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Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

Social media is presenting many opportunities for practices and busineses to market their business as never before.  This means change and for many of us, change doesn’t come easy because it requires us to leave our comfort zones.

Our comfort zones are just that…comfortable.  We feel good about them, we excell in them, we don’t even have to think about them, we know them like the back of our hand…they wear like a comfortable pair of old shoes. 

But there comes a time, like it or not, we have to replace those old shoes and break in a new pair.  Now sometimes, this can be painful….stiffness, tight fit,  maybe even a blister…but often times that pair of new shoes becomes more comfortable than the old pair and a lot more beneficial for our feet.

That’s how it is with social media.  Like it or not it’s time for a change and we have to replace (or adjust) the old static traditional marketing of print ads and break in the new interacting marketing social media presents.

Social media causes you to boldly go where  you haven’t gone before and this can make it painful…stiffness (learning the how to’s), tight fit (learning how to not be distracted), maybe even a blister (finding what to say and what not to say) but social media is a fast learn, becomes a lot more comfortable (less expensive than traditional), and is incredibibly more beneficial for your practice!

Through your social 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! 

What steps have you  taken out of your comfort zone?

Technorati Tags: changing how to market, Dental Marketing, engaging and connecting, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, Social media and Internet marketing, social media comfort zones, social media marketing

Social media marketing has definitely become mainstream and presents many opportunities for marketing your business.  One of the biggest opportunities is how it levels the playing field allowing small businesses the opportunity to market like, and be seen with, the “big boys”. 

But although still relatively new there are some mistakes you will want to avoid when using social media.  As you market you business below is a list of 5 social media mistakes you will want to avoid:

1) Trying to use social media for making sales. This is the #1 mistake to avoid. Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube are all about making contacts, opening doors, gaining trust and credibility, and building those all important relationships.

Once you’ve gained your viewers trust and you have a relationship with them, you’ll be the one they turn to when they are ready to do business. Think about it, wouldn’t you rather do business with someone you have grown to know and trust? Relationships first…Business second.

2) Going into social media without clear objectives. What are you wanting social media to accomplish for your business or practice? So many times, businesses will just jump in without knowing what their objectives are for using social media and a strategy for getting to those objectives.

Do you want to gain your targeted audience’s attention? Drive traffic to your practice, blog, or your website? Enhance your practice’s patient services? Maybe you want to grow your practice’s email list…what’s your objective? Know what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

3) Not knowing how to listen and engage effectively. To attract and engage targeted followers effectively, you need to have several elements in place. Here are a few of them:

Be clear on your target market and be familiar with the social networks they prefer to use the most. Let me put that into perspective. If you work out of 3 operatories and your patient is seated in OP 3 and you’re seated in Op 2 waiting for that patient, you aren’t going to get anything accomplished. You’re not where your patient is. So if you are on Twitter and your target is on Facebook… see the importance? Go where the “eyeballs” are… Know and be seen where your target market is!

You must have a strategy and a plan for implementing your strategy in place..FIRST.

You will want to have a practice social media policy in place. In other words, how will you and your employees handle social media in your practice? What can and can’t be said?  How will you respond to complaints or negative posts?

Are you noticing how all of these are building on one another?

4) Becoming distracted. Social media is a powerful marketing tool, but if you’re not careful it can be time consuming and become overwhelming.

Invitations to connect… invitations to events… join this group… attend this meeting… not to mention the games and other distractions.  It’s no wonder after awhile many pages just sit there gathering “virtural dust”. You MUST learn to stay focused. Remember your goals and your objectives. Stick to your game plan!

5) Spreading yourself too thin. Knowledge of the difference social platforms, the different tools like plugins, applications, widgets, etc and the time involved. Time is a BIG factor!

When first entering the arena, you might want to join only one of the social platforms… maybe Twitter or Facebook. Then as you get comfortable with that platform, move on the next. Either way, there are some short cuts you can use to help when you are pressed for time.

One of the biggest helps, is pre-scheduling your tweets using social platforms like HootSuite or SocialOomph. Both allow you to schedule your tweets into the future. Hourly, daily, monthly…whenever. It’s a great way to delegate some of the time involved.

Another is to link up content to RSS Feeds. You can also set up and create Autoresponder messages. These are messages you create to go out at specific dates and times. Sort of like having your business on Auto-pilot.

These are a few  mistakes to avoid.  What can you add to the list?

Technorati Tags: engaging and connecting, engaging social media, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media mistakes, social media mistakes to avoid

Blogs, short for web logs, are very easy to start, they generally don’t require a great deal of technical knowledge, and should be updated frequently. Blogs can also increase traffic to your site. Search engines love blogs due to the constant change in content!

There are many free blog sites for starting your blog. You can also do a Google search for free blog sites. Here are three to get you started:

• http://www.Wordpress.com 

• http://www.Wordpress.org (used by Write Business Blog)

• http://www.Blogger.com

• http://www.Movabletype.org/ (for movable type blogs)

Take some time to research some existing blogs to get a feel for how you would like your blog to look and what you would like your blog to do. Contact the blogger on some sites you like and ask them the likes and dislikes of how their blog program works. Also post the same question on a few message boards for their responses.

