This document discusses dentists' use of Facebook for marketing and networking purposes. It finds that 9 out of 10 dentists prefer Facebook and that most dentists use it both professionally and personally. While some dentists are unsure how to use Facebook effectively, many find success in connecting with current and potential patients, sharing content, and offering discounts. The document provides tips on engaging patients through Facebook, such as asking questions, sharing stories and photos, and highlighting community involvement. It emphasizes focusing content on moms, a key demographic for dental practices.

1. 9 out of 10 dentists prefer
Facebook for marketing….

2. Intro
834 Design & Marketing
Adrienne Wallace, MS, MPA
Twitter: @adriwall
Twitter: @834design
LinkedIn: /adriwall
Facebook: /adrienneawallace
Facebook: /834design

3. 9 out of 10 dentists use
Facebook as their
preferred place to
network online (2012)
While Facebook is facing criticism over their often-disputed privacy policies,
most of the dentists using Facebook use it for both professional and
personal networking.
• “We are at the beginning stages of our Facebook dental marketing. We
are using it as an informational, personable and promotional platform.
We are giving our patients useful information, keeping them updated on
what is new in our office, and giving away prizes for liking our page. We
also give patients $5 off their services when they check in!“ responded
one dentist.

4. Statistics
Are you using FB?

5. Statistics
Why are you on FB?

6. • 88% Basic information about business.
• 65% Share content like video/images.
• 61% Connect with current dental patients.
• 50% Offer specials and discounts.
• 35% Connect with peers in dentistry.
The 67%

7. Statistics
Why aren’t you using FB?

8. Not understanding what to do with a Facebook page proved to be a
particularly popular sentiment among the 33% of dentists not using Facebook
at all.
When asked why they are not using a Facebook page, dentists gave the
following reasons –
• 46% Not sure what to do.
• 28% Not interested.
• 13% Don’t have time.
• 13% Other
Not on FB

9. The “other”
“Too much exposure!” (California dentist)
“Too many viruses, etc.” (Wisconsin dentist)

10. Reported Barriers
• “Facebook is really hard to learn and it keeps
changing.” (Massachusetts dentist)
• “I’m not sure what’s the best, most cost-effective way to
use it in a way that fits our practice.”(Alabama dentist)
• “I would like to know: what are some good ways to get
people to follow you on Facebook?” (Missouri dentist)
• “What does having a Facebook business page really do over
what good internal marketing can?” (New York dentist)
• “I’m sure it’s something I SHOULD be doing and wish I could
learn and arrange time to do everything I SHOULD be
doing.” (California dentist)
• “It’s probably the wave of the future, but I don’t have the
time to spend an hour a day devoted to it.”(General dentist)

11. Reported Success
• “We are able to connect not only with our own patients but
also with their Facebook friends when they like or share
one of our posts or videos. It helps us to get the word
out.” (Missouri dentist)
• “Having a Facebook page is a necessity in today’s social
media driven society!” (General dentist)
• “I felt it was critically important for us to understand our
Facebook audience and how they like to engage with us on
Facebook. So far it has been a positive experience.” (Ohio
dentist)
• “Not a huge hit yet, but lots of potential for referrals from
our patients that not only “Like” us, but love us: our raving
fans.” (Illinois dentist)

12. How & What
Here is how dentists responded -
35% Never use social media
14% Use social media less than one post per month
16% Use social media at least one post per month
35% Use social media at least one post per week
Tools used -
31% Facebook only
1% Twitter only
21% Both Facebook and Twitter
33% Did not indicate what social media tools they use
14% Facebook and other

13. Tools Used

14. Ten Ways to Engage
1. Ask questions.
Asking questions of your dental patients is a great way to engage
them on your FB page.
Ask them fun questions like what their favorite dental chair is in
your office, or what they think of recent changes to Facebook (there
are always changes to Facebook that you can ask them about).
Facebook users love discussing Facebook and giving advice.

15. Ten Ways to Engage
2. Share personal stories with photos.
Share images of you and your office staff on Halloween when
everyone is dressed in costume, or St. Patrick’s day when everyone
is wearing green, but use these fun images as a way to engage your
Facebook fans into sharing what it is about your dental practice they
enjoy.

16. Ten Ways to Engage
3. Hold a contest.
Create a contest strictly for your Facebook fans. Maybe host a
Facebook trivia contest where your fans are asked to guess
something about their favorite dentist… your favorite color, your
favorite restaurant, your favorite hobby, etc., and offer a prize to the
winner.
Maybe, if they guess the right answer to your favorite restaurant,
you can team up with that restaurant to offer the winner dinner for
two as the prize.

17. Ten Ways to Engage
4. Cross-promote neighborhood businesses.
Is there a local restaurant where you always enjoy lunch, or a place
you like to take your children? Why not promote their Facebook
Page?
Do some of your patients have businesses you enjoy? Think about
talking about them and their business on your FB page.

