DentalPlanet » dentists

Social Media Etiquette for Dental Professionals – Mind Your Post Frequency

DentalPlanet — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:00:02 +0000

Would you send someone ten or twenty emails in a row? I’ve recently seen several examples of multiple Facebook business page posts blasted out one right after another. Twenty posts is far more than most people want to receive from their dentist in one day …

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.

Choosing the Right custom URL

DentalPlanet — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:41:57 +0000

Ok, so social media is the new buzz word right now. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. All of the major brands are endorsing placement on Twitter an Facebook, and spending millions on their presence there. Many dentists are following suit but, many others are reticent to join in. Dentists are often called slow adapters, but now is not the time to be slow when it comes to social media. Whether you realize it or not, social media is going to be a big part of the marketing framework for dentists down the road. Now is the time to get some involvement in the social media game.
Why is it so important to get involved now? We are in the midst of the second biggest Internet land rush in the past two decades. Anyone who has tried to get that perfect name for their web address knows that most of the really good ones are already taken. Many were taken years ago by those who had the foresight to snatch up prime addresses which were in limited supply. These web addresses become available once and a while, but are often snapped up quickly. Many of these sites are held by squatters, who sit on the URL until the bidder with the correct price comes along. There are thousands of “phantom” dental practice websites out there with no phone number, address, or doctor. They may look like a website for a functioning practice, but they are really just a billboard. This practice is now extending to the world of social media. Many of the good user names and URLs are being snatched up once again. The user name for many profiles determines the URL of your social media web space, for example my Twitter address twitter.com/socialmediadent. Facebook allows users to create a custom URL for personal profiles and fan pages with more than 25 fans. (facebook.com/socialmediadentist) Many of these user names are once again being held by squatters, while many are occupied by real people. Many of the prime names are going quickly.

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.

When to act like a social media “expert” and when not to

DentalPlanet — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:19:55 +0000

Social media “experts” are popping up all over the place. They seem to use similar modalities when attracting clients, and many of them seem to use the same framework for their posts. It occurred to me at a dental meeting last week that dentists are following the methods of many of these experts. Dentists may find themselves in peril following the methods of these prophets. Dentists work in the real world, face to face with real people. Many social media experts will never come face to face with a patient, or feel the real ramifications of a social media/professional interaction. There should be a time when dentists act like a social media expert, and sometimes when they shouldn’t.

First of all, dentists should remember that social media efforts will hopefully result in a personal meeting. Followers and fans will hopefully come face to face with you. Be careful what you say to them. Always keep it professional. Many dentists are using personal Facebook profiles to reach out to followers, much like social media experts do. It is against the rules of Facebook to use a personal profile to represent a business entity. Facebook may ban your account if they find out or someone reports you. Don’t set yourself up to lose all of your hard work. Marketers use personal profiles because it is much easier to add friends. Facebook Fan pages take a bit more finesse.

Using Facebook personal profiles can also let the wrong information be leaked publicly. There are some great privacy features in place for personal profiles, but some of them can be easily overlooked. This is one of the main reasons I advise against using personal profiles for your dental practice. Marketers will often “friend” thousands of people in the field. Dentists should not do this for their practice (Disclaimer: I sometimes friend other dentists for Social Media for Dentists, but Never for my practice). You can not “friend” the general public. It will make you appear like a spammer. Create a fan page instead. Invite people to come, but never force their hand.

Be careful not to “overdo” it. Don’t think that you need a million Twitter or Facebook followers. Many marketers us a carpet bomb approach, and will try to get as many followers as possible. Too many followers that have nothing to do with your goals will only dilute your experience. Why do you need 3000 Twitter followers from California when you are in Maine? If you are trying to promote a single dental practice, it just doesn’t make sense. If you think all of those followers will help promote your web presence, you are also wrong. Google has said it doesn’t like Twitter accounts with too many unqualified or abusive followers. Stick to what you know is best. Get followers from your area. Other people may brag about how many followers they have, but anyone who really knows social media well tell you it is all about the quality.

