Our February Practice of the Month — Davis & Goldberg Orthodontics

Congratulations to our February Practice of the Month — Davis & Goldberg Orthodontics!

We recently asked over 600 dental practices about the biggest roadblock to building their online presence. Can you guess the top answer? It was “it’s too hard to come up with ideas and create posts.”

Perhaps you’re not surprised, because it’s how you feel in your own practice’s social media efforts.

So this month, learn from the team at Davis & Goldberg Orthodontics, who went from “spending all day looking for something post” to easily creating their own unique, personalized and engaging social media content!

Why is consistently posting worthwhile content important? Because search engines and social media platforms are giving more and more priority to content that meets people’s needs, connects with them on a personal level, and is relevant to their interests and communities. And when people come across that type of content, they’re more likely to engage with it — meaning more interaction, strengthened patient relationships, and increased visibility for your practice.

We reached out to Bonnie Reeves, office manager for Davis & Goldberg Orthodontics, for some insight on which social media tools have been most effective in helping her team create content and attract new patients. Take something from what they’ve learned to apply in your own social media strategy!

Q&A With Bonnie Reeves, Office Manager

(Responses edited for length and clarity.)

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

“We have done a couple of videos of our doctors doing the cheek retractor challenge together. They were hilarious and got thousands of views! We couldn’t believe it! It seems that the personalized posts with real photos or videos of our team members and patients get the most engagement. The Social Signs we receive from My Social Practice also make photo opportunities easy.”

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your social media efforts?

“Finding ideas for content and making the time to post on a consistent basis is the hardest thing for me. Before we started using My Social Practice we really struggled with this and it just didn’t get done.

Now, we use the My Social Practice Publisher to find ideas and easily post to multiple platforms. I also like being able to schedule posts ahead of time so that when I do have a moment, I can set up multiple posts. We’re being more consistent and growing our online presence!”

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

“I think it’s something fun for patients to do while they are in our office. The Photo Booth app and practice campaigns especially help to get patients and our whole team involved. We also see a lot of children so they like that we have some fun.”

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

“Use My Social Practice to help you get your name out there without spending all day searching for content or ideas. Social media is changing and My Social Practice keeps us updated and relevant.

Personally, I have found the entire service helpful but I really enjoy the Photo Booth ideas and contest ideas. They are fun and engaging for our office and patients.”

Thank you for your stamp of approval, Bonnie! It means a lot to us to hear that our tools and content are helping you to grow your practice and build patient relationships.

It’s true that it can be difficult to find the time to post something daily. But our easy-to-use Publisher app makes it simple! My Social Practice clients have access to the world’s largest library of dental-related social media content, with images and pre-written captions you can customize to fit your audience. Plus, you can schedule posts in advance to go out to your accounts when you choose! Get a free demo of the Publisher today!

The post Our February Practice of the Month — Davis & Goldberg Orthodontics appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.

Our January Practice of the Month — s.m.i.l.e Dental!

Congratulations to our January Practice of the Month — s.m.i.l.e Dental!

Looking for inspiration on how to get your team members and patients more involved in social media? Look no further than s.m.i.l.e Dental!

They use Social Signs, props and giveaways to create a fun practice environment that gets people involved and sharing. And when patients post, their friends and family see the great experience they had, introducing more new people to the practice!

But the most important thing they do to get patients to participate is this: they just ask! You may not fully believe it yet, but patients who love your practice want to help your business thrive! Two of the best ways they can do that are:

1. Snapping a photo at your practice and sharing it to their own social media accounts
2. Writing a review on Google, Facebook or Healthgrades

Because over 80 percent of adults are on Facebook, you should never assume someone doesn’t want to participate because they don’t seem like “the social media type.” You might be surprised by the patients who turn out to be your practice’s best advocates. But in order for them to spread the word, you have to present them with the opportunity to do so!

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

 

We reached out to Dana Stavole, practice manager, for some insight on which social media tools have been most effective in helping them build relationships and attract new patients. Take something to apply in your own practice!

Q&A With Practice Manager Dana Stavole

(Responses edited for length and clarity.)

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

“I think the biggest surprise has been the fact that people love seeing what is happening in our office. The more we share about what we do and the silly things we post really engage our patients and helps to bring new ones to us.”

Which social media tools have you seen the most success with?