18. Ten Ways to Engage
5. Post Facebook content when your dental patients are online.
Most businesses post their Facebook updates during the work day
— not before 6:00am or after 6:00pm.
Marketing research has discovered that content posted outside of
9:00am – 5:00pm timeframe had higher user engagement rates
than posts made during the work day.
Many working moms like to visit Facebook before their kids are up
in the morning or after they have gone to bed.
Think about offering them something during these hours.

19. Ten Ways to Engage
6. Share employee recognition.
Is there an employee whom your patients seem to love? Do you
reward your employees on a regular basis? Think about sharing this
recognition with your patients and fans on Facebook.

20. Ten Ways to Engage
7. Highlight your community service.
Does your dental practice sponsor a local baseball team or high
school Little League team? Think about posting their game schedule
or their losses and wins and ask your fans to attend their games in
support.
Ask patients to upload photos of the games they attend.

21. Ten Ways to Engage
8. Use check-in deals on Facebook.
Facebook allows people to check-in to a business using the mobile
Facebook app on their smart phone. T
o encourage your dental patients to use this app and make an
appointment with your dental practice you can create a check-in
deal for your page.
Maybe you offer those patients who use this mobile app something
extra at your practice like a treatment they can use within the year.

22. Ten Ways to Engage
9. Offer dental care tips, tricks and techniques.
Post dental care tips detailing ways in which your patients can take
care of their teeth to avoid cavities, or gum disease.
Think about all the ways you can help your dental patients protect
their teeth, or offer signs of dental problems to watch out for —
especially with their children.

23. Ten Ways to Engage
10. Ask your followers for content-Crowdsource.
Ask your Facebook fans for sugar-free recipes — or for ways they
have convinced their small children to brush their teeth before bed.
Ask your fans to offer up solutions to common issues with dental
care. Highlight and talk about the best solutions from your fans.

24. Exercise
Groups of 2-3 people
Using the ten ways presented come up with one example under
each way.
Bonus: we are writing your content strategy RIGHT NOW!

25. Five other things you should consider
1. Best Dental Marketing Vectors
Many dentists believe that word-of-mouth referrals are the best way
to secure new dental patients while ignoring the dental marketing
opportunities presented by engaging in social media.
Dentists are further challenged by where to allocate their limited
marketing resources in order to see a quality return on investment –
be it for time, money, or both. But there is great opportunity in the
use of social media to attract and engage new dental patients.

26. Five other things you should consider
2. Dental Marketing with Facebook
Many dentists worry about the number of Facebook followers when
they really should be worrying whether their followers are reading
and enjoying what they are posting on Facebook.
The difference between Facebook and other dental marketing
efforts is that a dental practice needs to invest a little bit of time on
Facebook.
This small amount of extra time can go a long way and can even
provide a rewarding experience as dental patients begin to provide
feedback and communicate directly with a dental practice.

27. Five other things you should consider
3. What To Share on Social Media
Utilizing various social media sites as part of an effective Internet
dental marketing plan will provide a dentist with the ability to
connect with potential dental patients directly.
A dental practice’s online presence is more than putting up a dental
website and having a local Google business listing; it’s about being
transparent and connecting with the community on a more personal
level.
Consistent and honest content.

28. Five other things you should consider
4. Avoiding Negative Online Reviews
Dealing with a negative online review can be a nightmare for many
dentists because one poorly executed response can hurt years of
dental marketing efforts.
Many dentists learned that the better prepared a dental practice is
on how to handle a negative review, the less likely the dentist is to
blow what could be a dental marketing opportunity.
Yes, negative online reviews can be a dental marketing opportunity.

29. Five other things you should consider
5. Dental Video Marketing
Reports revealed that video appears in around 70% of the top
Google search listings, thus dentists began looking into creating
dental videos.
This was a smart move by dentists as dental videos are an easy way
to gain attention for your dental practice and beat your competition
in search results.
When it comes to Internet dental marketing, there is no better
investment than web videos and original content.

30. Exercise
Groups of 2-3 people
Using the bonus five ways presented come up with one example
under each way.
Bonus: we are writing MORE of your content strategy RIGHT NOW!

31. Bad can be good; the power of a mulligan
Dealing with a negative online review can be a nightmare for many
dentists because one poorly executed response can hurt years
of reputation and marketing efforts.
It’s important to remember that if you see enough dental patients,
eventually you will be the target of someone’s unhappiness directed
at you and your dental practice through a negative online review.
It’s just too easy for someone to do, and the better prepared you are
on how to handle one, the less likely you are to blow what could be
a marketing opportunity.

32. Bad can be good; the power of a mulligan
Yes, negative online reviews can be a dental marketing
opportunity.
First, make sure you have set up Google Alerts to alert you when
anything is written about your name or your dental practice name
online. If you don’t know how to set up a Google Alert.
It is important to address a negative review just as quickly as you
can, but make sure you are responding as if it is NOT directed at you
personally. Pretend the review is about another dentist. Disconnect
from it emotionally.