Unlike social media experts, you don’t have to be everywhere at once. Pick one type of social media to start out with. Say Facebook. Learn the correct ways to communicate on Facebook and use it to its fullest potential. Don’t feel like you have to have a Twitter, LinkedIn, and Foursquare account too. You can have success with just one profile.

Sometimes it is good to be like a social media expert. Many of the popular experts out there give information on many topics. I think this is what many dentists lack in their social media efforts, variety. You don’t have to talk about dentistry ALL THE TIME. If your followers are real people, they will get dentistry burnout. Talk about sports or the community every once in a while. Make it seem like you are a real person and not a dentistry robot. Please don’t quote mashable.com 500 times a day. I know they have great information, but do a little homework once in a while. Try to add some levity, but always try to be informative. If you find an interesting dental article, editorialize a bit. Add your spin on it.

Many experts employ the “list” i.e. 10 things you can eat to improve your complexion, or top 5 things to do on Facebook. This is a old advertising technique which you can employ. It allows you to give info in a compact form while making it appear to be more. It also makes it appear that you are giving some really good information even if it is very simple. i.e. top 10 things to do when brushing your teeth. Sometimes it is a bit overused, but still a valuable tool.

So remember, you are a dentist, you don’t have to be a social media expert. Be true to yourself and the world is yours.

Using Twitter to Obtain Maximum Impact for Your Dental Practice

DentalPlanet — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:00:13 +0000

In a recent interview with Amit Singhal, Google smarty-pants, the veil over Google’s methods for including Tweets in search results was slightly lifted. An article by Technology Review nicely reviewed what was said. Google began to include Twitter “tweets” in real-time search results about a month ago. Until recently the method in which they filtered these tweets was a mystery.

It is great to find out how these searches are taking place, but it is also a greater validation for the platform. Social media experts have praised the benefits of Twitter, but much of the lay population fails to recognize the value. By including Twitter content in search engine results Google helps the visibility of pertinant tweets. This in turn will help the SEO of the included links, and the SEO of intended targets overall.

Singhal also stated that some Twitter practices can be detrimental to real-time Google results. The hashtag (#) which is has been used ad nauseum in many tweets may decrease search results. The hashtag included next to a key word will make that tweet appear when Twitterers click on the same word elsewhere on the site. For instance a tweet saying “The #dentist can improve your smile” will appear when someone clicks on #dentist elsewhere. The problem is many people go a bit overboard and use hashtags on three or more words, and it is a favorite tactic of spammers. While the hashtag may increase visibility on Twitter itself, the Google algorithm does not favor the hashtag and actually tries to filter it out. So if you want your tweet to show up in Google results, limit your use of the hashtag.

The other surprising factoid from the interview places importance on the “quality” of followers and followees. Singhal’s interview did not disclose how the quality of users was determined. It has been deduced that the quality of a user is based on the number of followers, the quality of tweets, and the number of tweets. This reinforces the advice I have given to dentists. Don’t worry about the sheer number of Twitter followers. Try to get followers who stay current, aren’t marketers, and don’t spam. Too many of these types of followers will diminish the quality of your Twitter experience and will also affect the searchability of the content you put out. I also advise dentists not to have followers all over the country if you are focused on getting patients in a certain area. The others will water down what should really be your focus. If you want to follow thousands of people, create another account.

Google is obviously making great efforts to include quality information from Twitter, while filtering out much of the fluff. So when you tweet make sure to include great keywords when appropriate. Don’t over stuff your tweets with dental jargon just to show up in search results. Use these keywords much like natural speech. If the words don’t fit, don’t use them. When using links, try and use the full link if possible. Some links will be too long, so you may have to use a service like tinyurl.com. The longtail links will always be more beneficial than truncated ones.

Tweet away, dentists!!

Jason T. Lipscomb D.D.S. is a general dentist in Virginia. In addition to operating two busy dental practices, he educates other dentists how to market their practice with social media. Dr. Lipscomb and his partner Stephen Knight have released a social media handbook for dentists called “Social Media for Dentists”. Social Media for Dentists is available now, and is a must have for any dentist who wants to learn social media practices.
The book, Social Media for Dentists, can be ordered on his website.