“For us, the best decision we made was signing on with My Social Practice. You have allowed us to be consistent in our posts, keeping the engagement up with all of the content that is provided.”

What are the biggest benefits you’ve seen for your practice and patients?

“The biggest benefit so far, I think, for our patients is just getting to know who we are. Making people laugh and feel included in what we are doing here makes them more comfortable coming in to see us for their appointments. We are a very new location and the additional exposure from social media marketing helps a lot.”

What sort of feedback have you gotten from patients about your social media activity?

“We have had GREAT feedback from our patients. They have told us on many different occasions that they can’t wait to check our page to see what crazy things we are doing and that we make them laugh. Also, we are asked on a regular basis who is doing our social media because it is amazing.”

Thanks for your comments, Dana!

Posting regularly helps your dental practice build relationships, and our easy-to-use Publisher makes it simple! My Social Practice clients have access to the world’s largest library of dental-related social media content and post ideas, with images and pre-written captions you can customize to fit your audience. Plus, you can schedule posts in advance to go out to your accounts when you choose! Get a free demo of the Publisher today!

The post Our January Practice of the Month — s.m.i.l.e Dental! appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.

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.

4 Current Trends to Pay Attention to in Your Dental Marketing

The way your patients and potential patients connect with businesses online continues to evolve, and your dental marketing strategy needs to evolve with it. Here are a few trends you should keep in mind while building your dental practice’s online presence!

If you’re keeping an eye on the latest studies on how people are using social media, you’ll see that it’s changing at a breakneck pace, but everything is always changing in one direction—from complex to simple, from minutes to seconds, from planned and polished content to spontaneous and authentic interaction.

Are you taking advantage of these trends in your dental marketing efforts? New social media tools offer simple ways to promote your practice that spark engagement, build trust, and invite potential patients to become a part of your practice family.

Here’s a quick rundown of some current social media trends that are continuing to gain momentum, and how you can utilize them in simple ways to grow your dental practice:

Live Video in Dental Marketing

The ability to broadcast live video has been around for a few years, but now with virtually every major social platform featuring live video tools, it can become a powerful part of your dental marketing, especially on Facebook and Instagram.

Live video is highly interactive, and many patients and fans that might not leave a comment on your regular posts will find it easier to send a message on a live video. This interaction will give your other posts a higher chance of being seen by patients and fans.

As we here at My Social Practice track the progress of our clients’ dental marketing efforts on Facebook, we’ve found that it’s not unusual for live video posts to get up to ten times the amount of Likes and shares as normal image and text posts. Video content is simply more interesting, and helps patients and prospective patients connect with your team personally.

Livestreaming takes the stress and complication out of creating video content. When people tune into a livestream, they don’t expect anything to be scripted or edited, they just want to see what’s going on and maybe say hello in the chat! It’s a great way to give your fans a behind-the-scenes look at your practice and help them connect with your team on a personal level.

“Storified” Social Media Content

Instagram and Facebook stories present some unique dental marketing opportunities for social media growth. They are essentially slideshows of photos and 10-second videos that grow as you add to them throughout the day—much like Snapchat stories.

Stories from people and brands you follow appear at the top of your feed, making it easy to quickly see what your friends are up to. Here’s the difference: stories are separated from your regular Instagram feed, and disappear after 24 hours. You might ask yourself then, “Why should I put effort into creating social media content that’s just going to be deleted in a day?”

The format of Instagram Stories, including the 24-hour limitation, can actually help you create more engaging content. Here are a few reasons why:

• Be more spontaneous. Got an idea for a post but not sure if it will work? An Instagram story is a perfect way to experiment. If it’s a hit with fans, you can continue adding to the story, and if not, it won’t stick around long.
• Take fans along for the ride. Instagram Stories offer a unique way to make day-to-day events interesting. Running practice errands or unboxing a new piece of equipment? Share an interesting snapshot from each step of the process, resulting in an easy-to-follow montage of moments.
• Never worry about over-posting. Because stories are completely separated from regular Instagram feeds, you can post as much as you want to a story and never annoy your followers or clog their feeds.
• Less polished = more authentic. Traditionally, Instagram has been seen as where people share their best, most-composed photography. Not so with Instagram Stories. In the context of a story, a less-curated, more fun look at your practice is a better approach—and requires less effort on your part!

