Dental Tribune UK Edition, October 4-10, 2010, No.24 Vol.4

October 4-10, 201022 Business Management Tribune United Kingdom Edition Quality. Security. Schülke. Protecting you throughout your working day The industry standard in Infection control product solutions. Schülke & Mayr UK Ltd. Sheffield S9 1AT | United Kingdom Phone +44-1142-54 35-00 | Fax -01 www.schuelke.com page 20DTß About the author Jodie Tisson is digital marketing channel executive at Denplan ‘Facebook users can add friends and follow- ers and keep them updated with regular messages. ’ The use of social media brings you close to patients at the click of a mouse media revolution. There are also plenty of dentist search sites you can make sure your practice is listed on, such as the Denplan ‘Find a Dentist’ site or the BDA dental list. Blogging Probably the most established social media outlet is blogging. A blog is a type of website which features regular entries and commentary from you and your practice team...and it’s com- pletely free! You can set up a blog in minutes by using certain web services and it is the ideal way of getting into social media. You can regularly post your lat- est practice news, events and update people on your services and products, or you could even try and write a series of short articles about the sort of treat- ments you offer and who they would be appropriate for. Blogs are picked up really well on search engines such as Google, and keen bloggers can subscribe to your blog and re- ceive alerts when a new post is uploaded. However, it is vital that if you decide to undertake a blog, or any other form of so- cial media, that you tell all your visitors and colleagues about it. Whether this is though post- ers or information cards in your waiting room, information on your TV screen, or a friendly word from your practice team, continuing to market the serv- ice you provide will ensure the best results. Facebook Easily one of the most popular social networking websites, Fa- cebook users can add friends and followers and keep them updated with regular messages. You can also update your per- sonal and business profile for free to notify patients about your latest news and join networks of other people with similar inter- ests. This will not only help you communicate regularly with your patients, but also keep you ‘in the loop’ with real-time news from your peers and colleagues. Twitter Twitter is a free social network- ing service that enables its us- ers to send and read messages known as ‘tweets’. Tweets are like online text messages of up to 140 characters, and can be great for sending individual pa- tients appointment reminders, instead of calling or writing. Just ensure that the people you are contacting are regular fol- lowers to ensure the message is received. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. Twitter is ideal for posting your blog and Facebook up- dates on or, if you have updated your website, it is a great ve- hicle for escalating your mes- sages to more people. You can also search for mentions of your practice and follow in the foot- steps of some larger companies and use the site to deal with cus- tomer enquiries and questions. Other options If you would rather ease your- self into the art of social media a great place to start is by adding a company profile of your practice to websites such as Wikipedia or Linked In. These are free sites and you can simply add your company details and a short de- scription of your products and services. These sites can be sub- ject to editing by anyone, so you need to make sure you check your page regularly. How do you know if it’s working? All this advice and information is all very well and good, how- ever, it is important to know that all the effort you are putting into social media is paying off. Per- haps the most valuable aspect of social media is the fact that it will raise your online profile, but it is also a great way of get- ting feedback from people who have visited the practice. Even if someone leaves negative feed- back, it is important to see this as constructive criticism and an opportunity to improve. You can also respond to these comments and any other questions or que- ries in order to help put people’s minds at rest. If you are more interested in actual facts and figures to show the value of the social media you have undertaken, there are a few websites out there which will monitor your brand name for free. However, because these sites are free, they can often be unreliable and work best if you have an unusual or distinctive practice name. There are com- panies which will monitor your online profile more effectively, but this can be expensive and are really designed for bigger organisations. I think the best way of monitoring the success of your social media are the most straightforward, as simply not- ing the number of interactions and comments on your social media sites each month can give you a really good idea of what messages were well received and the kind of thing your fol- lowers are interested in. A word to the wise however... undertaking an effective social media strategy requires a lot of work and regular updates, so it is not something to take on lightly. Some payment plan pro- viders, can give you a range of help and advice to assist you in choosing the best social media outlets for your business, but it is clear that with the world of social media ever expanding, it is vital that dental practices take advantage of this tool and utilise the benefits it can bring. DT