Twitter and Facebook and Blogs..oh my!  YouTube and LinkedIn and Amplify…oh my!  Are you wondering how to fit all the pieces of the social media puzzle together? Are you feeling overwhelmed before you even get started?

Social media doesn’t have to be overwhelming, you can keep it simple…yes, simple.   There’s all the talk about social network sites, all the technical programs available, all the tools, all the applications, and there’s video…it goes on and on.  Where do you start and where does it all go?  How does it all fit together?

Putting jigsaw puzzles together is a great past time and if you’ve ever put one together you know you start out with putting your outside pieces, your frame, together first.  This becomes your “template” and your guide for where the rest of the pieces fit in the puzzle.

When starting with social media think of it as your jigsaw puzzle.  You’ll need to define your objectives, define your target market, and create your strategy.  In other words, define what it is you want to accomplish by using social media (your objectives), who do you want to reach (your target market), and how you are going to accomplish those objectives (your strategy).

Do you want to become the “go to” dentist in your area?  Are you wanting to grow your “family” dental practice?  Maybe you want to become “The” cosmetic dentist in your area or want to grow your practice’s email list.  Just what is it you want to accomplish?

Your objectives, target market, and strategy become your plan of action and your plan of action becomes your frame…your puzzle template. 

Once these pieces are together you’re ready to start filling in the rest of your puzzle…choosing your social networks.  To do this, you’ll need to be clear on your target market and familiar with which social networks they prefer to use the most. 

Let’s put this in perspective:  If you work out of 3 treatment rooms in your practice and your patient is seated in TR 3 and you’re seated in TR 2 waiting for that patient, you aren’t going to accomplish anything…you’re not where your patient is.  In other words, if you are on Twitter and your target is on Facebook…see the importance?  You want to go where the “eyeballs” are…be known and be seen where your target market is.

Just like your regular puzzle, you add one or two pieces at a time.  When choosing your social networks, start slow with one, possibly two, of the network pieces.  Many like to start with Facebook or Twitter and a blog.  As you get comfortable with these pieces, you have the option to add more pieces to your social network.  But the key is finding and working within your comfort level.

Whether you’re putting together a 500 piece puzzle (a couple of networks) or a 2000 piece puzzle (most of the networks) keep working and soon your social media puzzle will all be together in one good fit!

Technorati Tags: Dental Marketing, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, overwhelming social media, social media plan of action, social media puzzle, social media puzzle pieces, social media strategies

Social media is the buzz word in marketing.  You can be watching TV, eating in a restaurant, or on your computer and you will see or hear some mention of a social networking site.  It may be Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogs, or another of the many social networks.  

Whether you are on the social networks or not, you’ve even come to recognize their logos.  Social media has become a way of life and a powerful marketing avenue for businesses.  

But as powerful a source as social media presents, there are some business owners who still aren’t utilizing this incredible opportunity to grow their business sighting one or more of these 4 myths: 

Myth #1:  It’s Just A Fad

 Social media is still in its infant stages, however, it’s already proven its value and is definitely here to stay!  Facebook has over 400 million active viewers who spend over 500 million minutes per day on Facebook alone. 

Traditional advertising, newspaper ads, telephone ads, and direct mailers are static in nature.  They are usually advertisements about your services.  Once the printed piece is presented there is no opportunity for connecting with and engaging the viewer and answering their concerns. 

Social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs allow you to connect and engage your viewers with one on one conversation or group conversations.  

What does this mean for you:  More potential new patients and more treatment acceptance.  

Do you know anyone who likes…really likes…going to the dentists?  I don’t and I’ve been in it for almost 30 years.  But one of the most amazing facets of social media is the ability to become real, not just an advertisement or a picture in a telephone ad…you become real! 

Your viewers get to see their dentist as a real person, your personality, your hobbies, your likes and dislikes, even your ups and your downs… you’re real…you’re human.  You also have become their “go to” person in your field of expertise.  

Viewers are reading your posts, learning more about dentistry, finding out why they should visit a dentist and have their treatment done, seeing there can be medical complications when treatment goes undone.  All because you are presenting valuable information in your posts previously unavailable to patients due to limited time and access for information while visiting your office. 

All of this combines into establishing credibility, gaining trust, and building relationships and hopefully take some of the fear away associated with “going to the dentists”…and if a patient or potential new patient knows someone with a dental problem, who do you think they are going to refer them to….you!

Myth #2: Social Media Platforms Are Only For Teenagers

Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are no longer sites just for teenagers.  Businesses have found these networking sites to present an incredible opportunity for connecting with and engaging their audience.  

According to Inside Facebook, a Facebook tracking source ,the fastest growing demographic is Women over 55.  Women also comprised over 56.2% of Facebooks audience, and 45% of Facebook’s US audience is women over age 26.  

