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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

November 12-18, 2012United Kingdom Edition Social Media more thought into your social media communication tools altogether. If you are paying a service to “handle every- thing for you” and you don’t even understand what any of this means, stop doing that. Take some time to become informed. As a business own- er, you would never consider buying a new piece of equip- ment or investing hundreds or thousands of dollars on some- thing you knew nothing about, so why do that with your so- cial media budget? In order to succeed in so- cial media, the first thing you must adopt is a mind- set that social media com- munication will be around for the long term—not short term marketing campaigns. Here are a few guidelines you can follow to help make the most of your social me- dia communities: • Am I aware how my brand and our practice values are being represented on our Fa- cebook or Twitter accounts? • Do I understand, and can I appreciate, the difference between short term market- ing campaigns vs. fostering relationships to grow quality social communities? • Is my practice being mindful about the amount of posting that we do? Are we honour- ing the newsfeed space of valued patients who’ve liked our page, or are we throw- ing caution to the wind and posting as much as possible in order to force our name and face in front of people. • Have we used a service to buy likes so our number of fans looks inflated? Or have we acknowledged it’s okay to grow slowly, with the in- tention of engaging patients or people in the community who genuinely have interest in our practice? The good news is that so- cial media communities can morph into different person- alities. If you don’t like the community you’ve built to date, you can change your strategy and make over your page. Remove the contest you were never comfortable with, adjust the amount of posts you are making, or consist- ently invite patients to share their thoughts on your page. Practices can be largely dis- appointed with the results of their social media efforts when they don’t understand the purpose, goals, or objec- tives in the first place. Begin with the end in mind. More and more so, the end is farther away than you think. Adopt a mindset that your social communities will be around for the long term. When done right, social media can help you shine in what’s often called a grim marketing landscape. In addition it can enhance your online reputation, and represent the high quality of patient experiences in your practice. The ultimate key to success in social media is to find a happy medium in shar- ing your personality, the human side of your practice, to make meaningful connections with other people, while never losing sight of your core values. DT About the author Rita Zamora is an international social media marketing consult- ant and speaker. She and her team actively co-manage dozens of dental practices and social media programs. Her clients are located across the United States and inter- nationally. Rita has been published in many professional publications. Rita is also Honorary Vice President to the British Dental Practice Man- agers Association. Learn more at w w w.Den t a l Rel a t i o n s h i p - Marketing.com or email Rita: rita@ritazamora.com “Am I aware how my brand and our practice values are being represented on our Facebook or Twitter accounts?” 13