Facebook’s value can be difficult to pin down. It is a tricky and sometimes even wobbly marketing platform, and orthodontists are often leery of the platform’s primary advantage: as a wide reaching, but personal, website.
Most orthodontists decide to keep the personal and professional separate. They are, after all, professionals! However, Facebook gives the practice an opportunity to show off its personality—its unique personality. The orthodontist’s sense of humor, mission, and eccentricities (the good ones!) are a competitive edge.
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Facebook is an inexpensive way to reach your community, and the benefits of a Facebook business page are numerous.
- It allows you to strengthen your brand using social search engines to put more eyes on your practice.
- It allows current or past patients to post reviews, helping your practice attract new patients.
- It allows you to position your practice as the place to be with trendy Facebook only contests.
- It allows you to recognize patient benchmarks—ie, the first day in braces, debond day, etc.
- It provides another online location for potential patients, vendors, and future employees to learn about your practice and contact you.
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Your practice is not just a logo, slogan, or motto. It is a logo, slogan, and motto backed up by your face and voice. Facebook is a space where you can mine that face and voice to connect with current and potential patients. Your Facebook image is an excellent mirror. We recommend that your practice’s marketing team decides what your slogan, motto, and, most importantly, voice, are going to be, and stay true to that. Keep all of your online marketing consistent and ensure your Facebook page has that same sound!
Some orthodontists link personal and business pages together. The result: Your practice reaches a new level of interpersonal connection. If you’re not comfortable with this, you can create a business page with a healthy amount of personal posts—for example, arrival of new grandchild and other milestones, staff pet photos, charitable participation, etc. Such tidbits of your personal life provide a personal touch that gives new patients the confidence to know your practice is right for them, and assures former patients they couldn’t have chosen better.
Once you have nailed down the balance between personal and professional, your next step is to exploit Facebook’s primary advantage: as a powerful tool to engage your audience—everyone from current patients and parents, potential patients, supporters of your business, and followers of your content. But there are some guidelines to keep in mind.
- The suggested split for your content is 20% marketing and promotions and the other 80% geared toward audience-directed content. Orthodontic-related posts that encourage your audience’s participation are essential here.
- Try Facebook surveys. They can help you gain greater insight into what services your audience requires, and the products they most often use. You can use this information to better align your content with their interests.
Facebook is a bargain for what it can do as a marketing tool. And it is a necessary tool these days when it comes to that patient/practice connection. If you want to keep your practice connected and relevant, and help your practice succeed, jump on Facebook today. OP
Nancy Hyman, of Ortho Referral Systems, is a national speaker, writer, and practice growth consultant specializing in referral systems and increased case acceptance, exclusively for the orthodontic industry. Nancy offers the Spin It! Patient Rewards Wheel and creative materials to promote referrals. She has presented lectures at multiple national meetings including the AAO, topsFest, and Ortho 2.
Ryan Hyman founded RK Strategies to assist orthodontic practices with their digital and print practice growth needs. Ryan designs referral cards for patient and family use, dental referral cards, promotional in-office posters, oral hygiene cards for joint patient-DDS promotion, and new patient exam welcome packets. Ryan focuses on creating pieces that “wow” and set your practice apart from the herd.
