Have you been thinking of increasing your practice’s online presence, but not sure how to get started? An increasing number of dentists have become familiar with using social media in their personal lives, but may not be comfortable or know where to begin incorporating social media into the practice’s marketing plan.

Here are a few ideas to consider when beginning your social media campaign:

– What sites are you already familiar with? This will help ease you into social media if you are using a site that you are comfortable with.

– What sites do your patients use? If you do not know, have your staff begin asking patients each day and keep track of the responses. Particularly pay attention to the sites used by patients who are most similar your “target patient”.

There are endless ways to participate in social media online. The most popular sites include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+. It’s important to remember that, with social media, quality is more important than quantity. So if you feel you only have time to engage on one of these sites, it is better to actively participate in just one site and build your audience with thoughtful and timely posts. Once you have mastered one site, you can then think about expanding into more.

Social media is the biggest buzzword to hit the dental profession in decades. Having a presence on social media sites serves to increase the traffic to your practice website and helps new customers to find your information when searching online for a dentist.

Is your practice online? What sites have you found to be most useful for your practice? Did you have any hesitations while getting started? Please share your thoughts below.