Form a Bridge Across all Communication Tools: About 60% of people are visual learners. By treating all forms of communication with the same care, imagination, and mark, you can direct your marketing efforts as well as help individuals relate any mail, bills, statements, packing slips, or postcards that they receive back to your practice. By having a design that is steadfast among all of your forms of communications, you can form a bridge between your mailings, your website, your social media sites and any other form of communication that you utilize. Small changes often can have the biggest impact. By altering your logo placement on your communication forms, brightening your graphics, or by updating where your main message appears, you can successfully catch the eyes of your patients and unite your marketing strategies across the board.

Make Information Readily Available: Whether you already have an established practice or are just starting one, having information that engages your customers and enhances the dialogue on your social media sites is vital. By regularly communicating with your secretaries and hygienists in regard to frequently asked questions from patients, you can preempt several calls as well as add incremental value to your conversations on your social media sites. By making the most of your website and other forms social media, you can be sure to make the most of your marketing and allow communication to be readily and easily accessible to your patients.

Use Targeted Content: Patients can come in a wide variety of ages and backgrounds. Dentists can use bills, appointment reminders and even notices as opportunities to create a more educated patient: someone who recognizes the value of the relationship with a dentist-or dental practice-that keeps him or her informed. By investing in customized content that is correlated to particular aspects of a patient’s profile, you can engage in their personal interests and cater to individual needs. For example, if you are sending out an appointment reminder for a child’s appointment (whether is is via internet or postage mail), including a few youth dental tips or a fun dental cartoon picture will engage your patient all while adding dynamic content and value. Over time, your libraries will expand to cover a range of diverse topics pertaining to individuals no matter what their ages or needs might be.

Cross Promote To Save Both Time and Money: In today’s economy, often times marketing budgets are tight. However, both time and money can be saved by thinking across various lines. Bills, websites, social media sites, and other forms of communication can all be used to promote as many of your services and amenities as possible. By using your very best material and cross promoting it across all boards, you can allow patients to see what sets your practice apart from the rest. Whether you provide a procedure that most dentists don’t, utilize rare or the latest technology, or perhaps provide care and services that go above and beyond what patients are accustomed to, promoting what people are interested across marketing lines can help drive attention to your practice. The truth is, one individual person who lives in the city sees roughly 5,000 ads per day! This means that patients are being swarmed with marketing messages each and every day. The fragmentation of media only increases the burden on practices to avoid marketing a service or amenity to someone who already knows about. If you allow people to realize that you care about their personal interests, you can hold their attention for a longer amount of time as well as open the door for new prospective patients as well.

Understand Dynamics: Patients  in our modern day society are beginning to have better and more readily available means to communication with their dentists. Social media tools allow people to respond to promotions, understand what new amenities your practice is offering, and see what other patients are saying. By reexamining your customer care strategy, you can see which patients are most likely to leave as well as which patients are more likely to promote your practice by telling their acquaintances or friends about what you offer. By developing a 360 degree view of your patient demographics, you can discover who your marketing goals should actually be directed towards to improve relationships as well as understand your patients on a more informative level. Personalized communication coinciding with a combination of good information, high quality design, and appropriate understanding of patient expectations can provide a wonderful baseline for a newer and better marketing strategy.

Comment and let us know what your marketing strategy entails!

If you are interested in marketing strategies or would like more information on how you can craft effective marketing campaigns, please visit our partner site PROABC. Also, if you are interested in creating a new website, Dental Web Center is a wonderful resource. Their websites will enhance your professional image, experience, and qualifications with an exceptional internet presence and a world-class dental marketing tool.

Keep in mind every business and audience is different.  In general, however, most people don’t want to hear from their health care provider that often, unless you have a really unique community (and if you do, let us know because we’d like to check you out:)).

Twenty posts can drown out other posts in a newsfeed.  Facebook is meant primarily for fun and socializing.  Seeing ten or more posts at a time on periodontal disease, root canals, or flossing can be frustrating for some folks.  When you post too much, too often, you risk having your future posts hidden.

Most importantly, you could also scare off potential new “Likes”.  Once people see how often you post, they’ll likely decline.  One possible indicator that you may be posting too much is a flat community, or having to heavily incentivize people to join your page.

