Initial impressions are everything for a dental practice. If potential patients can find trustworthy reviews about your practice, they’ll use the reviews to decide whether they should give you a call. This is where online reputation management (ORM) plays an enormous role for dentists and their practices. ORM ensures that when potential patients find your practice online, they have a great first impression and feel like they can trust you before they even step foot in your practice.
There are four ways that a dental office can make sure its online reputation is as good as it can be. Online reviews, reputation management tools, social media, and search engine optimization (SEO) all help build trust for your potential patients. Here, I’ll focus on online reviews.
The foundation of every dental practice is building trust with patients. Word-of-mouth marketing continues to be the best way for dentists to grow in their communities, but today’s word-of-mouth marketing is happening online with Google and Facebook reviews. Having positive online reviews is one of the best ways to make your practice stand out from the competition. Nearly 90% of consumers use the internet to find information about a business. With many people going online to search for dental information, it’s important for dentists to develop a strong social media presence.
How does a dentist go about getting lots of online reviews? The good news is that it’s not as hard as many dentists think. It’s as simple as having a strategy in place and training your team about reviews. These tips will kickstart your online review efforts.
Tip 1: Make it effortless for patients to find the right reviews page
If you’re like most dentists, you know about it’s important to have reviews on sites that matter, such as Google and Facebook. Encourage your current patients to leave a Google or Facebook review by making it easy for them. You don’t want to miss out on a great review just because one of your patients can’t find where to leave it.
Ensure that your Google My Business profile and Facebook pages are updated with the correct information about your practice. This includes a current profile picture, phone number, address, and website address. Keeping your review sites updated with accurate and detailed information not only helps current patients know they’re on the right page, but also attracts new patients.
Tip 2: Ask specific patients to write reviews on Facebook or Google
You might ask, "Do my patients really care enough about my practice to take time to leave a review?" The answer is yes! You might be surprised at how many patients are happy to leave you a brilliant review. The trick is to ask them while they’re still in your practice. Look at your schedule for the day and choose one or two patients, then ask them to write the review while they’re still in your chair. Many patients look at their smartphones while waiting for the dentist, so it’s the perfect time for them to write a review.
Dental software is extremely valuable for increasing a practice's online presence and growing referrals. In fact, Google My Business users see an average one-star increase when they ask new patients for reviews. Always be sure to thank patients for helping!
Tip 3: Use online review software
Use software to send review requests. This allows your team to build a positive reputation and gain more reviews online without wasting a lot of their precious time. Using dental reputation management software improves the positive perception of your practice and prevents your team from getting burned out, yet it still gets the job done.
Dental review software makes it simple to ask for reviews by sending automated texts or emails with links that direct patients to Google, Facebook, and HealthGrades. Your patients receive a text message or email that allows them to click on a link to your practice profile. Some practices have trouble getting reviews on the correct profiles because patients get confused and leave reviews in the wrong place. Ensure that you don't miss out on valuable reviews because patients don't know where to leave them. These reviews will give potential patients a good idea of what they can expect from you and your team, so you want the information to be trustworty.
My Social Practice’s reviews product makes it effortless for your patients to leave you a great review. These can be written on their mobile device with just a few taps. It also saves the office the time it takes to track down patients' contact information to email, text, or call them about their appointment experience and asking them to write a review.
I hope this article helps you understand how to get more reviews and use them in your dental marketing endeavors. If it all sounds intimidating and you want help, let us know. The team of dental reviews experts at My Social Practice are ready and waiting to partner with you to create a stellar online reputation management and review plan that drives new-patient phone calls.
Adrian Lefler is the vice president of My Social Practice and manages the dental marketing team. If you would like to book him to speak at your event, you you may do so on the company’s dental marketing expert page.
