If you don’t already have a strong social media presence in some form, then you’re inevitably missing out on better patient engagement rates and more new patient potential than your competitors. Social media marketing is extremely affordable; in some cases, it can even be handled by the staff in your own office. Once it’s up and running, updates are free, and if you’re successful, you will even have patients making their own referrals, shares, and links. It all depends on quality of content and updates.

If you do have a social media presence, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Is your social presence “human?” Not every practice has the time to post essay-form questions and responses to patients, and not every social media reader will want to see them. Having a more “human” presence in the social media sphere is one of the more important trends as we move toward 2015, and it can an impact in your dental marketing as well. Are you celebrating the anniversary of opening your practice, or has an employee recently graduated from training in an important dental program? Why not let your patients know? Notifications can be short, and to the point, and it will give your social media contacts a closer look at the actual people that will be handling their dental care. Everyone wins.
• Are you too pushy? It’s an easy mistake to make in social media; you may be putting out too many updates per day, or link too many news articles that seem to favor a service that your office makes. While you may think that you’re getting more eyes on your practice, you could also be setting off your readers’ “spam” sensibilities, and giving them a subconscious directive to scroll past your updates. They may even turn off notifications from your feed, or unsubscribe altogether. It’s important to maintain a consistent pace of updates, but don’t go overboard.
• Are you encouraging local feedback? If not, you should be. Google’s most recent update to its search engine algorithm has greater rewards for search engine results that rate positively on online review sites and social media. That means that you could be getting positive feedback that lets others on social media know that you’re the right office to visit, while simultaneously boosting your search engine optimization. As with the above point, it’s important not to be too pushy, but let your patients know that you value their business, and their feedback.
  

Social media’s a powerful resource in the right hands, and by answering these questions, you may already have a better idea on how to improve your results and reach your real potential.