ECONOMISTS SPECULATE THAT REPUTATION will play a major factor in the future economy. A great way to begin shaping your dental practice’s public persona is by sprucing up your social-media pages, such as Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Social media is much more than an easy way to share vacation photos with friends; it’s also a powerful marketing tool for your dental practice that allows you to reach countless people with a minimal investment of time.
Here are three ways you can use your social-media pages to take control of your practice’s reputation and credibility.
Interact with your social media followers
Regularly posting to your social media pages can go a long way in building credibility with both current and potential patients, especially if you take time to respond to reader comments and answer questions. When a visitor on your social media page sees current and interactive posts from you, they are more likely to follow your page.
However, the quality of your social media posts is just as important as your quantity. Studies show that a Facebook page with one or two high-quality posts per day receives 40 percent higher user engagement than a page with three or more posts per day!1
Offer industry-related advice—for free!
Provide occasional tips or advice to your readers totally for free. Internet users are becoming savvier, so you shouldn’t insult your readers by trying to cleverly disguise a sales pitch as free advice. Doing so could negate all of the hard work you’ve done to boost your reputation through social media.
Nielsen reports that 92% of consumers trust media found by word-of-mouth recommendations from friends more than any other form of advertising.2 Offering free advice with no strings attached—like a tip of the week, insight into various dental procedures or services, or a free e-book download on oral health—is a good way to begin earning the trust of your followers.
Share news and developments that impact your industry
By using social media to share dental industry news and developments, you position yourself as the well-informed expert. Keep in mind you only have a few seconds to grab your readers’ attention, so you should use layman’s terms in your post to keep readers engaged.
For example, in the dental business, you might share a story from your blog about the newest cosmetic surgery techniques. However, try to avoid using too much industry jargon. Although the jargon might make you sound smarter, the post won’t be helpful for readers if their eyes glaze over from boredom. You want to be a resource for them to better understand the things they are interested in.
The bottom line: posting engaging and helpful industry-related content on a regular basis allows you to connect with readers and take control of your reputation through social media.
References
1. Mawhinney J. 42 visual content marketing statistics you should know in 2017. Hubspot website. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/visual-content-marketing-strategy. Posted January 3, 2017. Accessed July 1, 2017.
2. Whitler K. Why word of mouth is the most important social media. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2014/07/17/why-word-of-mouth-marketing-is-the-most-important-social-media/ - 3edc06d754a8. Forbes website. Published July 17, 2014. Accessed July 1, 2017.
Sean Hamel is a seasoned dental marketing professional and the founder and CEO of GrowPracticeGrow Dental Marketing (GPG). He leads a team of dental marketing experts focused on driving new patient inquiries in congruence with optimizing recall and reactivation strategies, ensuring intentional and sustained growth and profitability. GPG designs clean, responsive mobile websites and custom content, along with developing video strategy and highly-targeted local marketing campaigns. Sean can be reached at [email protected].
