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.

This is a wonderful time for dentists who use Social Media.  Things they are a changing for the better.  Dentists who have social media and internet profiles should have noticed some changes in the major platforms lately.  Facebook, Google, and Twitter have enacted and announced some cool new features.  These new tools will allow you to share content more easily and to take advantage of new technology.

One of the most obvious changes is Facebook’s shift to “Like”.  Those of you who have a Facebook page for your dental practice probably remember that those who follow your page were called fans.  Now your pages are called official pages and you no longer have fans, you have a cavalcade of people who “Like” your page.  The like is not only a move to add some positivity to the wordage, it marks an effort by Facebook to extend its connections to the entire internet.  Facebook announced that the “Like” option can be connected to most web content.  This means you will be able to add a “Like” button to your blog post or web narrative, allowing a web visitor to easily share the information found there.    Along with the “Like” option Facebook introduced a cooperation with partner sites, the most obvious being Yelp.  When visiting a profile on Yelp, your Facebook profile can be accessed.  This collaboration allows a visitor to share content found on Yelp with Facebook connections.  The collaboration is a great opportunity for Dentists to have their Yelp profile shared across Facebook.

Twitter has also announced some interesting changes coming down the line.  Twitter users know that the platform itself is a very stripped down format.  In order to add functionality to your Twitter experience, you must visit outside websites such as twitpic, tinyurl, or yfrog.  These website applications are created by third party designers outside of Twitter.  Many of these applications have become an integral part of the Twitter experience.  Until now Twitter has stayed out of the development game, but they are now going to develop their own applications.  These “official” applications have started with the like of the new official Twitter application for the Blackberry.  Twitter has also announced some changes in its platform’s infrastructure.  Twitter will soon release the annotation feature, which will allow more information to be included in each tweet.  This will allow for long tail links, and embedding other material which will give the tweets more functionality like Facebook posts.  This move may upset twitter purists, but will allow for greater sharing capabilities.

Google has also announced some changes to its local business center.  All dentists should be familiar with Google’s local business center.  It is where local listings are added, and most potential patients will find you online.  Now all dentists will need to become familiar with Google Places, the local business listing’s new name.  Google places has some cool new features that the business center did not.  Places new geographic features will allow owners to choose a service radius, and pinpoint service areas.  This will be very helpful for practices that service many localities.    Places local listings also has a new feature that allows for status updates much like a social media platform.  What a great way to share a special or share links to your Facebook or Twitter page.  Google places appeals to the mobile market by offering QR codes for each listing.  QR codes are 2 dimensional bar codes that can be scanned by newer mobile devices and link to information like Google listings.  To learn more about QR codes at work visit our blog post from March   http://socialmediadentist.com/blog/?p=107.

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.

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.

Be like Best Buy.  If you have visited a Best Buy store lately you may have noticed that their social media profiles are featured on the front door.  I know several dentists, including myself, who have their web address on their front door.  Your website is open 24/7, and probably has a lot of great info about your practice.  Why not have it on your front door where everyone can see it?  The same goes for your Facebook or Twitter profile.  Shout it from the mountain tops.  “I am here!  This is where to find me”.  Believe it or not, about 60% of the population has a Facebook profile.  They will probably find it interesting that you are available on Facebook.
Send them home with a reminder.  Many of you give goodie bags and appointment cards to patients on the way out.  Remember to always put your social media profiles on your cards.  Patients will only remember a fraction of what you tell them, so the cards will help jog their memory.   Odds are that card will be placed with a magnet on the refrigerator and hang in plain view for months.  You will now have a tiny freon supported billboard for your social media profile.

Make your profile easy to find for your web visitors.  The “find us on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter” prompts on your website are a no brainer.  Be sure that you have links to your profiles easily accessible and very visible.  The key factor in web traffic is MAKE IT EASY.  There are also new website add ons that can let visitors peek into your social media profiles right from your web page.  Facebook’s widget page has several new add ons that allow visitors to see a live stream or to make a comment on your Facebook page.  Facebook recently announced that it will unlock its “Share” feature to be used on websites.  This will allow a web visitor to share any content on your website to their Facebook profile, thus giving your website viral potential.

Optimize your reviews and profiles.  Reputation based software providers Demandforce now allow you to add some of your social media profiles to your account.  If you use this service, be sure to list your profiles.  Your social media profiles should also be added to any other web listing you have out there.  Google local business listings is a biggie.  Provide as much information as you can to potential visitors, and make it easy to find you in several places.

Your social media efforts can be a great success.  Take the time to promote them correctly, and watch your fan base grow.

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.

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.

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.