SIMPLIFYING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DENTAL PRACTICES

Transcription

1 Whitepaper FACEBOOK FACEBOOK SIMPLIFYING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DENTAL PRACTICES SIMPLIFYING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DENTAL PRACTICES

2 F A C E B O O K For many Americans it s hard to remember life before Facebook. Founded in 2004, the social media site quickly grew from a novel way for college students to get to know each other online into the world s second most popular website. 1 Along the way, Facebook evolved into a must-have marketing tool for business and service providers including dental practices. This whitepaper is designed as an introduction for anyone in the dental practice interested in learning how to use a Facebook business page to increase new patient flow and retention. It will specifically address: Reasons Dental Practices Need Facebook How to Create Your Business Page What to Post Best Times to Post W H Y D E N T A L P R A C T I C E S N E E D A F A C E B O O K P A G E Reason #1 - Your patients (and potential patients) are on Facebook Social media sites like Facebook are playing an increasingly large role in daily life. Today, the average person in the U.S. spends 11.5 minutes out of every hour online on Facebook. That s more than their combined time spent on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon. 2 Over 699 million people are on Facebook every day that s up 27% from last year. 3 Facebook s mobile presence also grew by more than 50% in 2012 to 819 million monthly users. 4 The social media giant now has the most popular smartphone app in the U.S. This helps explain how 28% of Americans check their Facebook page before even getting out of bed. 5 Reason #2- If you re not on Facebook you are missing an opportunity to connect with new patients Nearly 75% of online US consumers have opened a Facebook account. 6 With so many daily users, Facebook offers an ideal medium for reaching new patients. It combines word of mouth and online reviews two of the top ten ways consumers search for dentists into one forum. According to our nationwide 2013 survey, 24% of people now say they would consider a Facebook recommendation when choosing a dentist. 7 The impact of such recommendations should not be underestimated 72% of consumers say that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. 8 24% of people now say they would search for a dentist on Facebook. Reason #3 Consumers Expect to See You on Facebook Interaction on social media translates into buying behavior. Over 50% of consumers are more likely to buy a product or service since becoming a fan online. 9 Simply put, the more frequently consumers see your practice name and Like your practice, the more likely they are to remember it when they need a dentist. Even if your fans never become patients, they can still share your content with friends and amplify your potential patient base. 1

3 Reason #4 Facebook is about to become more important than Google Facebook recently rolled out Graph Search. This new feature supercharges Facebook s search capabilities; transforming the social media site into the Internet s most personalized search engine. Now Facebook works just like Google, with a very important difference. People can search for anything: photos of ducks, restaurants in Duluth, or dentists in Decatur. In addition to showing suggestions like Google, Graph Search also displays what their friends have posted on the topic. If a member of their social network Likes your practice, they ll see it immediately. Graph Search is going to revolutionize the way people choose personal services, like dentistry. You can only take advantage of this powerful new tool if your practice is on Facebook. Reason #5 Everyone else is doing it (Seriously, everyone) If reasons one through four aren t enough to convince you to launch a Facebook business page, maybe this will: Your leading competitors are already on Facebook. Currently 56.9% of dentists have a Facebook business page. 10 That figure is certain to grow based on social media marketing trends which saw the number of local business pages hit a record high of 16 million in May 2013 up from 8 million in June With so many businesses, including the dentist down the street, taking advantage of the free marketing opportunity Facebook offers, it is more important than ever that you establish a positive, patient-friendly presence in the online space your patients use most. The number of Facebook business pages doubled between June 2012 and May H O W T O C R E A T E Y O U R F A C E B O O K B U S I N E S S P A G E Creating a Facebook business page for your practice is easy. To begin, the dentist must first have a personal profile. DO NOT have a team member set up the business page from their own account, as they will permanently own the practice s business page! Here s what you need to do after completing your page. Step 1 While logged in to Facebook, go to facebook.com/pages/create Click on Local Business or Place. 2