We’ve reached the point where we want to know how often we’ll get emails if we subscribe.  Likewise, especially as Facebook pages become more common, people will scrutinize what you are posting and how often before they’ll “Like” your page.

Facebook marketing is all about exploring what works for you and your community.  Even if you’re really excited and have a lot to say, try to stage your posts out over time.  The benefit is that you’ll have plenty of content to use and you won’t have to struggle to brainstorm future posts.

How many posts do you think is appropriate per day, week or month?

The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media. Find more about Dental Relationship Marketing on Rita’s blog.

The most important thing to consider is the commodity of dental care available on the market today. It’s become easy to replicate digital x-rays, a modern reception room, flexible hours or cool staff uniforms—what’s impossible to replicate is your genuine self.  Showing a bit of your personality can go a long way in building trust and relationships.  The added bonus is you’ll give patients something easy to remember (and fun to talk about) when they refer to you.  

Some of the most successful dentists I know have learned it’s okay to share a bit of their personality with patients.  They may love dogs, fishing, golf, music, travel, volunteering, etc.  Whatever their passion, they confidently show a part of their authentic self. This in turn comes across to patients as genuine, real and trustworthy.

What better way to easily connect with someone than through shared interests?  For example, over 3 billion dollars are expected to be spent on pet services in the United States alone this year––we Americans love our pets.  The love of dogs is just one example of a personal interest you might share with your patients.

Share your personality, interests, and authentic self with patients via newsletter tidbits, Facebook posts or tweets … weave it into your marketing communication.  Allow your truly unique traits to shine through.  By doing so, you’ll likely attract more ideal patients.  Remember, patients that find you genuine and personable are more apt to quickly build trust with you––which in turn affects case acceptance and referrals.  What does your marketing communication say about you?

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media. Find more about Dental Relationship Marketing on Rita’s blog.

The problems arose when Facebook switched from its default platform of “All private until made public” to “All public until made private”.  This switched all profiles to a public setup until the user actually changed the privacy settings.  At that time I encouraged everyone to evaluate their privacy settings, and make sure that they fall in line with their plans.  This is also why I discourage the use of a personal profile for business use.  It is very hard to maintain privacy while advertising your business from the same profile.

Facebook has also incorporated instant personalization with partner websites like Yelp.  The instant personalization pulls profile information from Facebook while you search Yelp in order to give more pertinent search info.  Privacy advocates see this instant personalization as a threat, and invasion of privacy.  Facebook is also making more information from profiles and posts visible on the internal Facebook search engine, as well as third party search engines.  This is a great concern for the Facebook population, because they feel that their posts are somewhat private.

The truth is, this is all nothing new.  Google stores every email sent through its GMail platform, and indexes the content of your emails to provide targeted advertising.  Have you ever received an email about a dental procedure and noticed that the ads on the side are all about dentistry?  Google also has a picture of my house on the Internet, and various other facts.  Even if you don’t pursue an Internet presence, it is already there.

There are ways to protect yourself.  Facebook is totally voluntary.  You do not have to have a profile if you don’t want one.  You also don’t have to provide every tidbit of information about yourself.  The old expression garbage in, garbage out definitely applies here.  Only post information that you want others to see.  Be sure to use the privacy settings given to you.  Take the time to evaluate each setting, and make sure it is to your liking.  Facebook recently added a new privacy feature to address public searches.

This feature will allow you to exclude your profile in search queries.

The other new feature you will see when you log in will be the computer registration.  Computer registration is meant to prevent phishing attacks, by authenticating log ins.  Many of you have probably been the victim of, or seen phishing attacks.  Here is one that I recently received.

It is the typical phishing attack.  It has a funny comment that says something like “Is this you” or “Check out this funny picture” then a shortened link to obscure its true target.  Once you visit the link, the scammers will piggy back onto your account and send out similar messages to your friends.  A nice virus or malware will probably attack your computer also.  The computer registration will help prevent these attacks from piggy backing your account, so don’t take them lightly.

