Dental Relationship Marketing

Posts Tagged ‘social media marketing for doctors’

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.

Popularity: 58% [?]

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!

Popularity: 39% [?]

Many practices have already begun Facebook marketing.  If you are one of them,  have you considered how you will track your effectiveness? As with any marketing activity, social media efforts should be measured.  Below are several metrics you can use to determine how you are doing.

1.  Number of Quality Fans – note the word “quality”.  Huge numbers of people who like your practice Page are likely irrelevant if those fans live outside of your geographic area or if they are not genuinely interested in your practice (for example, people “liked” your Page as a favor to a friend, however they immediately hid you from their newsfeed).

A quality community consists of existing patients, family or friends of existing patients/potential new patients (people who live within reasonable traveling distance of your practice), alliances, referral partners, neighborhood friends or colleagues, and those with a genuine interest in you, your team, or your practice.

2.  Testimonials / Word of Mouth -  Facebook testimonials are more valuable than your average  testimonial.  For one, friends of friends may have witnessed the testimonial post via Facebook’s newsfeed.  Second, the patient’s testimonial rests adjacent to their profile photo—this gives life to testimonials in ways not possible in the past.

Avid Facebook users find Facebook a convenient—and meaningful—outlet to share both what they like and dislike about businesses.  I’m happy to report that I’ve already witnessed dozens upon dozens of highly complimentary patient comments and outright raving reviews about dentists and team members.  While you may not be able to put a dollar value on testimonials, they could be the deciding factor for a new patient weighing whether you are the best fit.

3.  Website Traffic – hopefully your practice is already using a tool like Google Analytics to determine where your website traffic is coming from.  This free tool can prove invaluable by informing you where web visit referrals are originating.  Talk to your webmaster about Google Analytics or a similar report that you can easily follow.

4.  Engagement / Interaction – a unique benefit of social media is the ability to interact and converse with your audience.  Many practices are successfully using creative programs to motivate interaction.  If your Facebook Page participation is low, consider what you can do differently to change this.  A huge benefit of social marketing is the flexibility it offers.  Explore various types of programs and posts to see what interests your community most.

5. New Patients – often times practices will say they are seeing the number of new patients “from the Internet” grow.  With the addition of Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, it’s important to be able to distinguish exactly where on the internet you were found.

If you are actively marketing on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, add these choices to your patient registration forms.  This gives patients a convenient option to specify exactly where they found you, and it also serves as a reminder of your presence in these platforms. In addition you may consider a specific phone number to track where phone calls are originating.

Remember that interaction, consistency, and patience play a key role in social marketing.  It is not managed, nor can it be judged as quickly as a traditional postcard campaign.  In fact, consider social marketing a long term program.  Similar to word of mouth marketing, the movement of social metrics may be slow.  However the quality of new patient referrals via social media (conversational, relationship-focused) will be far greater than those acquired via traditional media (one-to-many, sales-oriented).

Which metrics are you tracking to measure your social marketing efforts?

Popularity: 49% [?]

You have a new patient sitting in your treatment chair.  What is the conversation you’ll have with that patient?   Masters at small talk will tell you they can use open-ended questions to open the door to trust with patients at their first visit.  While small talk still has its place, consider a new patient who found you via Facebook …

Rather than a new patient waiting for you to open conversation, the patient may say, “I saw on Facebook that you are an avid fisherman.  My husband and I both love to fish too!  Have you ever been to … ”.  Practices who use social media to share a bit of their authentic selves will begin to notice deeper relationships (that also grow faster) than those who do not.

Small talk has been defined as conversation for it’s own sake, or making comments about what is perfectly obvious.  Which has more meaning, conversation about the weather or sharing your favorite fishing spots with a fellow fisherman?   When practices (dentists and teams) share what hobbies they enjoy or what they are passionate about—outside of the office—they open the door to a whole new world of conversation, “social talk”.  Social talk is not only more meaningful than small talk, it’s also more fun—and more effective!

Will you and your team continue to rely on small talk or have you already ventured into the social world of Facebook?  Once you begin sharing what’s meaningful in your life, you will begin to rely less on small talk and experience more social talk, trust, and new—ideal–patient referrals.

Popularity: 38% [?]

Are you using discounts or free offers to recruit clients to “like” your Facebook Page?  Many businesses are—as well as dental practices.  While offering something such as teeth whitening for free or as a “special offer” may be fine in some instances, it pays to be thoughtful about offering these promotions over the long term.