4 Step 2 Select Health/Medical/Pharmacy. Complete the rest of the information and click I agree to Facebook Pages Terms. Then click Get Started. Step 3 Add categories (Dentist), a brief description of your practice and your website URL, (i.e. Internet address). If you already have a Google places page, you can click Add Another Site and add that URL as well. Select Yes indicating you are a real business and then click Save Info. 3

5 Step 4 Upload a profile picture. If you have a website you can import your logo or picture directly from your website. Step 5 Choose a unique address for your business page. Ideally this is your practice name with no spaces. For example: facebook.com/lakesidedentalla. Click Set Address. Next Facebook will ask you if you want to add a payment method so you can advertise on Facebook. Click skip for now. If you decide to advertise on Facebook you can come back and do this later. Step 6 Congratulations! Your new page is set up. Facebook will now prompt you to Like your new page. Do this. Step 7 At this point you need Facebook friends. Get your team to come to the page and Like it. Start posting friendly bits of information, (e.g. dental facts, trivia, oral health tips, etc.) that personalize your business. 4

6 W H A T T O P O S T O N F A C E B O O K Always remember that the purpose of your Facebook page is to give people a sense of what it s like to visit your office. It s not for clinical information, which should be either avoided entirely or at the most very subtly folded into your posts. Whenever possible include imagery in your posts. Research shows that photos generate the highest number of likes, shares and comments. 11 Patients especially like seeing photos of the dentist and the team members. Clinical images are considered a patient turn-off and should not be used. Facebook recommends that you post at least once per day to keep people engaged with your practice s page. Feel free to experiment with the frequency of your posts. Each practice s following is unique and your followers may respond better to more or fewer updates. Be advised that overposting is the most-frequently cited reason Facebook users give for unliking a page. 12 To be on the safe side, posting twice a day should probably be your limit. Following are ten ideas to help you get started with your Facebook posts: 1. Photos of happy patients. You don t have to go into their case at all, just show the results. Or name them Patient of the Day. You could also show a beforeand-after series if you have their permission. On the topic of permission, be sure to get a signed release for anyone patient or staff whose image (e.g. photo, video, etc.) appears on your Facebook page. 2. Video reviews from patients. You can do this with a smart phone, a tablet or a video camera. (The first two make it easy to post, and the patient can do it themselves.) Photos generate the highest number of Facebook likes, shares and comments. 3. Contests. It s fun to have occasional giveaways. They don t have to be big items, but perhaps something that is specific to your town or neighborhood, or tickets to a musical or sport event. Facebook has rather stringent rules about how contests are conducted. Make sure you review their guidelines on facebook.com/page_guidelines.php before initiating a contest or giveaway. 4. Sponsorships. Sponsoring local sports teams are a great way to get your name out in the community. You can radically amplify the value of these sponsorships by posting on Facebook about them. 5. Milestones for employees. New hires, births, marriages, work anniversaries, educational or training achievements these all make great posts, especially with a photo. 6. Dental events in the news. News items, especially ones involving celebrities and their teeth, are popular. Repost any pro-dentistry celebrity story you find they appear with surprising frequency on sites like perezhilton.com, radaronline.com and TMZ.com. One way to find and share these stories is to Like us on Facebook. 7. Holiday wishes. There is some kind of holiday every month. And each month has at least one cause dedicated to it, such as Black History month, and there are many special days also, like Take Your Daughter to Work day. Capture or commemorate those events and share them on your page. 5

