Social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, are as commonly used today as television, radio and even the telephone. It is through these channels that your patients communicate with one another, with you, and with your community. Phone book advertisements are becoming extinct and have little or no impact on whether a potential patient chooses you over your competitor.
Instead of picking up the phone book, patients are now turning to social media sites like Facebook and surveying friends and acquaintances about their preferred healthcare professionals…and hair stylists, preschools, and dining establishments, too! Social media channels possess what static forms of communication lack: real-time answers from trusted sources.
Therefore, in order to survive and thrive, your practice needs to have an online – and preferably – a social media presence. Without that, your patients cannot refer you to their friends and family because they can’t “find” you online. If you’re nowhere to be found, then your credibility and relevance are questioned by those who seek immediate answers to questions such as: “Who is this dental professional?” “Where is this practice?” “What do other patients have to say?” “Why should I become a patient?”
Social media is, after all, social in nature. Your fans want to know about you, see photos of your office space and staff, learn interesting tidbits of information, be entertained and engage with you, whether its through responses to a "Question of the Day" or through a contest where the grand prize is a tablet PC.
The caveat is that if social media is poorly managed, it can be as detrimental as not having a presence at all. Engagement is key. But, keeping fans engaged is time-consuming and can be challenging to do with limited time and resources.
For success in social media, you must know: when to connect, what to say, how to say it, and to what audience it is being said. Then, you must update that information on a regular basis so that fans continue to visit your page and you stay relevant in their minds.
Like the phone book ad of the past, an online presence today is a necessary component of any practice’s marketing plan. However, unlike its static brother, a social media presence requires constant attention or it will do nothing more than take up a piece of cyberspace and, potentially, make you and your practice obsolete.
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