Now we have established that all of these privacy changes are bad, RIGHT??  Not necessarily.  The whole goal of putting your dental practice on Social Media is to gain visibility.  The privacy changes, for all of their faults, are actually a plus for small businesses.  The changes allow for mundane posts from your fan page to populate search results and be seen by more people.   They also allow you access to the social consciousness, and find out what people are thinking around you.  Instant personalization as seen on Yelp.com can make it easier for people to share your listing.  It allows for more content to cross the Internet/social media gap.   So while you may want to shore up your personal profile, let your public fan page fly.  Enjoy the features that may make you a social media dental star.

Be sure to become a fan of Social Media for Dentists on Facebook.    http://facebook.com/socialmediadentist.

Jason T. Lipscomb is a general dentist in Richmond, VA and a co-author of Social Media for Dentists.  Dr. Lipscomb has developed the methods used by Social Media for Dentists after several years of private practice.  He maintains a unique perspective on dental marketing by operating two busy practices and researching social media practices.  Social Media for Dentists is one of the only dental specific Social Media marketing books.  Social Media for Dentists L.L.C. offers hands on training to dentists all over the country.

Many of you who have used Facebook have already experienced FBML in use.  Almost all of the apps and games (Farmville and Mafia Wars) use FBML.  Many other big brands like BestBuy, McDonalds, and Coca Cola use FBML to customize their Facebook pages and give them rich graphic content.  FBML is not just for big brands like these.  Dentists can also use FBML to create mini websites within their Facebook page, and improve a visitor’s experience there.  FBML can allow visitors to make an appointment, get directions, or fill in a email contact form right on your Facebook page.

So what is FBML?  I am sure the majority of you out there have a web page or at least have visited one.  Many of you also know that HTML is the backbone of these websites.  HTML is the code that is used to assemble websites from pictures and text, and tells where to place them all to create a functioning website.  In simple terms, FBML is the HTML of Facebook.  Facebook is obviously based in HTML, but it has a lot of interesting features.  FBML allows a designer to easily change HTML within Facebook by using a simple code.  The results allow Facebook to have interesting graphics, tools, and games that interact with its users.

How do I get started with FBML?  We give a quick starter about FBML in our book “Social Media for Dentists” , and I recently posted a “Make an appointment button” feature on our blog (socialmediadentist.com/blog).  These will show you how to get FBML on your Facebook page, and to get started with a simple exercise.  Once you have FBML activated on your page, the possibilities are endless.  The best way to use FBML is to create a custom landing page.  It is important to have a call to action, collect information, and get the visitor to make an appointment.  You can have up to 9 FBML based tabs on your Facebook page.  I often suggest to have a welcome page then address other topics on subsequent pages.

FBML is the future of Facebook pages.  Contact us at http://socialmediadentist.com or email me at jason@socialmediadentist.com for more information about custom Facebook pages.

Jason T. Lipscomb is a general dentist in Richmond, VA and a co-author of Social Media for Dentists.  Dr. Lipscomb has developed the methods used by Social Media for Dentists after several years of private practice.  He maintains a unique perspective on dental marketing by operating two busy practices and researching social media practices.  Social Media for Dentists is one of the only dental specific Social Media marketing books.  Social Media for Dentists L.L.C. offers hands on training to dentists all over the country.

If you don’t like Facebook and you think Twitter is a waste of time, perhaps you’ll still explore it … for business purposes. Let’s say you know your clients or customers are spending a lot of time in social media, so you decide you must explore it.  Do so with caution or consider enlisting the help of a professional to help you co-manage your efforts.

Here is a real life example of what not to do. This is an “active” Facebook Page that hasn’t been updated since 2009.  It belongs to a healthcare provider.  This message is posted in the bio section of their Facebook wall:

DISCLAIMER

WE DO NOT CHECK FACEBOOK OR TWITTER ON A REGULAR BASIS! SHOULD YOU NEED TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT, OR HAVE A QUESTION FOR ONE OF THE DOCTORS PLEASE CALL OUR OFFICE AT … THE PRACTICE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO DECLINE, DELET

The word delete is cut off.  Whoever set this copy up did not even take the time to ensure their entire message posted.  This Page represents what is probably a perfectly good healthcare provider in very poor light.  The message implies, “We’re here on Facebook, but we don’t want to be. Just call us if you need to.”

At the end of the day, if you don’t want to be on Facebook or Twitter, don’t.   Marketing is most effective when you invest time, money and energy in options you believe in.