7 8. Your blog posts. Here s your chance to sneak in something clinical. All you do is explain what is in your blog with a link to it. 9. Cartoons and funny photos. If you come across something funny, even not related to dentistry, put it up on Facebook. Also, get in the habit of grabbing a picture with your phone when you see something unique or interesting. People tend to share these types of things, which gets your name out there even more. You can even have Write a Caption contests with some of the shots you ve taken. 10. Reviews from surveys. This has huge value, as people are looking for online reviews about you. If you use a digital communication tool such as PatientActivator, it surveys your patients, and when they write a review as part of their response you can post it to your Facebook page with one click. (Call for more information about PatientActivator). In short, post whatever you find interesting. The idea is to show the personal side of you, your team and your practice. Have fun with it. Involve the whole team, and you ll be amazed at how it becomes part of the way you operate and how often your patients will comment. One word of caution regarding Facebook posts: Always be mindful not to violate HIPAA. Remember to get a release from every patient before you post their image, etc. It should have language that allows you to use their photographic and video images in all media, including social media, in perpetuity. If they won t sign a release, don t post any images of them. They, of course, can post anything they want themselves, if they re using their phone or tablet in the office, let s say. And they can t violate HIPAA. B E S T T I M E S T O P O S T There s a lot of confusion over when it s the best time to post on Facebook. Recent research indicates that Facebook posts have the greatest reach between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. EST Monday through Thursday, and that 3 p.m. Wednesday is the best time to post. 13 This finding is challenged by some social media experts who believe posts get the biggest reaction between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST Monday through Friday when people go online at home after work. 14 These same experts suggest weekends when people have more free time to spend on Facebook are also a very good time to post. Our advice is to experiment with the timing of your postings to see which times work best for your practice. S U M M A R Y Today, a Facebook business page is an essential part of every dental practice s marketing toolkit. While the dental industry was initially slow to take advantage of the wonderful marketing opportunities offered by the immensely popular social media site, it s encouraging to see that the majority of dentists now recognize the importance of maintaining a positive, patient-friendly social media presence. This whitepaper walks you through the basics of getting started. However, if you re currently a PatientActivator member, our full-service support team can also walk you through the process helping create your Facebook page, as well as enabling our powerful social media features, including adding Request an Appointment function, putting your positive review on your profile, posting promotions and coupons, and more. Finally, remember that just having a Facebook page isn t enough. You also have to monitor it for comments that need a response and update it regularly with new content. Remember, patients want to see you as actively engaged with their favorite social media site as they are. 6

8 A B O U T F U T U R E D O N T I C S Futuredontics, parent company of DENTIST and Patient Activator, is the nation s leading provider of dental marketing services. Since 1986, the Los Angelesbased company has dedicated itself to developing powerful products that help dental practices thrive. Recognized as dentistry s premier new patient leads program, the company s flagship DENTIST service has helped over 9 million dental patients nationwide connect with member dentists. Every day, thousands of patients get personally matched to dentists through their 24/7 call center or via 1800dentist.com. PatientActivator Futuredontics communications, social and online reputation solution increases production and boosts the practice s online presence with automated appointment confirmations and tools for marketing, social media, reviews and much more. Futuredontics also offer an extensive library of dental marketing resources including whitepapers, webinars and videos. With unlimited live customer support, dentistry s best marketing products and North America s largest dental referral website, Futuredontics is the proven way for dental practices to grow their patient base and increase production year after year. For more information about our dental marketing services visit us at References 1 Top Sites, October 5, 2012, http/. 2 Mashable, Facebook Is the Web's Ultimate Timesink [STATS], February 16, Mashable, Facebook's Impressive Second Quarter Results in Charts, July 24, Mashable, Facebook's Impressive Second Quarter Results in Charts, July 24, Readwrite.com, Whoa: Facebook Now Owns Over 25% Of Total Time Spent On 6 MarketingCharts.com, Overposting Drives Away Facebook Fans, February 11, What Dental Patients Want, Futuredontics 2013 Consumer Survey 8 SearchengineLand.com, Study: 72% Of Consumers Trust Online Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations, March 12, CMB Consumer Pulse, Consumers Engaged Via Social Media Are More Likely To Buy, Recommend, February Dental Marketing in the Digital World, Futuredontics 2013 Industry Survey 11 Mashable, How to Get More Likes, Shares on Facebook, June 19, MarketingCharts.com, Overposting Drives Away Facebook Fans, February 11, Social Media Today, Best Times to Post on Social Media, May 10, Forbes, 8 Surprising Ways To Be More Popular On Facebook, April 16, 2013 Disclaimer: This whitepaper provides general marketing advice. Please consult your legal professional to ensure compliance with applicable laws in your jurisdiction. 7