These days almost everyone has a smartphone and access to social media. Not only has social media changed our society, but it also has changed how your dental practice can—and should—market itself on social media.
Patient “selfies”
Let’s say you want to take a photo with a patient. Given the prevalence of smartphone technology, you can just use your patient’s phone to take the picture and ask them to post the photo to your practice’s Facebook page. Use a polite and friendly approach in asking, and a patient will be happy to do so, providing free word-of-mouth advertising for your practice.
Having your patients post photos promoting your practice gives you an organic reach with a much higher marketing value. Not only will people who already have liked your page and are familiar with your brand see the photo, but the people who are friends with that patient will also see it. For these people, the photo serves as a bridge of recommendation between two trusted connections—their mutual friend and your business. Each of these Facebook friends then becomes a prospective new patient.
If a patient voluntarily posts a picture to your Facebook page, it also eliminates red tape. No HIPAA compliance permission form is necessary because the patient is choosing to post the photo.
Get staff members involved
So to beef up your practice’s reach on social media, we recommend you begin instructing your staff on how to kindly ask patients to help out by taking a picture using their own phone and posting it to your practice’s social media page. This will maximize the effectiveness of Facebook in not only promoting your brand but also finding new patients.
What pictures work best?
This really just comes down to what you are trying to portray to your audience. If you are a dentist that prefers to focus on cosmetic dentistry, then consider asking patients who are about to undergo treatment to take a “before” picture to post, and then another picture after their treatment is complete. These before and after pictures really grab the attention of viewers.
Similar scenarios apply to orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, and more. In fact, this approach applies to any type of business. Maybe you want to help boost your patient intake over on the dental hygiene side. If that is the case, how about politely asking patients to snap, and then post some selfies of them getting their teeth cleaned.
How do I know if something is ok to post?
When in doubt, don’t post anything that may be construed the wrong way or that is not appropriate for all ages. Don’t be afraid to get creative or even add a little humor into a post from time to time. Just remember to be tactful and appropriate, as this will be seen as the “face” of your practice.
Bryant Consultants offers services that can help you realize your vision, establish goals, and set processes in place to evolve your business. Contact us by calling (877) 768-4799.
We provide consultation, training, and coaching to help improve the operations of your business so that you can provide exceptional service to your customers. No office is out of reach for us; we will even come to you!
