Fun With Social Media

If you are reading this blog, it is likely your practice (or even you personally) has a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account. You should have all three. If you don’t, you are missing out on completely simple and, more importantly, free marketing opportunities for your practice. I am amazed at how many dentists; ESPECIALLY those under the age of 35, do not take advantage of this.

If you do have these accounts, it may be worthwhile to examine the content you are posting. Are you simply re-posting stuff you find on the Internet or those boring flossing articles that are automatically generated by services offering social media integration for dentists?

Due to some major recent life changes, my creativity has been lacking and I have not been posting as much as I should. But in our office, the entire staff is expected contribute to thoughtful and original posts on our social media accounts. This way, the ideas stay fresh and it doesn’t get too boring. Some posts, like the one below, have gotten many comments and likes on our Facebook page (comments and likes cause more people to see it, even if they do not follow your account).

Photos found on a Google image search are fair game, but it helps to use some original photos as well. (Cute kids and dogs are great ideas.) I like to watermark mine.

The cute puppies and witty comments will only get you so far, because the photos that have the most impact are going to be your before-and-afters. Take quality photos; grainy or dark photos are disappointing. I like to crop and straighten mine in iPhoto and use Keynote to add text.

My dental friends and I frequently exchange photos via email and text for some constructive criticism. If you want to connect on social media, I am @LilyaDDS on Twitter and @lrhorowitz on Instagram. (Full disclosure: the last three months are pretty much all baby photos, but stay tuned.)

Have a great week!

Lilya Horowitz, DDS