Social Media Marketing Success: Get the Whole Team on Board!

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you know how we feel about the value of investing in social media marketing for your dental practice. Hopefully, you share our passion for this exciting and effective avenue of marketing and are making efforts to include social media heavily in your efforts. If this is the case, you’ve no doubt become aware that succeeding in the world of social media marketing requires persistent efforts. And, if you have not already arrived at this conclusion: One of the best ways to ensure that you see results is to get as many members of your staff involved in your social media marketing efforts as possible. The more hands are rowing, the easier the journey!

In today’s blog post from your dental internet marketing pros at Roadside, we want to stimulate you to actively involve your individual team members in your social media marketing plan and execution. Here are some of our top suggestions:

Make sure your staff is educated and informed.

Do the members of your team understand how valuable social media marketing can be for the practice? Essentially, do they know why they are talking to patients about Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.? Does each person understand the nuts-and-bolts of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google reviews, and each social forum you utilize? Do your team members know how to explain how to use QR codes coherently? Can your staffers rattle off the URLs of each of your social sites?

Make sure each member of your team has all the information they need, so no opportunity for a social connection is missed!

Offer up some incentives and promote teamwork.

Let’s say you have two hygienists who each see eight patients a day, and perhaps two assistants who each see several patients as well. Your practice might serve upwards of 100 patients each week! And it’s the individual members of your back office who by far spend the most amount of time with each of these valued clients. Are your team members invested in taking just a moment to ask each of these patients: “Have you found us on Facebook yet (followed us on Twitter, etc.)?  We hope you do, it’s a great way to keep updated on office news and get dental tips and tricks!” 

Here is a terrific way to motivate your staff to do this: Each week, set an office goal for new Facebook “likes,” perhaps 25 or so, a reasonably attainable number. If by noon on the last working day of your week, the goal has been reached, reward your staff with an office lunch! Get everyone involved and motivated by posting the week’s “likes” prominently in your staff lunchroom, and reminding everyone of the score during your morning huddle!

Sometimes a little friendly competition goes a long way.

If you have the right mix of personalities within your team, it might be worth your while to engage team members to compete against each other in an effort to increase your social interactions online. Doing so can improve camaraderie among staffers, boost morale, and unite everyone around a common goal (even as they are competing for a great prize!).

Here is our suggestion: Start with a really desirable prize, perhaps a spa day, new Kindle, or department store gift certificate in a sizable sum. Determine the duration of your contest, perhaps one month, and track the Facebook check-ins each team member is able to attain from patients with mobile devices, displaying each individual’s progress in your staff room. Award the prize at the end of the month, then celebrate with the team, praising them as a whole for their efforts. The next month, start over again, but this time compete for Google reviews! Change up your prize and your target, but repeat the competition often, and you’ll watch your social media effectiveness grow along with your team’s morale!

Listen to and implement your staff’s ideas!

Perhaps you are fortunate enough to have a staffer or two in-house who are already experts in social media from their own personal use. Why not put this special skill set to good use? Ask for your team’s opinions on what types of Facebook posts or YouTube videos will be most engaging, and then put their suggestions to work.

Here at Roadside, we are dedicated to seeing you succeed in the world of social media marketing.  We invite you to contact our office today to learn more about implementing social media into a marketing campaign that helps your business boom!