Dentists Need An Online Presence!

October 15, 2021
internet dental marketing, Social Media

199281941 edit 1Everyone needs to see the dentist for their dental health. While the main function of any practitioner is excellent dental care, it is equally important to ensure the growth of the practice by bringing in new patients. The Internet, and social media in particular, is the ideal tool for this.

Your online presence is more important than ever. More than any other communications tool, the Internet lets you engage with patients and would-be patients in ways that build trust and improve your standing in your community.

Everyone Is Online!

Promoting your practice on the Internet is called digital marketing, and it will only get more important in the years ahead. The reason is clear: everyone is online.

  • 313 million people in the United States are active Internet users
  • 90% of Americans use the Internet
  • 77% of prospective patients research dentists with search engines
  • 44% of those searching on a mobile device will schedule an appointment

Social media is a steadily growing segment of the Internet, and dental practices that use it effectively are reaching more patients than ever before. This is reflected in improved profit margins.

Social media allows you to connect with members of your community by sharing your expertise. By establishing yourself as a professional who is happy to forge connections with your neighbors, you are already part of the conversation when people start asking for recommendations.

ProspectaMarketing can get you started. We are an Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices and the tools of Internet marketing. We help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Social Media and Dentistry

March 16, 2020
internet dental marketing, Social Media

Chances are you are using social media in your dental practice, at least to some degree. Are you using it to its fullest potential? Not all dental practices do – and that amounts to wasted opportunity.

shutterstock_1191153421You may think of social media as a harmless diversion; a way to pass the time on interesting but not very important subjects. The reality is that people enjoy seeing off-topic posts from dentists. Social media can help you find new patients, and retain them for years to come.

“Social media” is, of course, an umbrella term that refers to numerous platforms. But surveys show that Facebook is, by far, the dominant force. Most dental practices have a Facebook presence, and some even allow their patients to use it to request an appointment.

One study says that for some practices, Facebook directs as many new patients their way as does conventional word-of-mouth.

Content

And what sort of content is being posted by dental practices? You might think that another article reminding people to have a checkup twice a year would receive a collective yawn. Yet seventy-eight percent of what dental practices are posting, across the board, is dentistry-related.

That said, it is also true that people – that is, your would-be patients – love to see that it’s mostly ordinary people who work in dental offices. The topics that dental practices post about commonly include:

  • Office news and information (56%)
  • Special offers and coupons (42%)
  • Patient photos (38%)
  • Fun, non-dental posts (34%)

As we have stressed elsewhere on this blog, social media has grown tremendously in recent years. But it is still a fairly new tool – especially where dental practices are concerned. It may seem like a brave new world, but ProspectaMarketing can help. We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Social Media, Social Practice

March 2, 2020
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Social Media

Your patients are already using social media: in today’s world, that is a given. If your dental practice is not leveraging the power of social media to communicate with patients, you are overlooking at powerful tool.

shutterstock_1020407980_resizedAlmost everyone spends at least part of their day on social media. Eighty percent of Americans have at least one social profile, and for most people, especially younger ones, social media is baked into their daily routine. Some people reach for their phones to check their feeds as soon as they wake up every morning. Sound familiar?

Furthermore, social media apps are the most-used applications on mobile devices. Social media has tremendous value to your practice. You can use it to:

  • Let patients book appointments
  • Send out reminders
  • Ask questions
  • Ask for help

And that’s just for starters. Social media is already important for marketing your practice, and its importance is only going to increase in the years ahead.

Your practice should have someone whose job description includes monitoring your social media channels every day, looking for any comments and requests.

Being Social

Remember  to keep  the “social” in social media, too. Your practice should be active on the major sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. You can share dental health tips with users, and be active in online community groups.

Ephemeral content remains popular, too, and will continue to do so. Ephemeral content is content has a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t quality, like what you see on Snapchat and Instagram. It takes advantage of the way people consume content, and a phenomenon called “FOMO.” That stands for Fear of Missing Out. When new content vanishes quickly, users are likely to check in to the app on a regular basis.

It can be a complex strategy, but ProspectaMarketing can help. We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

More Pictures!

September 2, 2019
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Social Media

A picture, we have always been told, is worth a thousand words. But new research is telling us that lots of pictures, posted to your Google My Business profile, are worth even more.

apple-diet-healthy-eating-41282A study by BrightLocal, an SEO and local citation company, found that the more images a business has on its GMB profile – not just photographs, but any images – result in that business attracing many more prospects than it would have with fewer images.

The study looked at the GMB Insights of 45,000 businesses in three dozen industries and four countries. “It’s clear,” wrote BrightLocal’s Jamie Pitman, “that it’s more important than ever to look your absolute best when consumers are searching for businesses like yours.”

In other words, don’t just tell ’em what you’ve got – show them.

The study found that businesses with more than 100 GMB images get:

  • 520% more calls than the average business
  • 1,065% more website clicks
  • 2,717% more directions requests

The authors of the study concede that their research does not necessarily indicate a cause-and-effect between GMB profile images and new business. But they stress that GMB images do have an influence on customer behavior. The more images there are suggests the greater likelihood of taking customers “from discovery to conversion.”

The study recommends finding creative ways to encourage patients to post their own pictures. One suggestion is to create an “Instagram wall.” By that, they mean an area in your office that clients would find irresistable for using in selfies, like a model or mural.