Some features on the blog sites are different and knowing the differences will help you make the choice that will best work with what you want your blog to do.

In designing your site, take time in choosing your colors and theme. There are predesigned templates and many different themes to choose from or you can create your own.

When creating and writing your content, make it interesting by adding your own personality and enthusiasm to your posts. Write like you’re talking to a person who’s right beside you.

Once started, be sure to promote and market your blog. Do a search for Blog Directories for places/sites to promote/list your blog.

One of the big blog search sites is http://www.blogsearch.google.com. This site lists most any type blog for any interest…business, industry, personal blog, etc.

Here are two more to get you started:

• http://www.bloglisting.net/

• http://www.blogtoplist.com/

You can also post your blog in groups and on message boards…be sure to include your blog link in your e-mail sig (signature).

Marketing your blog will take some time, but updating your blog frequently and being persistent will put you on the blogging road to success.

Remember: You are unique. There’s only one you, so share your information written in your unique personality!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, blogging for starters, Building Business, Livvie Matthews, start blogging

With all the buzz about social media, social networking, and other social sites, it can get very frustrating not to mention distracting. 

Social media is a great marketing tool, but be careful. It is about being social yes…but you must keep your focus.

 Facebook has many distractions. Applications, games, surveys, sending cards and flowers, joining different groups…etc. Twitter can be distracting as well with all the tweets coming through, applications, responses, direct messages… etc

 I’ve witnessed this first hand. There can be so many things to try to do, applications to try, posting on Facebook and Twitter, creating a profile for LinkedIn and just the day to day “to dos” in addition to so much to learn. 

This is one of the main questions asked, “How much time will I have to put into social media”? The answer depends on what you want to accomplish and yes, you will have to spend some time with update, responses, and blog postings.

How focused you are can determine if it’s a lot of time or just the right amount of time needed.  

Here are a few tips:

 1. Determine your focus: Always stick to your core messages and values. Make sure your posts reflect those messages and values. The general rule is 80%-90% business and 10%-20% personal. 

2. Make a list: Write down what you want to accomplish today, this week, this month. Break it down into “do-able” sizes and cross them off as you complete them. There’s something about seeing a list with accomplishments marked off that keeps the energy flowing.

 3. Set your timer: Allow specific items a specific amount of time to get accomplished. When the timer goes off, wrap it up and move to the next item. If you’ve time it right, hopefully the item is complete, but if it’s not, it’s well on it way to completion when addressed the next time.

4. Allow times for breaks: This can be one of the most look over items. Stop what you are doing, walk away from your desk and on to your porch or deck. Take a few deep breaths of fresh air. If you can’t go out at the moment, if there is a window near your desk, just turn away from your desk and enjoy the view outside your window.

 All through the summer I’ve enjoyed watching several humming birds flying around the hanging basket near my computer room window.

Following through on the suggestions mention above will help with your time.  As your blog and your social sites grow, more responsibilities may come into play.  You can always outsource to a third party as few or as many of those responsibilities as needed for you to be able to concentrate on getting your content out.  

These are just a few things to help you keep your focus. What can you add to the list?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Dental Marketing, engaging social media, focus your time, how not to be distracted with social media, Internet Marketing, Keeping your focus using social media, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing

Many people on Facebook use their PROFILE page in some way associated as their business page.  When “Friending” some people recently,  I’d noticed once on their page, there was no “What’s on you mind?” status bar to type in a message to them. 

This had actually happened to me awhile back, and thankfully one of my online friends emailed me to let me know she couldn’t post a message on my Profile Wall.

As the owner of the page, you can view the “What’s on you mind” status bar, but your viewers cannot.  To make sure this isn’t a problem for your Profile page, here’s how to check or change it to make sure it’s viewable on your Profile wall and others can post to your Wall:

On your Profile under your picture:

• Click “Edit Profile”
• Look in the left column for Basic Information
• On the left column, in the little paragraph Click Privacy Settings link
• On the next page in the middle of the large column near the bottom Click Customized Settings
• Scroll down to the 2nd paragraph area  titled Things others can share
• 3rd item down in the list it reads Friends can post on my Wall
• Scroll to the right of that and put in a check so it reads Enable
• Then go back to your Profile

If Enable was already checked your Wall status bar was already viewable, however if you had to check Enable it was not enabled.  To make sure your viewers can see  your “What’s on your mind?” status bar, have a follower of yours  come to your profile page and type you a message. 

If you would like to view how to do the steps above, here’s a quick video with step x step how to’s:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXO3BJspA60

What Facebook tip have you used that helped you? 

Technorati Tags: Dental Marketing, enable Facebook profile status bar, engaging social media, Facebook, Facebook for business, Facebook Profile Status Bar, Facebook settings, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing, writing Facebook messages