With its skyrocketing popularity, the stories format is likely to become the primary way users interact with social media platforms, replacing the role of the News Feed. Smartphones and shorter attention spans will continue to fuel the prominence of short-lived content in 2019, especially with younger generations.

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

 

Paid Facebook Advertising

There’s no getting around it: Facebook is now a pay-to-play platform. But when you’ve got great content and know the basics of boosting posts, you’ll find it’s an incredible value for your dental marketing dollar.

If you’ve been tracking the reach of your practice’s Facebook posts over the last few years, you’ve probably noticed a decline in how many people are seeing them. Don’t worry, It’s not because you’re any less interesting! It’s a result of Facebook (and all other major social media platforms) using algorithms to sort content and show users what it thinks is most relevant to them.

What does this mean for your practice? As Facebook news feeds become more crowded with content, it will be more difficult to reach your desired audience with your posts — even fans who follow your page. Small, strategic investments in boosting posts will dramatically increase your posts’ reach, helping you maintain top-of-mind awareness with fans and expand your audience to those most likely to become new patients.

We recommend you start by spending $5 promoting posts a couple of times each week. Increase your budget from there. Don’t stop and don’t give up. On the other end of the budget spectrum, we had a client spend $5,000 in one month boosting posts that promoted an Invisalign campaign they were running. Facebook boosting resulted in nearly 100 in-practice consultations that produced over $250,000.

Even if your Facebook page is starting with just a few Likes, boosting is one of the best dental marketing tools available to grow your practice’s social media presence and reach the people most likely to become new patients. When paired with great content, boosting can connect you with more people in more meaningful ways for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

Transparency in Dental Marketing

As patients and fans come to recognize your practice’s social media presence as a dependable way to get useful information, have some fun, and connect with your team personally, you’ll see returns in the form of better patient relationships, greater case acceptance, and more referrals.

We all know it isn’t easy doing the right things day to day. We get tired, right? So whether we’re talking about regular exercise, sound eating habits, great oral hygiene (or in this case, consistent dental social media marketing activity) success often hinges on consistency.

First off, what do we mean by “consistency” on social media? Primarily, it’s making a daily attempt to connect authentically with your audience by posting high-quality content regularly and responding to their interaction.

There’s a degree of transference that takes place in patients’ minds with practices that are consistent with their dental social media efforts. The assumption is that if you’re consistent and reliable in providing relevant, educational, honest, human content through your social media platform, then you also likely provide the same consistency and leading-edge standards in everything you do — including the dental materials and procedures you use, the patient benefit-driven technologies you ascribe to, the way you respond and treat people, the CE you attend, etc.

It’s this type of positive top-of-mind awareness that leads patients to introduce your practice to family and friends who trust their recommendations.

 

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How an Endodontic Practice Found Success With Social Media Dental Marketing

Congratulations to our November Practice of the Month — Advanced Endodontics!

Prospective dental patients are becoming smarter and much more savvy. They do their own research and they’re much less likely to trust traditional mass advertising messages, including those things that you’re publishing on your website. And when making a decision as important as choosing a dentist, or even an endodontist (as shown by an uptick in self-referrals), they get input from trusted friends, family and other local residents through social media and reviews.

As an endodontist, you probably don’t do much advertising and your practice is not as well known as general dental offices that serve hundreds of patients per week. Because of this, your options to build your local reputation online are narrower than those of your colleagues. However, having stellar review scores on Facebook, Google and Healthgrades is still one way you can stand out to prospective patients and referring dentists as your community’s premier endodontic care provider.

We reached out to Saamiya Pirbhai, marketing manager for Advanced Endodontics, about what they’ve learned from their experience with social media dental marketing, and what’s been most effective for them. Take the opportunity to apply something in your own practice!

Q&A With Marketing Manager Saamiya Pirbhai

Responses edited for length and clarity.

Since you started using social media in your practice, what has been the biggest surprise?

“The amount of traffic we’ve been attracting into our office has been impeccable!”

Among the things social media strategies you’ve tried, what have you seen the most success with?

“Internet challenges — be it the “In My Feelings Challenge” or the “Baby Shark Challenge,” we’ve found that creating a more personable experience through videos like these have not only proved our warmth as a practice to the public, but has brought our team members together as well.”

In your opinion, what is the #1 benefit to patients of your social media marketing efforts thus far?