Most importantly, social marketing is not a postcard, it’s not an ad in the newspaper, or a few sentences printed in the phone book.  Social marketing is a living document that offers you the opportunity to illustrate your practice essence—for better or worse.

What do you want your Facebook Page to say about you and your practice?  What does it really say?

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media. Find more about Dental Relationship Marketing on Rita’s blog.

Don’t expect your Facebook community to grow on it’s own. Many practices have an influx of admirers when they open their page. There is excitement, and the team may ask family and friends to join … However, in order to keep your patient base growing over time, you’ll need a plan in place.

What is your strategy? Are you posting willy-nilly “when you have time?” Do you have a plan in place for inviting patients to participate? According to Facebook, businesses that promote their Page off-Facebook tend to see a 20% or greater increase in connections. In fact, Facebook itself is said to have recently issued window decals to select local storefront businesses <http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/facebook-window-decals/> .

There is benefit in coordinating your offline marketing to Facebook. Be creative in your efforts.  Include your Facebook links on signage, hardcopy newsletters, postcards … consider events or a “Facebook Friday” in your office.  Wear special Facebook t-shirts or buttons and have fun with it (only if “fun” suits your practice branding and personality of course:)).

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media. Find more about Dental Relationship Marketing on Rita’s blog.

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media. Find more about Dental Relationship Marketing on Rita’s blog.

Consider the time involved and whether you want to maintain a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube or if it makes more sense to begin with just one account.  
There will be time involved to plan what will be posted on your behalf and how to maximize the benefits of your social programs. You’ll also want to think about how often you’d like to post.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can “wing it” or “it’s free”… unless you or your team have free time to spare on a regular basis.

Have you read the article 10 common social media mistakes <http://econsultancy.com/blog/5684-10-common-social-media-mistakes> ? The article is written by Patricio Robles, tech reporter at Econsultancy. Several points in the article are so important, I’ve decided to review several key “mistakes” one at a time and recommend solutions.

Article excerpt:

“Signing up for a Twitter account and Facebook Page, for instance, may not cost any money, but managing them (and managing them well) doesn’t magically happen without an investment that can be quantified in dollars and cents. Social media will always require somebody’s time and may require that certain corporate resources be allocated differently. Businesses can’t ignore these costs when planning their social media strategies and evaluating what they’re delivering..”

Rita Zamora is a relationship-focused dental marketer, specializing in referral marketing, patient relations, case acceptance and social media for general and specialty practices.  Rita developed her referral marketing expertise working hands-on in specialty and general dentistry practices. She is the author of the ebook The Referral System How-To Guidebook For Dentists. With over sixteen years experience in dentistry, Rita has trained, coached and motivated dentists and teams in marketing, patient relations, communication and social media. Find more about Dental Relationship Marketing on Rita’s blog.

It is important for dentists to get in and be active now.  Dentists often try to get the URL yourcitydentist.com (i.e. dallasdentist.com or detroitdentist.com) because these are the major keywords used to search for a dentist on Google.  The URL is the highest point in the website structure, and is the first thing a search engine crawls.  Dentists need to log on and claim their user names now to boost their web presence and also to keep their identity out of the hands of others.  Be sure to claim your name on the big three search engines Google, Bing and Yahoo.  Claim your user names on the big social media sites as well.  Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, and Flickr.  Facebook will allow you to claim a URL for a personal account, but be careful not to drive business traffic to your personal profile unless you intend to do so.  A custom URL for a Facebook fan page will require at least 25 fans to grab the URL.  Consider the same parameters when choosing a social media profile name as you would choosing a name for your website.  YouTube and Flickr may not seem like major players in the social media game, but they are the darlings of their respective owners, Google and Yahoo.  Well worded submissions to either will contribute to added web exposure.

Jason T. Lipscomb is a general dentist in Richmond, VA and a co-author of Social Media for Dentists.  Dr. Lipscomb has developed the methods used by Social Media for Dentists after several years of private practice.  He maintains a unique perspective on dental marketing by operating two busy practices and researching social media practices.  Social Media for Dentists is one of the only dental specific Social Media marketing books.  Social Media for Dentists L.L.C. offers hands on training to dentists all over the country.