DentaltownUK July 2017 - 24

Involving patients in your practice's charitable giving is another way to bring patient
engagement to a new level. People like to give,
and when you make it easy, it's a win-win.
For example, commit to donating to a local
charity when you reach a certain number of
likes on Facebook (depending on your practice,
100-250 may be a good place to start), and
encourage your followers to make it happen.
Another way to involve patients in giving is to
donate to a breast cancer awareness charity for
each patient who posts a selfie wearing pink
in the dental chair and tags your practice
during the month of October. To increase
the camaraderie, be sure to post photos of you
and your staff participating as well.

While goodwill is great, don't be afraid to
provide a little incentive. In fact, an industry
report4 revealed that 35 percent of Facebook
users liked a page so they could participate
in contests. Use this to your advantage by
including chances to win in your social
media strategy.
There are two ways you can run a contest
on Facebook, either directly on your timeline
or by using a third-party contest app. Timeline
contests are quick and easy to launch. To
get started, post a status update on your
page detailing the contest criteria and have
participants "like" or comment to enter.
Don't forget to "pin" your post to keep it at
the top of your page.
Timeline contests deliver quick page
engagement and make participation easy.
One potential challenge with this method

Using a third-party contest app for all
aspects is also an option. For a fee, apps like
WishPond, Rafflecopter, and Shortstack (just
to name a few), provide a tab app which your
followers access via a link or thumbnail on your
page. The tab app houses all contest-related
information (rules, entry form, etc.) and
automates the entire process. This method is
great for large, multisite practices that engage
with a large online population, and/or those
that want to gather participant emails for
future outreach.
Generally, the longer the contest timeline,
the larger the prize. For example, it would
make sense for a contest giving away a
weekend stay at a local B&B to be open much
longer than a drawing for a three-month
supply of floss. (Not that oral hygiene isn't
as compelling-wink, wink.) Some timelines
will be influenced by the contest topic-you
wouldn't ask patients to choose Halloween
costumes after October 31-but others are
more dependent on practice factors such as
the number of contests you want to run in
a given period.
Aside from their opinions, what do
people most love to share on social media?
Pictures-of themselves, their kids, their
pets, their lunch-essentially everything.
In fact, HubSpot reports that content with
visuals garners 94 percent more views, and
is 40 times more likely to be shared on social
media than text alone.5
So how do you leverage this behavior to
benefit your practice? Start by asking! (Novel
idea, isn't it?) Post signs in your lobby and
have front-desk staff ask patients to check in

is selecting a winner. If your contest garners
20 responses, you can easily execute it on
your own. However, if you generate hundreds
of likes, choosing a winner in an unbiased
way becomes more difficult. This is where
an app, such as Woobox, can help. These
apps automate the random selection process,
taking it completely off your plate. Just
don't forget to follow Facebook's policies.

on social media and tag your practice. Create
a selfie-station with props-think oversized
teeth and signs denoting regular check-ups
(#Every6Months #YourPracticeName.) To
encourage participation, patients who check
in and tag your practice or post selfies with
#YourPracticeName can be entered into a
drawing for an electric toothbrush, movie tickets,
or a gift certificate to a local restaurant. Prizes

Maximizing your benefits

24

JULY 2017 // dentaltownuk.com
http://www.dentaltownuk.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK July 2017
