Dental Relationship Marketing

Posts Tagged ‘Rita Zamora’

Is Facebook marketing beneficial for specialists as well?  Absolutely.  Specialty practices will often ask what they should post about …  The answer is a blend of dental and social posts.   Remember this is “social” marketing.  As with any type of business in social media, it’s important to share a bit of personality with your community.

So, what should specialists post about?  Specialists may have a more varied community than general practitioners.  Their communities may include patients, referring doctors, colleagues, friends and potential new patients.  Be sure to share something for everyone—while at the same time being sensitive to each segment of your community.

For example, if you are an oral surgeon, you (unlike a general practitioner)wouldn’t want to post solely “layman” dental implant information.  You certainly could include a bit of these types of posts as the patients in your community may find this beneficial.  However be aware of the amount of this type of information you are posting so as not to bombard your referring practices with information better suited for patient education.

Posts your audience may find interesting include:

• Photos - share about a volunteer effort that you and your team recently participated in together.  For example, Habitat for Humanity efforts or participation in a holiday “Toys for Tots” campaign.
• Events – seminars or continuing education events that you are hosting make for excellent posts.
• Value adds -  share about special perks you provide for your patients, such as a photo of the gourmet coffee, paraffin treatment, or aromatherapy you offer.
• Personality -  photos or updates about your doctor or team member’s participation in a marathon, new scuba certification or birth of a baby are “social” posts that add human interest to any Facebook Page.  These posts can also open the door to a whole new world of conversation (and relationship building) with referring practices and patients alike.

In addition, be sure to include your referring practices in promotion of your Facebook Page. Make a special Facebook themed marketing delivery to your referring practices.  Remind them you are on Facebook via leave-behinds, e-communication and snail-mailers.

Just as a general practice would market on Facebook, so too can specialty practices …  Social marketing is all about growing relationships. Make one of your main goals to create a thriving community abundant with engagement.

As a specialist you can reap double the benefit of word of mouth referrals from both patients as well as referring practices. Are you on board yet?  What are you waiting for?  Keep me posted on your progress!

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One of the primary indicators of Facebook marketing success is engagement.  In other words, how many interactions (likes, comments, etc.) you regularly receive.  If you notice that your Facebook community is a bit flat, check to see what your posts look like aesthetically.

Dentist and her two Stellas (Stella the Bernese Mountain Dog and Stella Scooter)

Are your posts plain text or simply accompanied by an automated feed symbol? Remember that every post you make is competing for attention with your audiences friend’s posts—those posts of friend’s Hawaii vacation photos, cute kids and pets, or announcements of engagements or pregnancies … This means that your posts often need a photo or interesting graphic image in order to garner attention.

In fact Harvard Business School research about understanding social networks found, “The biggest discovery: pictures. ‘People just love to look at pictures,’ says Piskorski. That’s the killer app of all online social networks. Seventy percent of all actions are related to viewing pictures or viewing other people’s profiles.”

You’ll often hear marketers recommend using a photo instead of a logo in profiles, which I agree with.  However equally important is being aware of what your posts look like before sharing.  Experiment with fun, unique photos and track the difference in attention you receive.

If you’ve already been posting with photos, test different types of pictures to see which motivate the most interaction.  Marketing successfully in social media requires one very important component—a new mindset.  Remember the “social” in social media (don’t post about dentistry constantly).  The “social” aspect is what allows you to build relationships with Facebook.  Explore which photos or images work best for you, have fun, and keep me posted on your progress!

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There’s a common reason many dental practices aren’t seeing a return from their tweets.  Some people have the impression that social media is about technology.   The tendency then is to think automation or streamlined marketing … However Twitter, like all social media, is all about people and building relationships.  What does that mean exactly?

I like to use the analogy of attending a local Chamber of Commerce meeting.  Let’s say you and your team agreed to attend Chamber meetings with the goals to network, meet new people in the community, and increase new patients (note, these should be the same goals for using Twitter).  Imagine you or a team member attended the Chamber meeting, walked in, left a bunch of business cards on the table and then walked out—that seems ridiculous right?  How would you expect to get new patients from that exercise? You wouldn’t.

Likewise you will not receive new patients from tweeting your heart out without interacting or talking with people on Twitter.  If you want to see results from using Twitter, you must commit to “attending” on a regular basis. Remember that doesn’t mean walking in and leaving business cards on the table (tweeting without interacting).  Rather it means, taking interest in others.  Asking other business owners in your community what they do, how you can help them, what type of referral works best for them and so on…

Too often I hear practices say, “We just don’t get Twitter”.  It’s impossible to “get” Twitter if you are simply posting tweets (walking in and leaving business cards). You must interact with others or your tweeting efforts will be worthless.

At this point, if you are thinking you just don’t have time for this.  If you don’t feel you have time to interact, network and talk with people in your community, then perhaps Twitter is not an ideal strategy for you. While I’m passionate about social media, I fully understand it’s not for everyone.  I see it as a benefit to know what you enjoy—which often leads to what you are good at.

Do you enjoy Twitter?  If not, I hope you’ve found a new perspective here to boost your Twitter strategy.   If so, I hope to connect with you there!

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Do you have a Facebook Page for your practice?  If so, are you aware how to access it?  As more practices begin marketing with Facebook, a new generation of issues arises.  Don’t let potential issues prevent you from using Facebook, however follow a few precautions now to prevent headaches later…

First and foremost, know how to access your Facebook Page.  Note, you should have a Facebook Page and not a Personal Profile to represent your practice.  Understand it’s against Facebook’s guidelines to use a personal profile to represent a business (dental practices).  Facebook profiles are for individuals. Your practice should use Business Page to market with.

