Dentists and Social Media

Social media has started to touch at least some small part of almost everyone's lives. It is virtually impossible to escape the influence of Twitter or Facebook and many large corporations have started to incorporate these social media sites into their advertising campaigns. Most companies know that the best way to reach a younger audience is through online marketing via popular websites such as these. In fact, anyone with a population of clients on the internet should take the time and effort to learn about how social media can influence your customer population. The same is true for any form of health professional, many of whom are coming to realize that their patients are online and appreciate online information. Twitter and Facebook are social media tools that can help dentists keep in touch with their existing patients and reach out to new clientele in their area.

To begin with, what is Twitter? Twitter is a web based social media application that allows its users to keep in touch with each other with messages that are less than 140 characters long. The bite-sized message is attractive to many people that don’t have a lot of time to read long traditional blog posts. The messages can be public or private and they can be sent directly to an individual similar to an email. Twitter can be a useful tool for dentists, helping them to update their patient population on new services, specials, or holiday hours. The one main drawback is that a patient has to actually be "following" the dentist's Twitter feed in order to receive the updates. It is not a blanket advertisement that automatically reaches the entire internet. Twitter messages will only be received by those patients that know the feed exists and have opted to “follow” along.

Facebook is a very different social media application that is based on interconnecting circles of friends and family. Within Facebook is the ability to post photos, videos, links to other websites and a wide variety of information. Facebook is much more extensive and customizable than Twitter. Dentists and other health professionals can create a Facebook page that houses all of their pertinent information such as contact email, location, hours, photos of the facility, and other information. It also provides the ability for dentists to add updates such as new services offered.

Both social media tools can be used to reach millions of internet users across the country and around the world. Internet users need dental work too! Dentists can find new patients in their area by planning to use a social media tool that enables them to reach their clientele population. Most patients will appreciate the convenience and familiarity of a tool that they already use for other reasons. Twitter and Facebook can help your patient population grow by spreading word of mouth online!