What does this mean for you:  Women make approximately 80% of the decisions concerning purchases for themselves and their families. 

What percentage of women are in your practice and what’s their average age…bet they fall into one of these two ranges above.  Women are extremely active on the Internet and social media networks.  When the phone rings at your office, well over the majority of the calls are from women scheduling appointments or getting information.  

Myth #3:  Too Time Consuming and Overwhelming 

The number of social media platforms available and all the information about social media can be overwhelming, IF you try to use all the networks starting out. 

One of the best pieces of advice is to start with just one, possibly two, of the social networks and become comfortable with how to use it.  Its better to be active and consistent on just a couple of sites than to be semi-active and inconsistent on a bunch of sites. 

Time is always a big factor in managing social media, but once past the learning curve, much of the work can (and should) be put on “auto-pilot”. 

Later if you determine you want to be active on the other sites but may not feel confident enough or may not have the time to manage the sites, you can always choose to outsource some or all your social media activities.  

What does this mean for you:  Choose where you want to start and jump in…take action!  

Realize you can assign someone in your practice (person must see the benefit and be social) to manage your social sites, however, this person should never post for you in the 1^st person as speaking for you.  You will also want to have a social media policy in place for “what to and what not to” post. 

As you grow you will learn much of your posts and information can be done ahead of time and preset to post in the future.  There are a lot of sites that allow you to make one post and then that site will automatically post your information to several other network sites…sort of  “one post does all”. 

Myth #4:  It Will Cost Too Much  

Your advertising budget is one of the largest expenses associated with your practice.  You have your newspaper and telephone book ads, magazine ads, direct mail outs, and possibly printed newsletters.  

Two major problems with traditional print ads:  1) They are static as mentioned earlier in this article and once read, there’s no interaction with the viewer.  2) With print ads, especially direct mail outs, at best there is only about a 5% return on the investment…what happened to the other 95% of your investment dollars? 

Solution:  Social media marketing – interacting with patients and potential new patients. 

What does this mean for you:  All the social media networking sites are Free to join, come with unlimited use, and are marketing your practice…24 / 7 / 365! 

It would be a mistake to pretend social media is totally free because there is the time involved with maintaining your sites, especially when maintained well whether maintained in-house or outsourced to a third party.  

When you factor in how many, or should I say how few, people are actually reached with traditional advertising, the cost of budgeting money for an ongoing social media presence pales in comparison. 

Add to that the fact only about 15% of the population still uses telephone books and print ads with the other 85% using online sources, you can see why creating and maintaining your online presence is critical to your practice. 

Bottom line:  When done correctly, social media marketing has the ability to cut your advertising budget by as much as 90%!  This translates into more money in your childrens college fund, more money to travel and enjoy life, and …last but not least, more time on the golf course (or your favorite hobby)!! 

The primary objective of social media marketing is a bridge that gives you access to people, information, and even companies that in the past, you didn’t have access to.  Its one-on-one contact and its word of mouth advertising in the best of forms and…most of its ….Free.  

Through your social media communities and patient inactivity you establish your practices online visibility, make contacts, gain their trust, and build profitable relationships ultimately leading to more new patients, more treatment acceptance, and more product and services sales.  

Isn’t that what you’ve wanted to do since you opened your practice? With social media…you can!

Technorati Tags: Livvie Matthews, myths about social media, Social media and Internet marketing, social media myths, social media truth or myth, Time investment for Social Media

Ever wondered about privacy issues with Facebook?   Or maybe you’re a Twitter fan and question Facebook’s credentials for doing business.    Have you tried Facebook only to say “I don’t get it”, or “This isn’t working for my business”.  Then this information might be just what you need.

This article from Mike Stelzner of Social Media Examiner gives 3 Reasons Facebook Trumps Twitter for Business.  In it Mike demonstrates, step by step, how to create lists on Facebook and how to set your privacy settings for who sees what posts. 

How about you, have you set your privacy settings or created lists on Facebook?

Technorati Tags: Creating Lists on Facebook, Facebook for business, Facebook for Lists, Facebook privacy, Facebook settings, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, Mike Stelzner, Using Facebook Lists

Opportunities abound with social media.  Social media platforms, social media strategies, social media marketing, but often it’s hard to get your message noticed.

Brian Rice of Social Media Today says:

…the question is how business owners can get themselves noticed without getting themselves marked as spammers.

In his post 5 Things You Should Do in Social Media to Get Heard Brian gives 5 easy to follow tips for getting your message noticed and heard. 

My favorite is the 1st one: Keep Your Message Simple.  I’m a big believer in keeping it simple.  Never underestimate what your audience knows…keep it basic.

