketing & syndication Business branding Patient retention & growth CALL TODAY