The takeaway? Post lots and lots of great pictures of your practice to your GMB profile! That includes pictures that your customers are willing to share.

Need some help? ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Still A Force: Your Dental Blog

July 15, 2019
Blogs, Dental marketing, internet dental marketing, Social Media

Commercial websites, like those for dental practices, have used blogs as a marketing tool for years: raising their profiles and getting online visibility. But some trend-watchers say the days of the blog are numbered, as people’s love of social media keeps growing.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

First, though, a sobering thought: there are more blogs out there than anyone could possibly count. Of course, they’ve tried. By one estimate there are 500 million blogs spread out over 1.6 billion (with a B) websites. Every day there are about two million new posts. (Glad you found this one!)

That’s a lot of stuff to read.

Your Corner of the Web

The majority of these millions of blogs, of course, are niche – like dental blogs. There is a ready market for them, too, because the number of people online is steadily growing.

Studies show that blogging as effective as ever. But you have to be smart about it; you have to offer your readers something of value. You should use your blog to answer their questions.

For dentists, a good example of this is dental implants. The market for dental implants in the United States is expected to reach $6.5 billion (again with a B!) over the next five years. You can bet there will be a lot of patients, and potential patients, asking questions about them. Take your answers to your dental website blog.

Other things to keep in mind:

  • smartphone_01Make your site mobile-ready! Your audience is everywhere. As we’ve reported elsewhere on this blog, the move toward mobile devices is probably unstoppable.
  • Blog content can co-exist with social media. If there’s a hot issue on social media, your blog is the place to really expand on it. Likewise, blog content can be itemized on different social channels.
  • Offer unique blog content. Share your dental expertise; answer your patients’ questions.
  • Try short-form content. Be concise. No need for exhaustive detail on every subject. (And yes, we’re trying to keep this post short!) Long-form posts, though, still have their place.
  • Plenty of visual content. Not just pictures, but  video and infographics. They’re all attention-grabbing.

Does any of this sound overwhelming? It doesn’t need to be.

ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use all of the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Want to Advertise Online? Why Search Ads Make More Sense Than Facebook

May 21, 2012
, , Dental Advertising, internet dental marketing, Social Media

Before you decide to shell out big bucks to advertise your business on Facebook, consider taking a cue from GM. The third largest advertiser in the U.S., GM pulled $10 Million in ads from Facebook last week as a result of their ineffectiveness. How is it that the largest social networking website can be such a disappointment for advertisers?

Business Insider looked at what makes Facebook ads less effective than Google search ads. The key to successful advertising online is to understand user intent when you are choosing where to advertise.

With Google search, consumers are looking for a particular service and want to learn about the product they are researching.  With Facebook, users visit the site for entertainment purposes (for example, tagging their friends in photos from a concert or checking on whether or not their ex is dating someone new yet). Advertising here needs to be much more attention-grabbing because consumers are not using this website to research products.

Business Insider offers this insight:  “Search advertising—the kind Google provides—tends to be more effective on customers who are actively doing pre-purchase research. Facebook, on the other hand, is more of an entertainment medium; no one is shopping for cars on Facebook—a fact GM seems to have now learned.”

Another fact to consider- while it seems that nearly everyone is on Facebook, it actually reaches only 51% of all internet users, paling in comparison to Google’s colossal reach: 90% of all internet users.

If you are considering internet dental marketing, your success will depend on knowing what your user intent is and which medium would work best in order to reach those users.

How To React To Negative Reviews Online

May 3, 2012
, , , Local Internet Marketing, Online Reviews, Social Media

The importance of having a strong online presence is increasing as reviews on local listing sites such as Google, Facebook, Bing Local, Healthgrades, and Yelp are becoming more of a factor for ranking your business. We all want our business to have five star reviews across the board, but what should you do if you receive a negative review? Step one: take a deep breath.

Negative reviews are an unfortunate reality of any customer service industry. But they don’t always mean the downfall of your company. Here are some ways to react if you receive a negative review:

  • Try to resolve the issue with the reviewer directly. If you recognize the patient from their comments and why they may have reacted this way, try to contact them to see if you can address their concerns and come to a resolution. If they are satisfied, ask them if they could remove the negative feedback.
  • If a resolution cannot be met, it’s a good idea to respond publicly to the review as the business owner on the site. The customer may not be happy, but you will still need to present yourself as professionally as possible. Give responsive feedback by addressing concerns and explaining how you will rectify the situation in the future. Responses to reviews should be a reflection of your own business. Is the reviewer’s complaint legitimate? Take a moment to see if you can enact a change in your office that will be an overall improvement in the service you provide for future patients.
  • Use the public reply as an opportunity spin the negative into a positive and explain something about the practice that wouldn’t be known otherwise. For instance, do you offer a 100% patient satisfaction guarantee or their money back? Mention this.
  • Finally, and most importantly, bury the negative with positive reviews. There are a number of ways to encourage your patients to leave reviews. Whether it is through an e-mail request with a link to your review page, a QR code poster that lets them leave a review from their cell phone or having a device in the practice office that lets them leave immediate feedback, reviews are a vital part of improving your local listing search rankings.

So next time you get a negative review- stay calm. This is a chance to improve your service and turn a person who had a negative experience into another satisfied customer.