Brian ends by saying “Social media is an art.  And like any other art, the more you practice social media the better you will become!”

Which one is your favorite?

 Keep being social!

Technorati Tags: engaging social media, Get your message heard, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, Social Media

Social media allows for something that’s never been available to businesses using traditional marketing in the past.  Social media allows you to connect…to talk…to create…an ongoing dialogue with your target audience!

Unlike print ads and direct mail outs that are static and limited in their information or even networking events that are one time meetings…social media allows you to “talk” with your audience…24/7.

This creates incredible opportunities to be visible and responsive to your market!

Your social platforms, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Blogs, allow you to present information to your patients they may not have known before.  Plus it presents the opportunity for them to connect with you and your staff.  You become real.

All the procedures you have available in your practice…articles of interest written by your or other dental professionals…”How to” information…local and national events happening that you are participating in …and what community services you and your team are a part of.   You can even create your dental video’s and post to your platforms.

If you are collecting email addresses through your social platforms, what about creating your online seminar’s  or video for specific procedures of interest – you already have your audience!

The biggest problem with traditional advertising – your telephone book ad’s, magazine ads, direct mail-outs – is there is no interaction between you and the potential new patients.

Using social media, you have the amazing opportunity to speak directly with your patients and perspective new patients AND be responsive to them by answering their questions and/or responding to their posts…joining in on the conversations.

Through your social media marketing strategies and platforms, you have an ongoing representative marketing your practice…24/7…creating credibility for you and your practice…gaining their trust…and building profitable relationships.  You’re REAL…they’ve gotten to KNOW you! 

In the mean time, if anyone they know has a dental problem…who do you think they are going to recommend and refer to??  You!  All because …you know how to draw new patients to you instead of driving them!

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Would you like to learn more about using Social Media to increase your online visibility, build profitable relationships, and grow your practice?  My name is Livvie Matthews and I help dentists learn how to leverage the incredible marketing power social media presents for your practice, treatment acceptance, and for your bottom line! I invite you to visit my website and sign up today to receive my Free Social Media Report http://bit.ly/5Pi0hl. Visit my Blog http://www.WriteBusiness.net/blog

Technorati Tags: Dental Marketing, Draw patients, engaging social media, Livvie Matthews, Patient Relations

Working in a dental office presents many challenges…daily, you could even say…hourly!  One of the biggest challenges is making certain your patients know you care because they don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care!

We had a dad bring in his young daughter today for several procedures.  As it turned out we needed to refer her to Pediatric.  Due to the procedures needed, their front desk person said they would have to work up a time frame and they would call the dad. 

The dad had to come back to our office later for the  band and loop to take to the pedo office and when he came in we could tell he was upset.  The pedo office had called him, the phone call had not been a good experience at all (first impression), and to make matters worse it was going to be August before she could be seen for a consultation!  

His daughter was upset this morning, he was upset because his daughter was upset, and to make matters worse, he had a bad experience on the phone with the pedo office regarding his daughter.  What do you think his impression was of that office?  And more importantly ~ what was his impression of our office for referring his daughter to them?

If you work in the front office you know what came next.  I got on the phone with the pedo office, spoke with their office manager, relayed the circumstances,  asked her to ”smooth” their first impression,  and worked out an appointment for the daughter to be seen this Tuesday.  Now what do you think the dad thinks of our office? 

In just a few short minutes we positioned ourselves as caring in several ways: 

• We let him know it matters and we care about his daughter and her well being
• We let him know it matters and we care about his inconvenience and his feelings
• We let him know it matters and we care about his experience in our office AND his experience in offices we refer to

In short, he now knows…we care.

What are some things you do in your practice to let your patients know…you care?

Technorati Tags: Building Business, caring dentists, Livvie Matthews, Patient Relations

Social Media Examiner is an excellent source of information for using all the social platforms.  This article written by Cindy King is another good example. 

In her article, 5 Simple Steps to Getting On Twitter,Cindy says: “Twitter is one of the social media tools most businesses want to learn about” and  walks you through, step by step, to setting up your Twitter account.  Read and enjoy Cindy’s article.

Have you created your online presence for your business? Twitter is just one of several social platforms for increasing online visibility, establishing trust, and building profitable relationhsip that ultimately leads to increased sales of your products and services.

Technorati Tags: Livvie Matthews, Setting up Twitter, social media marketing, Social Media using Twitter, Steps for setting up Twitter

There is a new, rapidly expanding revolution sweeping businesses worldwide.  New technology and the economy is forcing major changes in marketing strategies.  As a result, businesses are racing to shift gears from their strategies of days gone by, to today’s more competitive strategy of “word of mouth marketing”, also known as relationship marketing.

