Taylor H | DentistSites Blog

So what is Twitter?

Twitter is an interesting social networking service which is a little difficult to define. While it is normally talked about in the same discussions as other social networking sites, it certainly isn’t the same as Facebook or Google+.

Created in 2006, Twitter was originally envisioned as a “micro-blogging” site and as a way to share short (140 character) messages, also known as ‘Tweets’, to large groups of people quickly and easily.

Say you want to go snowboarding, and you want to invite all of your friends to come. Instead of calling or texting each of your friends individually, you just tweet it out and any of your friends and family that are following your twitter will be instantly notified!

Great, how does that help my practice?

Twitter is a great way to send out messages to all of your clients, (or potential clients), and an even better way to promote your other Social Networking efforts!

Social Networking boils down reputation. That is the most important thing to remember when planning a Social Network marketing strategy.

For example, you just wrote a very well thought out and insightful blog that does a fantastic job of showcasing the fact that you are a leader in your field! But what good does that do if no one reads it? Tweet out a link to the blog and notify all of your fans immediately!

Ideally you want your tweet to be so informative, or at least interesting, that all of your followers “re-tweet” it to their followers. Then those followers “re-tweet” to their followers, and so on and so forth!

Before you know it, you’ve gotten your marketing message out to hundreds or even thousands of people, without costing you a dime!

How is that for a Return On Investment?

Oh, and a note on links. Since Twitter imposes the 140 character limit on tweets most standard links will far exceed that. A great way to get around that is to use URL shortening services. There are a few out there, but we prefer bit.ly.

For example, using bit.ly I turned:

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/

into:

http://bit.ly/3ScBfd

You do not have to sign up for an account to use bit.ly and the links you create never expire!

So how do I get started!

Starting a Twitter account is easy. Just go to www.twitter.com and click sign up! Then start putting your Twitter username, which will be something like ‘@dentistsites’, on your business cards, website, the signature of your emails, and all of your other marketing material! This is the quickest and easiest way to start getting followers!

Stay tuned for another blog in the coming weeks on advanced Twitter techniques and best practices, and, while you’re signing up for your Twitter account, make sure to follow us as well!

http://twitter.com/#!/dentistsites

Taylor H – DentistSites Support
Email any questions to Support@DentistSites.com

Should you have a Facebook profile for your business?

The simple answer is: Yes, you should have one!

Facebook has come an incredible way from its humble beginnings. What started as a way for college students to communicate has quickly become one of the most trafficked websites in the world. In fact, as of December 2010, Facebook has overtaken Google as the most visited site in the U.S.! And it is only continuing to grow.

How can Facebook help your business?

Facebook is essentially free access to an unprecedented number of clients. While it may not be as targeted to clients as some other directories, the potential exposure it can bring your practice is really quite remarkable. There are numerous ways you can use Facebook to promote and advertise yourself, by linking your DentistSites website to your Facebook page you can drive more traffic to your DentistSites website and increase your Search Engine ranking, and, at the rate that Social Media is growing, the quicker you jump on the bandwagon the more ‘with the times’ you will seem, especially to younger or more tech savvy clients!

And have I mentioned it’s free? You can’t beat that!

What are some ways tips for using Facebook?

1) Update your page frequently, and update it with relevant content. This is a great way to keep your fans and clients engaged with you on a regular basis, as well as show yourself as being knowledgeable in your field. This can include business related updates, like if you move offices, take on a partner, are running a special, or links to articles, blogs or other relevant resources that would interest potential clients.

2) Promote yourself! Put the link to your Facebook page on your business cards and other marketing materials. Use Facebook’s paid ads to target new clients. It’s a very flexible system that allows you to set a budget and see what kind of a return you are getting on your investment.

3) Keep your Business Page for business. While Facebook started as a way to post pictures and stories of your personal life, you want to keep an air of professionalism on your profile page. You should draw a line between your private and professional life, and this line may be different for each person, but as a general rule, if it’s something you wouldn’t just come out and tell a client during a session, it’s probably something you shouldn’t post on your page.

4) If you have them integrate your Facebook profile with your other Social Media tools such as a blog or Twitter account.

5) Take a look at the paid Facebook ads feature. It allows you to easily set a budget, target your ads to a specific demographic, and has some great tools to check and see how effective your ads are and how much of a return on their investment they are providing!

6) Most of all, have fun with it! Play with it! Facebook is constantly evolving and adding more features and ways to help your business. We couldn’t possibly list them all here!

Alright you convinced me, I have a Facebook page, now how do I add it to my DentistSites website?

The first step is to visit the link:
http://www.facebook.com/badges/page.php

Select the ‘Other option’ and copy the provided code. Now you are just going to want to paste that code into the ‘source’ view of your DentistSites website wherever you would like the button to appear!

We recommend pasting it in the sidebar, as this will make it show up consistently across every page of your site! To do this, follow these simple steps:

1: Log into your control panel by going to the link www.DentistSites.com/login. Once you have logged into your site editor control panel, click on the ‘Settings & Profile’ tab on the left side of the screen.

2: Check the ‘Custom Sidebar’ box.

3: This should open a small editing window. Click on the ‘Source’ button on the top left of the editing window. This will bring up the ‘code’ view of your sidebar. Simply paste the code you coped earlier into this page where you would like the button to appear. Or, just copy the code into an email along with some basic instructions as to where you would like the button to appear and we can make the changes for you!

As we have stated in previous blogs, a solid web presence is crucial to the success your practice. While certainly not a replacement for a traditional website, a well written and frequently-updated Facebook that is properly integrated with your DentistSites website can be a very important part of that presence!

Taylor Huston – DentistSites Support and Social Media Manager
Email any questions to Support@DentistSites.com