A “special offer” utilized over and over again will eventually become “not so special” …  My friend, Kevin Rose, is a dental business consultant who explains this risk as “Sofa Sale Dentistry”. Kevin is a thought leader for the business of dentistry.  He is based in England, however his core principles apply in the U.S., as well as internationally.   Read Kevin’s article which he wrote and posted on his blog earlier this year:

Sofa Sale Dentistry

The natural reaction to the traditionally quiet first quarter in Dentistry and retail generally is to have a promotional offer. Right now many dental surgeries are offering promotions in order to attract new and existing patients through the door and this should be a win win for both parties.

However, whilst promotions have their place in the short term, have you stopped to consider what impact they have on your business in the medium and long term? Promotions should form part of an annual marketing strategy and contribute towards the overall direction that the business and patient message is heading.

Promotions inevitably involve reducing margins in the short term, so make sure that you consider what the over all payback will be. Buying market share is a proven strategy outside of dentistry, but it is not sustainable and can reduce business longevity if it is not carefully planned.

There are some companies that constantly market themselves on short term promotions. The TV adverts are full of them at the seasonal peaks such as Christmas and New Year. The “sofa sale” companies are very succesful but only because their pricing and strategy is designed around having a “sale”.

If you are looking to compete in the long term in the style of a “sofa sale” company then maybe that needs to be a conscious decision rather than a short term reaction?

Learn more about Kevin Rose here.

Popularity: 26% [?]

What is your primary objective for being on Facebook or Twitter? Are you interested primarily in link-building, solely for “SEO” purposes? Perhaps you are interested in acquiring as many friends and people who will “like” your Facebook Page as possible, because we’ve always been taught that more is better …

A traditional marketing mind-set was to acquire more.  Let the numbers show how effective our direct mail piece was.  How many patient phone calls we got from our phone book ad.  How many hits to our website.  However, without quality none of those numbers really matters.

It is our intentions that drive our actions.  If we intend to build up a certain number of fans, whether it be 500 or 2,000 fans, we are focused on the numbers. On the other hand, if we focus on winning the interest, praise, and appreciation of our followers, we are bound to win.

Remember that social media marketing is unlike any other marketing tool we’ve ever had access to.  Discard your old marketing mind-set.  Be thoughtful about your objectives.  Consider what is more important to you—a high quantity fan base or a high quality fan base.  I’m not saying you can’t have both, but in social media, typically numbers as a primary goal can sabotage quality.

Set your intention to first and foremost build trust and relationships with your followers.  Strive to make your social media platforms a place you can talk with your patients and followers. Imagine when patients come into your office.  What is the social conversation you have with them?  It is that type of exchange that can make your social marketing efforts a success.

It may take more time and energy to consider what your ideal social media community could look like.  The easy way out is to set a number as a goal and walk away.  A better objective—that will return more positive word of mouth and referrals—is to put interaction, authentic “liking”, and relationship building at the top of the list.

What are your social media goals and objectives?

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Can social networking really mimic an in-person connection in our brain?   It seems science has now shown, at least in this experiment, that oxytocin levels spiked and cortisol was reduced while tweeting.

Below is an excerpt from Fast Company’s “Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love”. The article goes on to say that should these experiments (by Neuroeconomist Paul Zak) prove to be the norm, this should serve as a wake up call for every business …

While tweeting … my oxytocin levels spiked 13.2%. That’s equivalent to the hormonal spike experienced by the groom at the wedding Zak attended. Meanwhile, stress hormones cortisol and ACTH went down 10.8% and 14.9%, respectively.

Zak explains that the results are linked, that the release of oxytocin I experienced while tweeting reduced my stress hormones. If that’s the case, says Zak, social networking might reduce cardiovascular risks, like heart attack and stroke, associated with lack of social support. But there’s even more to our findings.

“Your brain interpreted tweeting as if you were directly interacting with people you cared about or had empathy for,” Zak says. “E-connection is processed in the brain like an in-person connection.”

Read the entire, very interesting, article.

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This week’s Featured 2 Minute Audio Snippet: Dentist Social Media Tool of Choice

Or listen to the entire interview:

Popularity: 29% [?]

A new situation has arisen.  For anyone who owns a Facebook Business Page, this is a new problem many of us can relate too.  Just when we got comfortable asking people to become our “Fans”, Facebook changed the action to “Like”.

One female doctor recently stated that she, “Feels funny asking male patients if they’d like her”. LOL ;>)

And it’s not just the healthcare profession.  I recently ran across this Whole Foods Market thread on Facebook, who now address their fans as,  “People Who Like Us”.   Whole Foods went on to say they too feel a bit awkward calling fans their “Likers”.  They have since received a plethora of fun responses (at last check 471 comments) about what their “fans” would now like to be called.

So, what do you say when you invite patients to “Like” you on Facebook?

Most importantly, what do you think your patients–who like you–would like to be called?

Popularity: 23% [?]