So what does this have to do with the dental profession?  Or maybe you’re thinking, “How does this apply to my practice. We aren’t into “mass marketing”.  You might even be saying, “We’re not even a ‘business’.” 

Whenever there has been a change in the business world it has always affected the professional world, since both worlds have the same base….people (customers/patients). Without people….there is no business or profession and with today’s economy and accelerating challenges facing doctors and staff members  daily, the dental profession has definitely become a “business”….a BIG business.

Dentistry has never experienced such a bombardment of progressive changes as just within the last five years.  Cosmetic enhancements…Veneers, Bonding, Bleaching…were almost unheard of a little as ten years ago.  Implants, which were rarely mentioned then, are common place today! 

Competition in the dental profession has never been stronger and with no end in site.  Fee-for-services vs managed care  vs patient addition/retention vs practice profitability…. PPO, DMO, PDO, traditional insurance…and the list goes on and on. 

Problem -Most critical challenge facing practices today:  How do you market new patients, retain patients of record (with all the outside influences), increase treatment enrollment, and decrease expenses, while building a profitable practice? 

Solution:  Social Media Marketing… (word of mouth advertising on steroids!)  Social Media is using online communities such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and even your blog, for increasing your practice exposure, building relationships, and ultimately creates an incredible opportunity to be responsive to your market and allow your patients to know how much you care.  Because patients don’t care how much you know…until they know how much you care!

Businesses have found out Social Media Marketing is THE way to market and brand their business.  Because “word of mouth” advertising (as we’ve preached for years) has always been – and will always be – the best form of advertising.

The primary objective of Social Media Marketing is a bridge that gives you access to people, information, and even companies that in the past, you didn’t have access to. It’s one-on-one contact in the best of forms, but at the same time you have the ability to reach hundreds, (even thousands) of people, and most of it’s ….Free.

That’s what social media communities are all about… making contacts, gaining trust, and building relationships ultimately leading to more treatment acceptance and product/service sales. 

It would be a mistake to pretend social media is totally free.  Although joining the sites  such as Twitter, Facebook,  LinkedIn, YouTube, etc are free to join with unlimited use, there is the time involved in maintaining the sites, especially when maintained well, whether maintained in-house or outsourced to a third party.         

However when you consider the massive amount of money spent by practices on traditional advertising and marketing, yellow page ads,   direct mail out’s that reach about 3%, at best 5% of the market mailed to (makes you wonder what happened to the other 95% of their investment). and magazine ads, then you factor in how many, or should we say how few, people are actually reached with traditional advertising, the cost of budgeting money for a ongoing social media presence pales in comparison. 

Social media can bring your practice exposure and can bring in new patients,  however, the real change only comes from within your own practice, implemented by you and your staff through social media and patient interactivity,  acting upon the belief that your individual patients are the number one, most important asset your practice has……because they are!

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Would you like to learn more about using Social Media to increase your online visibility, build profitable relationships, and grow your practice?  Livvie Matthews, a Certified Social Media Specialist, Blogger, and Speaker, is passionate about helping dentists leverage the incredible marketing power social media presents for their practice and their bottom line!   Email Livvie@writebusiness.net  with your questions. Visit http://www.writebusiness.net/blog

Technorati Tags: Dental Marketing, Dynamics of Social Media, Livvie Matthews, Social media and Internet marketing

One of the biggest questions asked about social Media today is not , “Is it here to stay”, but rather ”Is the time commitment worth the investment?”  or “What’s my Return on Investment (ROI)?” 

Social Media Examiner’s post by Amy Poterfield, offers an excellent answer and goes so far as to say

The real question is: “Just HOW MUCH time is needed to see a solid success?

You can read Amy’s post here Study Shows Time Pays With Social Media Marketing. 

What do you think?  Has your time using social media been worth the investment?  Post your comment below, I’d like to hear your opinion.

Technorati Tags: Social Media Return On Investment, Social Media ROI, Time investment for Social Media

Social Media has certainly become a factor for practices today.  Engaging online on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and even your practice blog presents tremendous opportunities for your practice, however how you participate, inside as well as outside your practice, presents tremendous accountability.

An example would be the recent firing of a waitress here in Charlotte, NC for her posting, off work, relating to a situation that happened at work  in the restaurant while she was working.  Fortunately for the restaurant, they had their social media policy in place for this situation.

In his post Social Media in the Workplace, Michael J. Lotito says:  

The best way to protect your company is to make sure you have a clearly outlined policy.

Whether or not your practice participates in social media, you can’t afford to ignore or downplay it’s role in todays workplace. By being proactive, your employees will be clear about what is acceptable in your practice and what isn’t when you have your social media policies in place.

Technorati Tags: engaging social media, Livvie Matthews, social media platforms, social media policies