Building Social Media Marketing

Last week I spoke with several of our dentists regarding their social media, and as I explained it, nearly all of them interrupted me and said “I’m a believer!  I just need to know what to do!”  Those words are music to my ears, and not only because it makes my job that much easier.  In fact, it makes your job easier.  Social media is kind of like Santa Claus- if you don’t believe in it, it doesn’t do you any good (maybe that’s a bad analogy, but you get the point).  Hopefully if you’re reading this, you are a believer in social media marketing.  If you’re not, that’s a subject for another post, but for the doubters: It works.  This post, however, is for anyone who wants their social media marketing to work.  Read on to find out how!

The first thing I want to say about making your social media marketing (hereafter SMM) work is that I don’t have all the answers or options- the absolute best way to use your SMM is in whatever way your imagination can come up with.  What I’m providing here are some tried-and-true ideas that you can adapt to your practice.  Use them as a starting point, not a guide, and if you come up with something you’re not sure of, tweet me or email me about it.

With that out of the way, let’s tackle SMM.  In a large way, SMM is like building a house.  How so?  Let’s examine, step-by-step:

Have a Plan: Without a plan, unless you are very lucky, your SMM will fail.  So sit down and outline a plan.  Are you going to handle all of it?  Are you going to delegate?  What is your objective?  Do you want new patients?  Or more repeat business?  Clearly define those things- and more- and then sit down with everyone who is going to be involved and go over it with them.  Spend time on this- a good plan now will save you time down the road.  A faulty house plan can lead to expensive changes down the road, and a well-though-out plan will turn out beautifully.

Build a Foundation: Get people who already know you and visit you to follow you on your social media.  Target your niche- it won’t do you any good to have random strangers following you.  If your current patients are the first ones involved, it will be easier for you to interact with them.  Make friends with them- the key word in ‘social media marketing’ is ‘social’, not marketing, so be social!  Remember, this is your foundation, so what comes next is supported by this- so make sure it’s strong!

Create a Strong Frame: Ask your ‘foundation’ followers to retweet and recommend you to their friends.  Make sure your social media links are in your signature on your email,  on any forums you use and on your website.  Interact with anyone who follows, recommends, likes or mentions you- it will make them more inclined to pay attention to you.  At this point, your house is almost ready- what’s missing?

Sell it: Make it look really, really good.  If your construction is solid, a few finishing touches will really sell it.  And if you have followed your plan, it will take a lot less work to get to this point than if you approach your SMM haphazardly.  This is the part where you sell yourself- promote your business, your services and yourself.  At this point, you should have a good mix of followers who you can appeal to and who respect you, so when you say you believe in a given treatment or services, they will trust you.  Share any specials you run with them and offer services especially for your social media contacts.  This is the part where you bring it all home (pun intended)!

One More Thing: Yep, there’s more- Do it again!  Stay involved, and stay on top of social media trends.  Be involved in new successful social media sites and you’ll continue to see the results, in your patients and your online reputation!

If you have questions about social media, dental marketing, or social media campaigns, give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.