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Cultivating Relationships: 6 Networking Tips for Dentists

by Naomi Cooper March 27, 2013

Cultivating Relationships: 6 Networking Tips for DentistsHere on the blog I often speak to the importance for dentists to engage in social media and online marketing. New modern tactics like these are essential for dentists to keep their marketing fresh and relevant. With that being said, a solid marketing plan includes a mix of new and old methods. And nothing can replace the value of professional networking.

Many dentists shy away from networking. Their reasons (ahem, excuses) range from not wanting to be too “sales-y” to simply not understanding the importance of networking.

No amount of advertising can replace face-to-face communication. Fostering relationships with fellow dentists, specialists, other healthcare providers and even other business owners is a way to market your practice and stay in touch with the local community.

Networking does not have to be cheesy or phony. Instead, approach networking as an opportunity to meet other business professionals with the same goal in mind – to grow their business.

Here are few ways for dentists to jumpstart their professional network:

  1. Start with the familiar. Be sure to be an active member of your college and dental school alumni associations. Re-establish relationships with your dental school mates. Even if they are not nearby, you never know where a referral may come from.
  2. Join, or re-engage, with professional associations. On the national level, check out the ADA website for any upcoming seminars or events. Be sure to look closer to home at state or local components.
  3. If there are not any local opportunities, create one of your own and bring together other like-minded healthcare professionals. Host a study club or a cross-specialty workshop for patients with other doctors, for instance a dermatologist or pediatrician.
  4. Include website addresses of your contacts within your practice website. Create a reciprocal page, “Our Medical Community”, with links to other websites of your contacts.
  5. Join your local Chamber of Commerce.
  6. Professional networking is now online. LinkedIn is the most popular site for professionals looking to increase their network. Facebook and Twitter are obviously ideal for engaging with patients, but to connect with other professionals Linkedin is your best bet.

In the end, if you are not talking about your practice, who will be? Operating a successful dental practice is not just about quality patient care. Meeting people and establishing professional relationships must be an element of your dental marketing plan.

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Online Patient Reviews: Quality and Consistency Matter!

by Naomi Cooper March 20, 2013

Online Patient Reviews: Quality and Consistency Matter!If you are a regular reader of this blog, you are then well aware of the importance for dentists to establish and maintain an active online presence. More people than ever are turning to the Internet when researching health care options. And in today’s tech-savvy world, patients conduct their research online before they ever call your practice to make their first appointment.

Control the information potential patients find online, and increase the likelihood of them taking the next step in calling you by asking your satisfied patients to post online reviews.

  • Before the Internet, patients would simply ask a friend for a referral and then call to make an appointment. Today, patients may still ask a friend, but they will also go online to research you before they ever make the call to schedule an appointment.
  • Encourage your satisfied customers to write a review on these sites to increase the amount and quality of the positive reviews. The more positive reviews you have, the better your practice will appear to potential patients.
  • While it is important to generate positive reviews online, it absolutely must be done in an authentic manner. Consistently adding 1-3 new reviews each month for 6 months will appear most trustworthy to Internet users and your potential patients. For more information on the level of trust of online reviews among today’s Internet users, check out this EMarketer article.

There is no higher stamp of approval of your practice than the referral of a happy patient. Make the most of their positive experience and politely ask them to share their experience online. Consistently asking patients to post a positive review increases the opportunity to reach prospective patients within your community, and helps you to build an authentic online presence for your dental practice.

How does your team actively ask patients to post online reviews? Are new patients asked upfront how they heard about your practice?

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Social Media 101: Reaching Your Dental Patients via Pinterest

by Naomi Cooper February 26, 2013

Social Media 101: Reaching Your Dental Patients via PinterestNot only did Pinterest grow to 18.7 million users in March 2012 from its launch in March 2010, but it’s also a known hub for the dental practice’s ultimate target demographic: Moms. Moms love “pinning” stories, photos and articles to their Pinterest boards. For dentists who have a true general or family practice, and especially for pediatric dentists and orthodontists, Pinterest is the latest addition to the practice’s social media arsenal.

Think of Pinterest as an online pinboard or vision board. Users pin images to their own boards, and these boards are visible not only to the followers of the user, but also to the public so that other Pinterest users can also see the pins.

According to the Huffington Post, 80% of the pins on Pinterest are “repins”. When users repin images from one of your boards, it increases the opportunity to gain new followers, and, it creates a link back to your website, helping to improve your website’s SEO. The higher your website ranks in search results, the greater the chances of reaching new patients when they are searching online for a dentist.

Last November, Pinterest added business pages, enabling businesses to more easily connect with users. If you are interested in using Pinterest for your dental practice, but not sure what pictures or content to include, here are a few ideas to help you get started:

  • Pictures of the dentist(s), staff members and office photos
  • Celebrity Smiles
  • Before and After pictures of your satisfied patients
  • Personal interests – do you like to cook? Include images of your favorite dishes. Like to travel? Pin photos of your favorite destinations.
  • New equipment or technology in the practice

The best aspect of Pinterest is the freedom of creativity. In this social media site, you can truly customize your profile to reflect your personality as both a dentist, and an individual. And pinning material that you think is of interest to your patients is another way to grow your Pinterest following.

Pinterest can be addicting and fun to use, and when implemented in a strategic way, it can help foster connections between your dental practice and both active and new patients.