If you have a Business Page, you should be an “Administrator” of your Page.  Pages can have multiple administrators.  Know that administrators have the ability to delete other administrators and can delete the Page entirely as well.

I recently ran across a situation where a doctor’s Facebook Page was essentially kidnapped.  The doctor had no idea how to access the Page and the well established practice Page was taken under the ownership and direction of a disgruntled ex-employee…

Speaking of ownership.  The only way to completely “own” (in other words access or control to the extent Facebook allows) your Facebook Page is to have sole access to your Page.  Sole access is typically not feasible for a doctor, as they often have a team member or vendor who is handling this aspect of marketing for them.

At some point, Facebook may implement more control over administration controls. For now, all you can do is:

1. Know how to access your Facebook Page.
2. Know who else has access to your Page (co-administrators).
3. Have trust in those who co-administrate your Page—and know how to delete those administrators if you no longer want them to have access.

In this case, knowledge is power.  Don’t assume you have control over your Page—know exactly who has control/access.  As practices invest more in Facebook and their Pages become more valuable, knowing how to keep these assets safe has become even more critical.

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Have you begun marketing with YouTube?  Now is the time! Online video viewership is skyrocketing…

Before you start to shoot video and set up a YouTube account, it’s wise to spend some time considering what results you want. Read the three important planning steps in my recent “YouTube: You’re on the Air” DentalTown article.   Below is an excerpt:

If you feel overwhelmed with these initial planning questions, you may want to consider a professional’s help. A professional videographer can help you work through your camera jitters, develop an effective script and recommend the best location. Perhaps you’ve already made your video, but you’re stuck in the editing, tagging or uploading process. Remember help is available at every stage of the process.

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How important is it to market in social media and will it really work? …  Below is an excerpt from an article I provided for the forward-thinking Apex digital publication which addresses these questions:

A second shift is (as much as we love the web) the way we consume information has changed.  In the August 2010 Wired Magazine article entitled The Web Is Dead.  Long Live the Internet, the author shares examples of how we awake to news on our iPads …  We no longer search Google for news, rather we browse Facebook, Twitter, and check our RSS (blog) feeds.  The article goes on to share how we spend the day on the Internet, yet not on the web.  Quite profound.

Read the entire Apex article (page 8), which includes metrics you can use to definitively track how your social marketing efforts are paying off.

Be sure to subscribe to Apex as well:  http://www.apexezine.com/category/subscribe.

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Twitter continues to spark the interest of dental and medical practices.  Are you actively tweeting?  If so, learn how to make the most of your tweets in my special DentalTown social media focus article. Here is an excerpt:

Be social. Once you have successfully completed your profile, you are ready to begin tweeting. Remember the “social” in social media… you don’t have to tweet about dentistry [or healthcare] all the time. Begin to “follow” others. Try following waves of 25 people at a time, rather than instantly following 500. Focus on quality [building relationships] rather than quantity.

Read the entire article.

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I often hear doctors and practice managers express concerns about Facebook security. While it’s important to be aware and vigilant, don’t let rumors keep you from marketing and networking on Facebook.

I recommend all practices and teams involved in Facebook marketing “like” Facebook’s Official Security Page:  http://www.facebook.com/security If you aren’t already a part of this community, like the Page. The Facebook Security Page will easily keep you updated about any concerns—and separate valid concerns and solutions from myths or rumors.   Stay safe friends!

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Would you get into a car without knowing where you are going?  Seems silly, however many practices dive into social marketing without plans.   A recent informal poll of dental practices actively marketing in Facebook revealed that the majority, over 80%, had no plan in place.

A basic Facebook marketing plan can help you and your team to be organized, consistent, and most importantly effective. Here are five major plan components to keep in mind.

1.  Who – Who will be responsible for managing your Facebook efforts?  This person will monitor, interact and post on behalf of your practice.

2.  What -  What will your practice post about?   Will your focus be on sedation dentistry, cosmetics, dental implants or perio disease?  Remember, it’s also important to post non-dental, social, items from time to time.

3.  When –  When will your practice participate on Facebook?  Will you check-in “whenever you have time” or will you schedule specific days of the week to check for comments, interact, and post?

4. How –  How will you inform your patients about your practice Page?  What tactical methods will you employ to promote your Facebook community?  For example, you may decide to use email, incentives, or special business cards.

5. Why –  Why are you participating in Facebook marketing?  Is it to build a lively online community or simply push out dental messaging?  Either intention will deliver two totally different results …

It’s important that you determine what you want to achieve by establishing a presence in Facebook.  Hold a Facebook plan discussion with your team at your next staff meeting. Together you can create a basic, yet effective, one-page plan.  You’ll find a plan will make it easier for you to sustain your efforts in the long term, as well as to track and note successes.

Do you have a plan in place?

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According to Nielsen, the average social media user currently spends about six hours per month on sites like Facebook.  As we spend more time working, networking, and now socializing online, I often wonder what all this time at our computers does for our minds.

Photo of one of Rita's favorite hikes in Boulder, Colorado

The New York Times article, Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain shares a fascinating look at the way we’ve become attached (addicted?) to technology—and its possible impact on our brains.   The article stated, “The quest to understand the impact on the brain of heavy technology use — at a time when such use is exploding — is still in its early stages.”

In the end, there are no definitive conclusions on whether spending quiet time away from technology might benefit us.  I however feel a hike in nature, or a few minutes of meditation, clears my mind and allows me to be more engaged with my online friends and my work.  What do you think?

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