3 Simple Steps to Growing Your Dental Practice With Social Media—For Beginners!

Your dental practice’s social media presence is an integral part of how new and potential patients get to know you, and if you can immediately spark a connection with them online, there’s a good chance they’ll be calling you later for an appointment! Plus, find a free download below to help you get started!

With everything that goes into running a successful practice, it’s a wonder that dental team members even have time to breathe. And with so much to do, it’s easy to delay things that you might see as ancillary to patient care, such as obtaining patient reviews and posting to social media. But, although a practice is built on clinical expertise and effective management, a practice thrives with smart marketing strategies and a strong online presence.

Getting started with dental digital marketing is easier than you think, and it doesn’t require a large time investment. In fact, most of our clients using our marketing tools report that they spend just a few minutes a day on it.

If you just don’t know where to begin, start with these 3 most essential things you can start doing TODAY to build your online presence and help new patients find you. With just a small, consistent effort, you’ll get a taste of the different ways digital marketing can help you grow your practice.

Obtain Patient Reviews

• Make it Easy for People to Read and Write Reviews Where They Want. Start by creating profiles on the three most prominent online reviews services: Google My Business, Facebook and Healthgrades. Add your profile picture, address, hours, and other information that will make it easy for a patient to find you and leave a review, or for a potential patient to learn more and contact you.
• Focus on the Patients Most Likely to Give You a Great Review. Set your team up for success by pulling up the day’s schedule and reviewing who is coming in. Identify one or two of your patients who love your practice and you suspect would be happy to leave you a review. Make specific assignments on which team member will ask them for a review and have them report back on how it went.
• Just Ask — and Be Transparent. You know how crucial honest feedback and reviews are for building your practice. Let patients know how much you rely on reviews to improve your service and find more great patients like them. Remember, if you’re not asking for reviews, chances are you’ll only get one when a patient is unhappy!

My Social Practice’s reviews software makes it easy to obtain great reviews from your dental patients during their appointments. See a free demo:

Ready for a quick demo of our reviews service? Fill out the form below.

 

Create Engaging Social Media Posts

• Provide Value. First and foremost, the best way to build a social media following that will benefit your business is to simply provide content that is worth people’s time. While brainstorming post ideas, ask yourself “What can I share that would improve patients’ lives?” Then, think about the best way to present it. This isn’t to say that everything you post needs to be educational — you can also provide value by giving fans a chance to win a prize, or just posting something to make them smile!
• Make It Personal. One of the greatest strengths social media offers as part of your dental marketing is its ability to build a sense of community. Focus on the needs, interests, and personalities of your patients and team members. By doing so, you create connections not as a business and its customers, but as friends.
• Invite Interaction. Fan participation — such as comments, Likes and shares — amplifies the reach and effectiveness of dental Facebook posts. You might tell fans that they can enter to win a pair of movie tickets by commenting with their favorite character from the series. Or announce that if a post reaches a certain number of Likes, a hygienist will dress up as the tooth fairy for a day. Asking for feedback about your practice is also a great way to spark a conversation.

Get Your Team Involved

• Bring Up Social Media With Patients. Mention something fun your practice has done on social media recently. Example: “Did you see the Shark Week video we did on Facebook last week?”
• Tell the Patient What’s in it for Them for Participating. Example: “If you take the 30-Day Flossing Challenge by sharing a photo today, you’ll be entered to win a pair of movie tickets!”
• Express Your Appreciation for the Patient. Example: “We’re so grateful to have awesome patients like you, and when you write a review it helps more people find us!”
• Encourage Team Members to Like and Share. Encourage your team members to check your practice’s pages often to stay up-to-date on giveaways, campaigns, and other fun things that patients would want to know about. By simply Liking your posts, or better yet, leaving short comments such as “I love working with this team!” or “We’re always happy to see our awesome patients!”, your team members can increase the reach and visibility of your practice’s posts.

These three key areas form the foundation of a solid dental digital marketing plan, but we’ve only just scratched the surface! Click below to download a FREE checklist and tip sheet that will help you set and track social media goals, and provide you with even more simple, actionable advice!

The post 3 Simple Steps to Growing Your Dental Practice With Social Media—For Beginners! appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.

Our December Practice of the Month — The Greeneville Dentist!

Congratulations to our December Practice of the Month — The Greeneville Dentist!

The team at The Greeneville Dentist has found that social media is transforming their practice inside and out! It’s given their team a chance to participate together in serving the community, learning about marketing, and creating a practice culture that patients love.

They say that patients are always talking about their latest Facebook posts when they visit. And when you’re always at the top of patients’ minds, they’re more likely to recommend you to family and friends.

We reached out to Christy Cook, office coordinator for The Greeneville Dentist, for some insight on which social media tools have been most effective in helping her team build an attractive social media presence and practice culture. Take something from what they’ve learned to apply in your own social media strategy!

Q&A With Christy Cook, Office Coordinator

(Responses edited for length and clarity.)

What has been the biggest surprise of social media marketing for you?

“The biggest surprise in our social media since we started using My Social Practice is the increased amount of patient interaction. Our biggest “ah-ha moment”—reaching 500 likes on our Facebook page. The one thing that we just really weren’t expecting is how involved our patients have become with our social media.”

What’s the HARDEST part of social media marketing for you?

“The hardest part of social media marketing for us is keeping it fresh and creative. It’s hard knowing what to say and post. My Social Practice has taken the guesswork out of posting, they provide so much material and make posting so much easier and fun!”

What feedback have you received about social media in your office?

“We’ve gotten so much feedback from our patients. They look forward to coming to their next appointment. They come in talking and laughing about some of our most recent post.”

What has been the biggest benefit to your practice as you have built your social media presence?

“The #1 benefit to our practice of our social media is consistency, and making sure we are posting things to involve our patients. It helps our patients stay connected to our office and our team.”

Ready for a quick demo of our social media service? Fill out the form below.

 

What advice would you give to a practice starting to build their online presence?

“My Social Practice has made a huge difference in our practice on social media. They make posting to social media easy and fun. We have struggled for years with getting online reviews. My Social Practice has made asking and receiving reviews from our patients a breeze.”

Thanks to The Greeneville Dentist team for their feedback! We know social media can be difficult—especially for those who are a little less computer-savvy—so our support team always goes the extra mile to make sure clients are taken care of!

So even if you have little or no digital marketing experience, there’s never been a better time to start building your dental practice’s online presence. Request a free demo of our services and we’d love to show you step-by-step how to do it!

The post Our December Practice of the Month — The Greeneville Dentist! appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.