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.

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.