Social Media Prospecting Tips

Why Social Media Marketing - Why should I bother with social media? Should you be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other sites? Yes! Here are two compelling reasons why:  ***   Your patients are and Your prospects are

In order to grow in any business, you need to stay in front of your customers and prospects. Should you bother with social media? Absolutely!  According to TGDaily.com, 48% of Americans over the age of 11 use social media. And that number jumps to 71% for ages 18 to 34. A social media campaign builds relationships with current patients and is the most effective way to draw young, lifelong patients by creating a buzz about your practice!

Social Media Prospecting Tips:

1. Know your purpose. Your goal is to get more new patients or current patients to use more of your services. Don't ever lose sight of the "why" — whatever it may be. Connect with current patients and have them post on Facebook about their experiences with your practice, and new referrals will follow. Also, make sure you are engaged in conversations. Social media is about relationships so it's important that you comment on your patients' posts, keeping you on their minds and, of course, making them like you more! We all get a warm fuzzy feeling about the person who acknowledges our posts, right?

2. Focus your goals. Now you know what you want to do: engage current customers and attract new ones. But how do you do that?

Set a goal to communicate with 10 current patients per week and post one informational article each week. If those numbers aren't feasible for your practice, come up with your goals. Just be sure you have a plan and stick to it! The way you interact with clients will be different depending on the type of social media you are using.

3. Pick a point person. Put someone in charge of executing your social media updates and posting articles. It can be you, your office manager, or your receptionist. Whoever it is, it has to be one of their daily duties, or it will get overlooked.

Staying up-to-date with contacts is a must! If someone leaves you a voicemail, you don't wait seven days to call that person back. It's the same concept with social media; log on often and respond. Make social media marketing a priority and it will pay off.

4. Promote. Promote. Promote. You have profiles on multiple social media sites and are engaging patients and prospects. Now it's time to drive more traffic to these sites!

If you have a newsletter, always mention your social media profiles and include links in your email signature. Place the social media icons on your website so visitors can easily find them and link directly to them. Create Facebook-only promotions, such as "$50 off any service for Facebook friends."