Have you considered using Pinterest on a professional level? Do you think it would help you reach your target patients? Why or why not?

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Social Media 101: Tweet Your Way to New Patients

by Naomi Cooper February 19, 2013

Social Media 101: Tweet Your Way to New PatientsTwitter is a product of today’s fast-paced society, where much of our information is absorbed in small bits while we’re on the go. We live in an era where many people no longer have the time to sit down and read a full news article. In 2012, according to The Huffington Post, there were 175 million tweets sent every day.

Twitter enables information to be distributed, read, and absorbed within a matter of seconds, from a computer, laptop, smartphone, or even a standard cellphone via text messaging. Setting up a profile takes only a few minutes. The bigger challenge with Twitter is finding followers.

Unlike becoming “Friends” on Facebook, following someone on Twitter doesn’t mean that they also automatically follow you. Instead, here are a few ideas to gain followers:

  • Tweet and retweet (reposting other people’s tweets) regularly.
  • Mix up the informative with the fun.
  • Tweet links to interesting oral health articles or post brief tips of the day.
  • Make sure all of your patients know that you’re on Twitter and encourage them to follow you.
  • Consider running informal contests with prizes for all of your Twitter followers, such as giving away an electric toothbrush to one of your patients who retweets a particular message about your practice.

What’s unique about Twitter is that every single word you’ve ever tweeted is public and searchable unless it was specifically marked private. That means anyone who happens to be searching for any of the keywords you’re tweeting about will find your tweets. This is an incredible way to build a loyal base of followers, regardless of whether they actually know you or not. And because about half of Americans don’t have a dentist, if your Twitter followers are in your local area, they certainly have the potential to become your patients when they’re ready.

Even if you never plan to consistently tweet yourself, it’s still worth having a profile on Twitter. You can use Twitter to follow industry leaders and stay up to the minute on breaking news, or just to keep tabs on your friends, patients, and personal heroes.

Do you use Twitter for professional purposes? What do you like most about this social media platform?

Be sure to check in here next week for information on one of the fastest growing social media sites – Pinterest.

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Social Media 101: Utilizing Google+ in Your Dental Practice

by Naomi Cooper February 5, 2013

Social Media 101: Utilizing Google+ in Your Dental PracticeWhile not as prevalent as Facebook, Google+ is another social media site that can work well for dental practices. The usage statistics do not compare to Facebook, but it is still a good idea for businesses to maintain profiles for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. Google+ profiles are incredible drivers of SEO, so having your dental practice listed within Google+ helps patients easily find you and connect with your practice online.

There is often confusion between the 2 main components of Google+: Google+ pages for business, and Google+ Local pages. Here is a brief breakdown of each:

Google+ Page

A Google+ page is similar to having a Facebook business page. It is your dental practice’s profile within Google, and offers many opportunities to feature videos, share photos and images and create direct inbound links, all of which are very important in boosting your website’s SEO.

A Google+ page is set up in a very similar fashion to Facebook, with cover and profile photos, and an About section where you enter in your business address, phone, website, and other important information. Your Google+ page allows you to post content and share information with those who have followed you.

Google+ Local Page

A Google+ local page is your dental practice’s listing within Google. It is tied to the Google search results as well as to Google maps. Where as it has the same features as a Google+ page (phone number, hours, website, etc.), it also allows patients to write an online review of their experience at your practice. This is a great site to direct your patients to in order to increase your online patient reviews. Google creates a Google+ Local page for every business in the country, but it’s up to you to claim that profile and make sure it’s accurate.

These are the basic differences between the 2 types of business profile pages within the Google universe. You can log on to https://plus.google.com/pages/create to get started.

Do you use Google+ within your dental practice social media plan? Please share your comments and experiences below. And check back here for the next Social Media 101 installment – easy to implement strategies for your dental practice YouTube channel.

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Social Media 101: Best Practice Tips for Your Facebook Dental Practice Page

by Naomi Cooper January 28, 2013

Social Media 101: Best Practice Tips for Your Facebook Dental Practice PageIn our previous post, we talked about the reach of Facebook, and how to set up a page for your dental practice. Social media is all about engagement, so simply having a page is not enough. Updating your page with consistent posts and a variety of relevant information is what will help you get the most out of your social media experience.

Here are 3 Best Practice Tips for your Facebook page:

  1. Importing your business contacts to Facebook will help to spread the word to your associates of your new page, and will encourage everyone to “Like” your page. Once a user “Likes” your page, your posts should appear in their News Feed, prompting more interactions.
  2. Take the time to “Like” your friends’, family’s and colleagues’ pages as well. This will foster goodwill among your business contacts, and will help to expand the reach of your own page.
  3. Keep the information on your page fresh and current. Ideally, aim to post content a maximum of 3 times per week to your page. Each day, try to log on for just 15 minutes and interact with your “Friends” by liking, sharing and/or commenting on their posts. The more interactive you are, the better!

For more information on how to maximize the reach of your dental practice Facebook page, click here to read a brief post on Facebook Insights.

If you feel like updating your Facebook page is too time consuming, check out my previous post on creating a social media calendar for your dental practice. It is a great tool to use to keep your Facebook, and all social media profiles, updated without taking up too much of your valuable time.

In our next post, we will dive into Google+ and how this social media site impacts your dental practice website’s SEO.

Have you set up a Facebook page for your practice? Please feel free to share any comments, questions or experiences below.

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