33. Bad can be good; the power of a mulligan
Second, express your appreciation for the feedback from the
reviewer.
Make sure you address the complaint directly, “Thank you Mr.
Brown for bringing this to my attention. I value the work that is
performed at this practice, can you please call our office at XXX-XXX-
XXX? Thank you.”
Don’t get into details or defend your position, just show that you
offered a way for the patient to reach you.

34. Bad can be good; the power of a mulligan
Third, if you are regularly asking satisfied dental patients for
testimonials, make sure you make it easy for them to leave positive
reviews by having the link to your Yelp page on something you can
hand to them when they want to share how much they enjoy your
dental practice.
Look at a negative online review as an opportunity to show your
practice in a positive light by how you respond.

35. Create RAVING fans
1- Do your follow-up.
Follow up with patients immediately after the completion of
treatment with a call and/or an email to be sure that all went as
planned. Identify problems early on in the cycle so that you can
correct them before they become complaints.

36. Create RAVING fans
2- Make complaining easy.
Build a culture that is truly ready to receive the complaint at every
level of your practice, from the front desk to the doctor. Train your
staff and train them well to not be defensive and to solve most
problems immediately.

37. Create RAVING fans
3- Respond quickly to complaints.
When you do receive a complaint, follow up quickly and try to
resolve it. Nothing rankles like a patient stewing about your bad
service like waiting for a return phone call or email.

38. Create RAVING fans
4-Respond to negative reviews online.
Once the issue is resolved, circle back with the patient about the
review. A recent survey has shown that an appropriate response to a
negative can get the negative review removed in a third of the
cases.
A roughly an equal number of consumers posted a positive review
after receiving a response to their bad review. Having a plan and
responding appropriately to a negative review is critical to this
process.

39. Create RAVING fans
5-Never fake reviews or enter them on behalf of your patients.
It is imperative that you not provide reviewers with any trace that
you are abusing your review corpus. Getting slammed by a patient
review that questions your ethics calls into question your
trustworthiness and integrity.
It is the most difficult type of negative review to deal with, even if it
is not true. Responding online to the question, creates a no-win
situation.

40. Create RAVING fans
6- Communicate with your local competitors.
Competitor spam reviews are becoming more common than ever. If
you are on speaking terms with them, you are much less likely to fall
victim to a puerile spam review attack. The reality is that other
similar local practices are not the long-term determinant of your
success, nor really your major competition.
Just remember that when you are dealing with a negative review,
it’s important to avoid appearing sarcastic and placing blame on the
patient. Try and find out what may have set this patient off and see
if you can prevent this from happening again in the future.

41. Exercise
There may be a hidden opportunity in a negative review — if you
handle it right — it can become a dental marketing opportunity.
In your small group. Each person create a negative review.
Share.
Solve and respond.

42. Who are we aiming for?

43. Bring on the Moms
In a recent Burst Media survey of how independent web
audiences interact with and use social media, they found that
women are more active social media users than men.
Overall, one-half (49.0%) of female respondents—including 3-in-5
(58.6%) moms— visit social media sites at least a few times per
day, versus one-third (34.0%) of men.
(Source: Burst Media)

44. Bring on the Moms
One of the most powerful users of social media is moms.
3-in-5 (58.6%) moms visit social media properties at least a few
times per day (14% of moms say they are connected “all day”).
Moms are also heavy followers of businesses online through
social media with 70.6% frequently “liking” and following a brand.

45. Why mom will follow
1. The ability to offer support of the business.
2. Staying current with the business’ latest offerings.
3. Offering personal opinions or comments about the business
for others to see.
4. Sharing business-related information with family and friends.
5. Interacting with the business’ customer support/service team.

46. Why mom will follow
Facebook business pages offer the dental staff an easy way to
engage with their dental patient moms by offering incentives and
discounts for dental treatments, which are extremely popular
with moms who follow business pages.
Additionally, Facebook status updates offering information about
the dental treatments your dental practice offers is an easy way
for your mom followers to share what they like about
your practice with their family and friends on Facebook.

47. How do you want to use Facebook?
Where to start?
• Referrals from patients
• Bolster image of practice
• Share information
• Communicate practice philosophy
• Content creation
• Recruiting
• Advertise/Market/Promotions
• Target new customers
• Manage negative reviews
• Share community news
• Rule of thirds: yourself, your community, other wins

48. What next?
• Research
• Action [planning]
• Communicate
• Evaluate [metrics]

49. Sources
• 834 Design & Marketing
• DeVries Communicaitons
• Red Ginger Creative
• Burst Media
• The Wealthy Dentist
• Facebook
• Social Sprout
• PRSA
• Prdaily
• Dentainment
• Sfgate.com
• Prweb
• ADA
• Webiquity.com
• Social Media Examiner