You may think you know, but what are dental practices REALLY doing with social media? We have the answers

There's no hotter buzzword (see the June Dental Economics cover above) … or more confusing topic right now in dentistry than "social media." Depending on the dental professional, the mere mention of the subject can make his or her eyes light up, glaze over, or roll back in his or her head.

Our friends at 1-800-DENTIST and the American Association of Dental Office Managers (AADOM) recently surveyed 1,779 dental professionals about everything from online patient reviews to appointment reminders for their "dental marketing in the digital world" report. In this article, we'll take an overview of the social media findings. You can click hereto download the complete survey.

Of those completing the survey, 53.1 percent were dentists while office managers comprised 19.2 percent of the respondents.

Here are some of the interesting findings from the survey ...

** Of the respondents, 56.9 percent said their practice had a current business profile on a Facebook page. However, there was a 17.5 percent difference between those who answered they had a business Facebook page and those who actually monitored it. Simply put, practices are putting up a page and then leaving it alone. They know they need to have a presence on Facebook, but they don't know what to do with it or how to use it effectively.

** The majority of respondents spent less than one hour per week on social media activities, with 26.7 percent spending no time at all and 10 percent not knowing how much time was spent.

** Between now and two years ago, 40.3 percent of respondents say they are spending more time on social media while 37.9 percent say they are spending the same amount of time. Ironically, 50.7 percent of the respondents said they are spending too little time on social media. See the chart below for more information.

To find out more information on how dental practices are marketing in today's digital world, click here to download the complete survey.

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