DentaltownUK May 2017 - 77

FAIL 2: Lack of conversation
WIN: Interaction with clients and followers

increases the value of your social presence and
you need to nurture online relationships to
maintain a presence.
Building a loyal network of real people (not
fake accounts or 'bots' as they are commonly
known) is not only topic-dependant, it's reliant
on frequency, too, meaning you need to 'chat'
regularly and relevantly.
Dentistry is a fast-changing industry so stay
abreast of new treatments, products and studies.
Time your promotions to coincide with major
events in the calendar, such as Easter, the summer holidays, Christmas and so on. Look out
for key awareness days, such as National Smile
Month, Mouth Cancer Awareness Month and
World Oral Health Day, when there will be a
spike in dental-related posts. Relate your posts
to these events and relevant organisations and
share with your audience, providing a link to
your practice website where they can either find
relevant information or how your team is getting involved in health promotions.

FAIL 3:
Poor posts, few images, no videos
WIN: Of course, whoever is responsible for your

social media activity must have a handle on
spelling and grammar.
For those of us who may need to gen up,
grammarly.com is a good online source-
although do make sure you click UK English
when it comes to spelling! It's also useful to have
an eye for a great picture-we're visual beings
and tweets with images reportedly receive 150%
more retweets than those without.
Use infographics, an easy-to-assimilate way
to help your audience digest key points of info,
or add video to your accounts. Short, professionally shot films with FAQ themes, such as
"Five Things You Need to Know About Dental
Implants," for example-as well as patient testimonials-are powerful marketing tools and
make for fast and effective communication
when it comes to brand messaging.
Finally, avoid using social media to solely 'sell'
your services. People tire of accounts that do
this, especially if the posts are repetitive.

FAIL 4: Failure to comply
WIN: The GDC is very particular about how

dental professionals behave online and rightly
so-once something is 'out there', it is hard to
retract, even once deleted, as a recent High
Court ruling on defamation suggests.
Do seek permission and get written consent if
you want to post full-face images of happy
patients and their successful smile makeovers.
Ensure your business has a social media policy, so nobody is in the dark about your, or the
GDC's, expectations. As the GDC adds: 'Your
online image can impact on your professional
life and you should not post any information,
including photographs and videos, which could
bring the profession into disrepute'.

FAIL 5: No balance or backup
WIN: Social media marketing is an affordable

platform, but you need to have a balance of
investment of time and strategy if you're going
to truly reap the benefits.
Nurturing your social media activity is
important, but by giving little or nothing to
website search engine optimisation (SEO), you
risk failure to engage fully.
Your website needs to be as visible as your
social media efforts in order to turn virtual
browsers into real-life patients in your chair.
A recent survey by specialist web design and
marketing agency Digimax reveals that 5 percent of SEOs do not have the foggiest idea what
SEO is, with 42 percent believing SEO was
simply about adding keywords to a website.
Despite the race for social media advertising,
web searches still drive 300 percent more web
traffic than social media, creating more than
half (57 percent) of all business leads.
Most dental practices struggle with consistent
social media activity. The principal will often
task social media management to a practice
manager or keen dental nurse but as the workload piles up, the social posts become less frequent and start to lack consistency. The key
ingredient for us at Digimax when managing
client social campaigns, is how far ahead we
plan. If you plan your posts up to two months in
advance, you can use software such as Hootsuite
to help you schedule your posts. ■

For more information, go to digimax.co.uk or digimaxdental.co.uk
dentaltownuk.com \\ MAY 2017

http://www.grammarly.com http://digimax.co.uk http://digimaxdental.co.uk http://www.dentaltownuk.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK May 2017