If you’ve hired a company for social media marketing or are working at it on your own and are feeling discouraged, it’s probably because when you look at the posts on your social media profiles, there are very few likes and comments.
Perhaps you are regularly getting one or two comments per post…from your spouse…or your mom. 😒
Where are the new patients? Or even existing patients? Why don’t they respond to your posts?! It’s not right to invest precious time and money on something and see nothing in return. How long can you keep this up?
What you’re missing is engagement. There are key strategies that you need to implement to boost engagement success on your dental office’s social media posts.
Regular Posting
You may feel discouraged, but don’t give up. Regular posting is critical because your audience can’t engage with your dental office on posts that don’t exist. If you’re struggling to stay active, sign up for one of our dental social media marketing packages. You can also subscribe to our #StaySocial dental social media ideas.
Respond to Comments: ENGAGE!
Ever been at a social gathering and said something that you thought was witty or insightful and no one responded? It’s embarrassing and off-putting. Don’t leave your audience hanging. Here’s how to respond.
Timely Responses
First: respond no matter when you see the comment. It’s never too late to respond. BUT, when you see the comment, try to respond right away.
Set up systems for responding to comments. If you can’t respond quickly on your own, trust someone to respond for you with a little guidance on how you want it done.
Social Responses
You have to stop looking at social media marketing as a direct response advertising medium. Facebook and Instagram are intended to be SOCIAL platforms where relationships are formed and flourish.
When you respond to comments from existing and prospective patients, be social. Don’t skip right past the relationship-building component. If your first and only response is “Call our office,” you shut down the conversation that you’re trying to cultivate on your social media profiles.
No, you can’t give out pricing information on your social media profiles- or at least, you shouldn’t. Instead, respond with empathy.
If it’s a pricing question, respond something like, “I totally understand wanting to know how much something costs. It really depends on a few different factors. Are you sure that dental procedure X is what you need?”
If you’re comfortable with it, you can also give a wide range of pricing and proceed to ask some questions that will move the conversation along.
Relevant Comments
Similar to the ‘call our office’ comments, we sometimes see offices copy and paste a rote response like, “Dr. Carmichael is a highly-trained dentist with 20 years of experience in dentistry. We are accepting new patients.” The office or social media company checks the box on responding but misses on the opportunity to form a relationship because the response was robot-like.
Instead, take the time to reply with relevant information. Even if they make a snarky comment about dentistry or a photo you posted, respond with a kind, professional comment that directly connects with what the person said.
For example, we recently shared a blog post for a client that was a little information-heavy and a user commented complaining about all the acronyms used in the post. Your gut reaction might be annoyance or fear. This felt like a negative comment. 😱
Look closer: the user actually READ the post and engaged! WINNER! So, we comment back with, “Thanks for the feedback! We are kind of nerds when it comes to dentistry. The abbreviation means….”
Personal Response
You have to follow HIPAA rules but when possible, respond with a personal note. This communicates to the person who engaged with your post that you recognize them. A personal response also communicates to other social media users who stumble across your comments that you provide personal, caring service.
Respond To Other People’s Posts
Get out there and mingle. This requires some extra time, but in order to be social, you have to engage with posts from other people, too. Who do your followers follow? Find out and start engaging with those profiles on their posts.
Don’t be smarmy and comment just to share your stuff. Truly engage with other people and local businesses. You’ll find that your own engagement, likes, follows, and even shares go up!
Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
It’s easy to feel threatened by the possibility of an awkward situation. Social media mistakes usually happen in the posting—not in engagement, and those blow over too.
Consider the many social media failures that get shared on the internet. We *tsk tsk* at them but these brands carry on. People just don’t care enough to look for past mistakes.The reality is that failing to respond is the biggest failure. If you need help with dental social media engagement, sign up for one of our social media marketing packages or a dental marketing membership with Pro Impressions. Want an audit of your current social media marketing? We can help with that too. Call (970) 672-1212 or email us now!
