Gone are the days of quiet self-assuredness, now more than ever we are neck deep in the age of self-promotion. Generally (and anonymously speaking) people care what we say, and we care what other people think.
Is it reality TV, the world wide interweb, or is it an evolutionary nature vs. nurture thing? 
We wouldn’t even begin to search for an answer to that most existential interpersonal communication question.
We’re just here to hammer home the point of owning your online dental practice reputation. ..before someone else hijacks your digital practice identity.
Yes, again.
In case you missed it last week with all the Labor Day parade planning, check out this story about a recent Facebook Groups page that sprung up following one parent’s experience with a dental office in Bakersfield, CA.
Of course this goes without saying, but managing your online dental practice reputation has everything to do with what you do offline.
Whether we dig ditches, pen incredibly pedantic dental-centric blog posts, or drill cavities as our chosen vocation, our reputation is something we build over time.
We can’t go buy it, and nobody can give it to us.
It sounds old fashioned…but we actually need to earn it.
When Google Talks, People Listen
As a dentist, your reputation is literally on the line every day you’re in the office seeing patients.
You need to protect it, and you need to educate your prospective and existing patients as to why your reputation matters to their optimal oral health.
Zagat built their name being amongst the first and most successful user-generated content publishers communicating positive word of mouth about bars and restaurants around the world.
Google built their empire around search advertising and pay per click search engine marketing.
The two were actually headed in different directions; Zagat was losing traction given the trend of people now taking to the Internet to divulge their innermost culinary experiences with the masses.
Google has mucho ducats to throw around…like more than the GDP of most industrialized nations, mucho.
And they’re throwing their weight around since the Yelp deal slipped away a couple years ago.
So what does Google see in acquiring Zagat?
Online reviews, user-generated content, and opportunity.
- Google+ = Facebook’s #1 competitor
- Google acquiring Zagat = online review publication
It starts with restaurants…but it certainly doesn’t end with dental practices.
If Google thinks it’s important, your dental practice better get on board the SoLoMo train before you’re relegated to perpetual damage control. 
According to the NY Times article highlighting the purchase; Local online advertising is an increasingly lucrative market, one that analysts estimate to be about $140 billion a year.
Google estimates that about 20 percent of its daily searches are for things that are nearby, and that percentage is even higher for queries made on mobile phones.
The NYT piece goes on to mention:
“All of these are users wondering where they should go, where they should spend their time, so to be able to offer accurate information is important, and that’s why we’ve been getting focused on reviews,” Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president for local, maps and location services, said in an interview.
So what does this mean for your dental practice?
Google is barging through the door of social media and online reviews, sans the polite knocking.
Gain their trust, court their attention, and enlist your patients’ help.
- Google is THE info outlet, what does Google say about your dental practice?
- Zagat was one of the most successful user-generated content publishers…what does Google say about your dental practice?
- Google owns the user-generated content and the most popular website in the world from which to publish it…what does Google say about your dental practice?
Does your dental practice pass muster with Google?
Trust is everything.
And it begins at home…and at the office.
Own, protect, and benefit from your online reputation before someone else does!
Fearful and ignorant is no way to build (or maintain) a financially profitable, emotionally rewarding, and publicly successful community dental practice.
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