Reach out to maximum customers by posting about your business on social media. Marketing of your business on social media is not an easy task. There are some steps that one should follow so that you can take your business to the next level. For more details, have a look at the ppt provided.
How to Create a Social Media Strategy for Your Dental Practice
1.
2. You know that your business should be present and
engaged on social media, but how do you know what
to post? More importantly, how do you know if what
you are posting is worth your time and effort? We’ve
done our research and have determined that there
are 6 key steps to follow when creating a social
media strategy. While the initial setup might seem a
little daunting, it will be worth it in the long run!
3. Step 1: Set Your Social Media Marketing
Goals
There is nothing worse than not knowing if your time
and effort is paying off. If you start posting on an
inconsistent basis, with no way to measure progress
and with deadlines to achieve goals, you will only
succeed in spinning your wheels. Start off by
determining what goal you want to achieve (i.e.,
growing your brand awareness by increasing
followers or likes). Then layout S.M.A.R.T. goals to
achieve this.
4. S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic and Timely.
Some examples of goals specific to dental offices
would be; acquiring new patients, building your
community or turning patients into advocates for
your dental practice. You can measure your new
patient growth tracking phone calls or online
bookings from social media platforms.
5. By monitoring your growth (i.e., likes, followers,
mentions, etc.) you can see if you are growing your
online community and therefore increasing brand
awareness. Meanwhile, patient testimonials and
reviews turn patients into advocates for your dental
practice. When it comes to finding new services,
social proof is one of the key influences that help
someone determine where to go.
6. Step 2: Learn About Your Audience and the
Best Platform to Reach Them
As the owner of a dental practice, your patient list
gives you a starting point to determine your
demographic. However, do you know which portion
of your patient list to focus on? For example, if you
want to increase the number of implant patients you
would not target the 18-30-year-old demographic.
Rather you would focus on the 40-65-year-old
demographic.
7. We realize most people in their 40s do not require
implants, however, many of them have parents who
are entering the phase in their life where tooth loss is
occurring more often.
Our Dental Consumer Research Guide provides a
detailed explanation of what patients focus on when
choosing a dental office. This guide is filled with tips
on the different types of content to place in your
messages to attract new patients.
8. Step 3: Research Your Competition and Learn
From Their Mistakes (or Successes)
You can run your own testing to see which content
will generate more engagement or you can start by
checking out your competitors. There are several
different social media marketing tools available that
allow you to monitor your competitors. These tools
can track the number of posts, level of engagment
and activity that each of your competitors generate
on the various social media platforms. A few
different options to look at would be Hootsuite,
Hubspot and SEM Rush.
9. By watching what your competitors post and the
level of engagement that ensues, you will be able to
see what information, posts or topics are generating
interest online. Once you have an idea of what your
future patients want to hear, you can create your
own content on a similar topic. For example, if a
competitor has shared a how-to info graphics that
talks about helping a child brush their teeth, you
could create a video of you (or another team
member) demonstrating the best way to brush a
child’s teeth.
10. Step 4: Create a Content Calendar
Creating a content calendar may feel like a daunting
task to begin with, but once you start entering in the
content topics you will quickly begin to develop a
pattern. When creating your content topics, it is
important to remember the following: only post on
each platform 4-6 times per week and follow the
80/20 rule. You only want to post 4-6 times per
week, so that you do not overwhelm your followers
with content. This is one case where the saying ‘less
equals more’ rings true.
11. As for the 80/20 rule, 80% of your posts should
contain content that is fun, educational and
personable (i.e., sending holiday greetings, sharing
pictures of office events or informative pieces on
dental health). The other 20% of your posts can be
geared towards promoting the services and products
available at your practice. In today’s digital world,
where consumers are bombarded with ads at every
click of the mouse you want to avoid being tuned out
if you are only trying to sell them something.
12. If you are still stuck on where to start with your
calendar, start by filling in all the holidays and
important days. For example, New Years Day,
Valentines Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of
July, etc. A simple post that contains an appropriate
image and saying is enough. If you are looking for
ideas, we share postings in our Dental Marketing
Mastery group on Facebook. You can join here.
13. The next step is to start entering information around
important times of the year. For example, in early
summer you can send out a post reminding parents
to book their child’s back-to-school checkup. Or in
October, you can send out a post to remind patients
that their benefits will soon run out and they should
use them up before the end of the year.
14. Step 5: Schedule Your Posts When
Engagement is Highest
The easiest way to schedule all your posts is to use a
social media management tool, such as Hootsuite,
Hubspot or Sprout Social. Each platform offers
different levels of service at varying prices. By
utilizing one of these tools, you can conveniently see
all your posts for on each social media platform in
one location. This can be a huge time saver.
15. Step 6: Engage with Your Online Community
This is potentially the most important step of your
social media marketing strategy. If you or a staff
member take the time to lay out a content calendar,
create engaging content and schedule your postings
at the best times – your work will be wasted if you
do not join in the conversation.
16. Engaging with your followers, patients and online
community is key to increasing your marketing
potential, boosting brand awareness and increasing
customer satisfaction. Set aside 15-20 minutes a day
to access your social media platforms and review any
notifications that may have come in.