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Posts Tagged ‘Internet 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

Excited about  upcoming Free Teleseminar interviewing Dr Dhru Shan, the man behind Dentinal Tubules- Online Dental Marketing Resource and Community!  http://bit.ly/9rR3Kv

In just a little over a year Dentinal Tubules has gone from concept to reality to reaching all corners of the global dental communities! Looking forward to hearing his advice…it’s going to be a great call!

Friday Oct 8th  8:00 PM UK/BST —3:00PM EST, 2:00 PM CST, 1:00 PM MST, 12 Noon PST -

If you’re unable to attend, a recording of the call will be available for you to download and review!  Dhru has a lot of great information, advice, and “how to’s” to share!  Come on over and join us!  Seating is limited on the call…Sign Up Now!  http://bit.ly/9rR3Kv

Technorati Tags: dental social media, Dentinal Tubules dental resource, engaging social media, Free TeleSeminar Dentinal Tubules, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media for dentists, social media marketing

Think of all the expense, not to mention the time, involved with getting the phone to ring…only to loose the caller.   Staggering fact:  As many as 50% of New Patient calls are lost at the front desk due to poor telephone skills! 

Verbal skills, over the phone or in person, dictate:

• First impressions
• Treatment acceptance
• Over the counter collections
• Scheduling
• Quality of service
• Referrals

There isn’t an area in your practice that’s untouched by verbal skills and it all starts with that first telephone call. 

We’ve all heard the saying ” You only get one chance to make a good first impression”.   In real estate it is all about Location, Location, Location!

In Dentistry – it is all about Impressions, Impressions, Impressions!  No, We are not talking  Alganates or Rubber Base Impression here! We’re talking about Mental Impressions ….Your service, service, service! 

Today’s patient is:

• More  Demanding
• More Intelligent

 And more importantly, they have more choice about:

•  Who they will see
•  Who they will spend their money with

Positive verbal skills  make sure it’s with your practice and NOT your competitors!

It’s also been shown the new caller will actually  judge the quality of the Dr’s care, buy how well the phone is answered !

So, lets see….. Doctor, you spent years in college studying dentistry and many more hours of Continuing Ed.  (CE).  Now it can take just a moment to make or break the practice by how well we…. answer the phone!

Does that mean pressure for the Front Office?   You bet it does!

It is crucial the atmosphere of the practice over the telephone and in person, be one of enthusiasm….that means…a Love or Passion about what you are doing!!

Closing thought:  Handle all calls, especially New Patient calls as if that call is the most important call you will receive all day…..it is!

Technorati Tags: Building Business, building telephone skills, Dental Marketing, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing, Telephone skill

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

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!  But if you’re not careful, social media can be very overwhelming and distracting.  There are the social platforms, the tools (applications, widgets, plugins, etc),  social media etiquette, connecting and engaging with viewers, and the time involved…time can be a big factor!

One of the biggest mistakes practices make when starting in social media is they just jump in with no clear objectives or strategy.  They aren’t sure about what they want to do and how they’re going to do it.

They’ll set up their social sites, Twitter – Facebook – LinkedIn, and maybe even a blog, but they don’t know how to connect, how to listen, and more importantly…how to engage effectively. Then after a few posts, their sites just sit there and begin gathering virtual dust. I’ve been to many dental sites on twitter and noticed the date of their last tweet was months ago. 

In using social media, to be effective in attracting and engaging quality followers, you must have these elements in place:

Know your target market and which social networks they are using the most

• Let’s put this into perspective:  If you work out of 3 Treatment Rooms and your patient is seated in TR 3 and you’re seated in TR 2 waiting for that patient, you aren’t going to get anything accomplished, you’re not where your patient is.

So if you’re 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.

Know and be clear about your objectives – goals – or outcome you want from social media

• What are you wanting social media to accomplish? Do you want to gain your targeted audience’s attention?  Drive traffic to your practice, blog, or website? Enhance your practice’s patient services?  Maybe you want to grow your practices email list

What are your objectives – what is it you want to accomplish with social media?

Create an engagement plan for using social media

• Once you’ve determined and joined the social network sites your target uses, you’ll need to determine how you are going to connect, engage, and communicate with your viewers.  How often will you “tweet”, post, or update. What are your core messages you will deliver?

Social media is all about connecting, engaging, and effectively communicating which in turn empowers your viewers.

Create a social media policy for your practice

• How will you and or your employees handle social media in your practice? What’s the right way and wrong way for your employees to use social media?  Who is going to be responsible for managing and overseeing your overall social media marketing? 

Whether handling in-house or outsourcing to a third party, you need a social media policy in place. 

One last point to bring is Safety Online:  Remember:  Once you’ve said it on the Internet, there’s no taking it back.  A few good rules to follow:

• Never post anything you don’t want your Grandmother or children to read
• Never give out sensitive information like account numbers or social security numbers
• Never spam – you’ll be un-followed and dropped like a hot dental instrument

By creating and having your social media strategy in place first:

• You’ll know your social media objectives
• How you’re going to achieve your objectives
• An overall plan for implementing your social media strategy

 These are the top elements needed in creating a winning social media strategy.  What additional elements have you used in your strategy?

This article first appeared in Dental Heroes.

Technorati Tags: create social media stragety, Create social media strategy, Dental Marketing, engaging and connecting, How to create a winning social media strategy, Internet Marketing, Livvie Matthews, social media marketing