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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

December 12-18, 201116 United Kingdom EditionSocial Media www.velopex.com Call: 020 8965 2913 Email: enquiries@velopex.com www.velopex.com Call: 020 8965 2913 Email: enquiries@velopex.com Proud of our 50 Years in Quality Imaging, let Velopex Lead You into the Digital Future... DTo3da27.04.11rpc D o you wish Facebook and other review sites would just “go away?” If so, you are not alone. At almost every live event I speak at, there is at least one person who’d love it if all this “so- cial media stuff” would disap- pear. Unfortunately the genie has been let out of the bottle... people realise they can now easily vet you before mak- ing a decision about whether you are a good choice for den- tal care or if they should al- low you to deliver the treat- ment you recommend. Online research has become a pas- time for many people. What this means for practices (and all businesses) is that social media and reviews will continue to either help or hurt your business. Remember when the phrase, “As Seen on TV” was a great selling point? For years, “As Seen on TV” helped to skyrock- et the sales of many products— however what about today? I recently heard about a cool new product called CitiKitty (you cat lovers will especially appreciate this). CitiKitty, is a “revolutionary” prod- uct that can help you eliminate the use of cat litter by helping you to essen- tially potty train your cat. Im- agine the sales possibilities. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to give up the miserable chore of cat box scooping? I decided to look into Ci- tiKitty for my smart kitty. A Google search and visit to their CitiKitty.com web- site made their product look great. CitiKitty had a nice little video on the website show- ing an animated version of how fabulously their prod- uct worked. The product seemed almost too good to be true, which is why I was so re- lieved to see the Facebook logo on their website homepage. Perfect, I’d visit their Facebook page and check out what real people are saying about the product. Note that before Facebook came along, I (and likely hun- dreds of others) could have been “sold” outright on the website presentation alone and purchased the product then and there. Remember, before the so- cial media genie was let out of the bottle, we didn’t think about researching to the level we do now. Back to the CitiKitty Face- book page - The page had a spat- tering of success stories, which had mainly been posted by the page administrators. The page was fortunate enough to have good participation on behalf of “likers”. Many of the page posts had several (in some cases 12+ comments), however quite a few of the comments were ques- tions, concerns, or stories about failures (I won’t get into the details about the reported kitty potty failures). The point I want to make is that rather than re- spond to questions or concerns, the page administrators ignored the majority. So what does this say about CitiKitty? It might mean that CitiKitty needs to go back to the drawing board and make product improvements. At mini- mum, CitiKitty needs to respond to their existing customers. This situation is a real life example of what not to do on Facebook. Don’t expect to set up a social media presence, post a lot of positive PR about yourself and ignore any questions or con- cerns that may pop up. Here is a list of Facebook “don’ts” that CitKitty (and all of us) can learn from: 1Don’t ignore your fans or followers. Always respond to comments, questions, or con- cerns. Good, bad, or ugly. Social media is not the place for com- placency 2 Don’t put your head in the sand. Learn from patterns. Whether consistent themes of kudos or complaints exist, there are lessons to be learned. What do your clients (or patients) con- sistently say they like or dislike? 3Don’t rely on automation as a solution. To make matters worse, CitiKitty page adminis- trators have recently integrated their Twitter to their Facebook Page. So at the time of this writ- ing they are not only seeming- ly ignoring their community, they are also posting (what non-Twitter users will interpret as) non sensical hashtags and gibberish The purpose of this article is not to bash CitiKitty. I think the woman who invented the product had nothing but good intentions. Perhaps her kitties are just smarter or more train- able than others ... I’d love noth- ing more than for CitiKitty to go back to the drawing board and find solutions to make this product work on a grand scale. Or perhaps CitiKitty wouldn’t work for every household, but the company had such a positive and well-loved kitty community that people bought the product regardless. This is a great example of the enormous power of social media. It can literally make or break businesses. Today, it’s not just about how you handle yourself in one on one conver- sations—it’s also about the way you handle the conversations that are occurring between you and potentially dozens or hundreds of others. How will you learn from the lessons Ci- tiKitty has stumbled upon? When patients research you on- line, what will they learn (and think) about you? DT Facebook flop Rita Zamora provides a real life example of what not to do Social media can be linked to companies all over the world About the author Rita Zamora is an international so- cial media market- ing consultant and speaker. She and her team actively co-manage dozens of dental prac- tices’ social media programs. Her clients are located across the United States and internationally. She has been published in many professional publications. Rita is also Honorary Vice President to the British Dental Practice Managers Association. Learn more at www.DentalRelationshipMar- keting.com or email rita@ritazamora. com.