“They find themselves in a zone of comfort. They realize that though they are coming in for a dental treatment, we too as team members have an enjoyable office life. They see that we care about one another and we care about our patients and their wellbeing.”

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

 

In your opinion, what is the #1 benefit to your practice of your social media marketing efforts thus far?

“The positive vibe of all three of our offices has increased tremendously. We’ve witnessed the shyest team members getting involved within the company. And of course, showcasing our practice out there on social media has helped increase revenue for our office, which is always a good thing.”

What do you and your team do in the office to move forward your social media efforts?

“We host monthly meetings to track our progress, delegate tasks for the month to come, and plan out events and marketing strategies to assist our office and our doctors in networking. We participate in popular social media trends, to create excitement for the team and increase social media interaction. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, achievements, and more for our team members and publicize their importance on our social media networks.”

What advice would you give to a practice just starting out on social media?

“Don’t give up, keep moving forward and educating yourself more and more on new trends, new developments, and new movements. It’s worth it! Try it out and be open to new ideas. If you get pushback from your team and patients, find a different social media approach that will pull them into your circle. It’s a really fun game, trust me!”

Among the things My Social Practice provides, what item(s) or service(s) have been the most help to you?

“Brianna from My Social Practice has provided amazing feedback. She assisted me when I first joined the team and has called to check up on how we’re doing ever since. It’s nice knowing that there is a support available to us at any moment.”

Thanks, Saamiya! We’ll be sure to pass along your feedback to Brianna! 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 How an Endodontic Practice Found Success With Social Media Dental Marketing appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.

Our September Practice of the Month — Adventure Dental!

Congratulations to our September Practice of the Month — Adventure Dental!

Getting over the initial doubts about becoming a social practice is a part of the process nearly all our clients face. Sharing your team culture online, involving your patients in social media, and asking for reviews all take you out of your comfort zone. But check out Adventure Dental and you’ll see why it’s worth it!

The team at Adventure Dental maintains a fun and well-rounded online presence: they post valuable content to their social media pages regularly, run great practice campaigns, have prize giveaways and include their patients whenever they can. They also really impressed us with their patient reviews! With over 400 favorable reviews across Google and Facebook, Adventure Dental has elevated their profile as the premier pediatric dental practice in their community — and parents are noticing.

We reached out to Jenny Moses, marketing specialist at Adventure Dental, for some insight on how social media is growing their practice and what’s been working for them. Take something from what their team has learned to apply in your own social media strategy!

Q&A With Jenny Moses, Marketing Specialist

(Responses edited for length and clarity.)

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

“The biggest a-ha moment is how easy it can be. I think it is so easy to over complicate things. For example we had one of our doctors participate in the ‘In My Feelings’ challenge. We did it in one take without any practicing and the patients loved it. It was our highest watched video. Many times it does not take hours of planning to have an engaging post, just some creativity and willing participants.”

What are the most significant ways social media marketing has benefited your practice and patients?

“It connects us to our patients. For example, we have a summer contest, ‘Don’t be BORED, get on BOARD.’ We had our patients send us pictures and post pictures on our social media profiles how they were not BORED this summer. We were able to see what our patients were doing this summer and comment on their posts.”

“In turn, they get to know us and what we are all about. Our mission is: Big kids taking care of little kids — one tooth, one smile, one family at a time. We want our patients and their families to know how much we love what we do at the office. Social media is how we can capture that.”

What do you do IN THE PRACTICE to maintain a strong online presence?

“It is definitely a team effort. We encourage our team members to capture the moments! We also like to reward our team members at random times with a gift card for them sharing, commenting or tagging us on their own personal social media accounts.”

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

“The hardest part of social media is trying to choose what content to share because we have so much going on in the office. My Social Practice has so many engagement ideas and we are able to tweak their ideas to fit the needs of our office.”

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?

“Do not get intimidated. You can do it. Create a social media calendar to keep you organized and try new things. It always great to try different apps to help improve your posts and to change it up. And keep consistent!”

The team supported the cause during Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Thanks to Jenny for sharing with all of us! We’re proud to have this awesome team as one of our valued clients!

Social media marketing doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. As social platforms continue to evolve, using them effectively is less about technical know-how and SEO tricks and more about simply creating engaging, shareable content that sparks interaction.

So even if you have little or no social media 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 September Practice of the Month — Adventure Dental! appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.