Dentists Need to Connect With Patients on Facebook First

 
Social media is all the rave these days, even for dentists.

Who’d a thunk it, but has your dental practice taken the most fundamental step in realizing actual results from your Facebook page?

It’s not about how many Likes you have, it’s all about who Likes your page.

Without connecting your existing patients to your practice Facebook page, dentists hoping to get more Likes on Facebook will just be spinning your wheels.
 

Facebook Results for Dentists

 
How Dentists Get Patients to Like Their Facebook Page
 
We’ll reminisce for a spell with a few words on results for dentists on Facebook.

With Facebook for the dental practice, it’s not all about the number of Likes you have.

Results (ROI* or ROE*) equates to three general KPIs (key performance indicators):

  1. Referrals
  2. Reviews
  3. Retention & Reactivation

*ROI = return on investment
*ROE = return on engagement

An effective social media plan for dentists centers around Facebook; success is defined by consistently increasing word of mouth referrals, online reviews, and enhancing patient retention & reactivation.

We have not yet reached the point where the majority of people searching for a dentist online are choosing Facebook over Google – or Bing, Yahoo, AOL..etc.

People connect with friends & family on Facebook, people search for dentists on the search engines.

BUT…after they find you on the search engines, they most certainly go searching your social media profiles to read reviews, see if you’re active, up to date & generally, the engaging type of friendly, professional dentist they can trust.

Whether recent changes by Facebook to compete more in the local (and mobile) space results in more search functionality & overall usage, remains to be seen.

But even if Facebook never competes with the search engines in a local search for a dentist, dentists still need to implement the strategies & tactics to first connect with, then benefit from getting their existing patients to Like their Facebook Business Page.

Contests, raffles, & giveaways are three great ways to get results…there are more, but that’s a discussion for another blog post.

For now, let’s talk Facebook for Dentists 101…

UPDATE MARCH 2018: Facebook has since removed the feature to upload a contact list. We’ll be sure to update again if it reappears.
 

How Can Dentists Get More Facebook Likes From Their Patients?

 
How dentists connect with patients on Facebook
 
Simple, you need two things…an email list of your existing patients, & 5 minutes.

An easy export of your patient emails out of your practice software can give you the email list in .CSV format.

Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Step 1: Login to your Facebook page – either as the page, or as the admin.
  2. Step 2: Click on the little “3 dot” icon, right next to the “Share” button.
  3. Step 3: Click “Suggest Page” on the resulting drop-down menu.
  4. Step 4: Click the “Upload Contacts” link next to either the mail client of your choice, or the top “Contact List File” result.
  5. Step 5: Click the “Choose File” button to browse your computer for the email list you just exported & saved from your practice software.
  6. Step 6: Check the “Select All” button, then click the “Preview Suggestion” button to see what your invite to your patients will look like.
  7. Step 7: Click the “Finish” button & watch the Likes come a rollin’ in!

Here’s a quick video to give you the visual…

 

Or, you can take it right from Facebook business help center:

How Do Dentists Suggest Their Facebook Page To Their Email Contacts?

You can upload your email contacts so that they’ll be more likely to see a suggestion to like your Page on Facebook.

To suggest your Page to your email contacts:

  1. Click on your Page’s cover photo
  2. Select Suggest Page
  3. Upload a file or choose your email service and follow the on-screen instructions

Your Page may be suggested to your contacts who are on Facebook in places like Recommended Pages.

If your email contacts aren’t on Facebook, they won’t see your suggestion.

Keep in mind that you can upload contacts up to 5 times for a maximum of 7,000 contacts per day per Page. You can upload a maximum of 5,000 contacts at a time.
 

Need Some Help Getting More Referrals & Reviews on Facebook?

 
Social Media for Dentists by Social Dental Network

Share This
© Social Dental Network
P.O. Box 1441 | Carlsbad, CA. 92018-1441 | (760) 444-0505
Serving Dentists In The United States & Canada Since 2010.
Privacy Policy