Why It’s Important to Track Your Online Marketing Efforts
A Paradigm Shift—Making Social Media a Priority
In most dental practices, social media eventually becomes an afterthought, an obligation begrudgingly checked off a list. Despite enthusiastic beginnings, these social channel endeavors easily slide into the chore category, diluted by the nature of a busy dental practice, the frustrating lack of online engagement, and the amount of work and skill required to produce quality, original content. This less-than-enthusiastic attitude is certainly understandable. Let’s face it, creativity on demand is always difficult, and when the effort is rarely appreciated, it’s tempting to post the same ordinary material week after week.
I’d like to suggest something different…. What would happen if dental practices decided to fully embrace social media and really work to build a network of followers? What if dental teams made a commitment to producing truly engaging content, maybe even viral content that grew a substantial network of followers? Yes, it would be a lot of work to be sure, but ultimately, these efforts would build a more organic online presence and attract more new patients than any paid advertising campaign. And what if dental teams generated dental social media reports to analyze their progress? How could the connection between online presence and new patient growth serve to build and strengthen a practice?
Dental Social Media Reports Drive Momentum
Tracking statistics is one of the best ways to stay motivated. Humans are hardwired to compete and even compete against themselves. Most people will agree that there’s just something very satisfying about experiencing measured improvement. Maybe it’s because such accomplishment speaks to our innate desire to overcome challenges; in this case, the desire to find a solution to a very challenging question: How does a dental practice attract more new patients? When it comes to online marketing, numbers provide the unvarnished truth necessary to judge the effectiveness of any particular campaign. Recording and tracking the vitals of your practice, therefore, becomes a critically important step to realizing your financial and professional goals because only this data can wisely instruct the allocation of time and resources.
Weekly Physical Part 1: New Patients and Activation
Perhaps the most vital statistic on your weekly physical is the number of new patients you receive on a monthly basis. This statistic is critical because it predicts future success. The truth is that no matter how full your dental practice seems at the moment, time will eventually see that number diminish. Life takes people in different directions, and patients leave your practice for a variety of reasons. In order to maintain consistent growth, your waiting room should be filled with a steady flow of new patients.
Equally important is activation or the number of new patients who make a second appointment and commit to your practice. It’s a good idea to break down services and track them separately. For example, in most practices, you’ll at least have a separation between hygiene and general dentistry. If you have a specialty like endodontics, implants, or orthodontics, it’s a good idea to isolate this activation data as well. By compartmentalizing the performance of each service, you’ll be able to recognize and then address weaknesses in your case presentation.
Weekly Physical Part 2: Web Presence and Dental Social Media Reports
In an online world, the strength of your internet presence will determine your success—period. These days, dental practices need more than just a website to survive; they need to develop social media channels and share high-quality content in order to maintain a good search rank. Search engines are smarter than ever before, and they use a growing number of indicators to judge the relevance of a dental practice. In the past, search engines focused on mainly links and traffic to determine website ranking, but today, search engines like Google look to social media success, online reviews, blogs, and video content as well. For this reason, your dental practice must track and improve the following areas:
- number of website visits
- Facebook page likes, post likes, views, shares, and comments
- Instagram followers, likes, and comments
- Twitter followers, likes, retweets, and comments
- YouTube subscribers, likes, and views
- Google reviews
By tracking such information, you’ll be able to see how, for example, social media engagement translates into website traffic, which translates into new patient calls. When you recognize the connection between the number of positive reviews and patient activation, you’ll be more disciplined about asking happy patients to share their experiences online. Seeing these numbers on a weekly basis will encourage your online efforts and allow you to create goals and incentives for your staff. Online success is never a one-person job; it truly takes a concentrated effort from the entire dental team.
Weekly Physical Part 3: Revenue
The most pressing statistic to track is gross revenue. A dental practice is not unlike other businesses that struggle with operating expenses, tax burdens, and payroll. Strong cash flow is necessary to meet these demands, so when a dental practice can recognize the connection between online success and profit, it becomes much easier to invest time and resources in the pursuit of “online real estate.”
Make Social Media Reporting Fun and Reward Your Team
The most important thing to keep in mind as you build your online presence—keep it fun and find ways to reward your team for their efforts! Ultimately, creating and sharing quality content is enjoyable; it really is rewarding to know that a post is valuable to people and that it has impacted their lives in some way. The internet provides a powerful platform to share your professionalism, and efforts online should never stray from that simple truth. As a dentist, you have spent years honing your craft and treatment philosophy; social media is simply a platform to share this message. If the story you tell is built on integrity and dental excellence, you’ll surely attract waves of new patients looking for a dental home.
Create a Marketing Culture in Your Dental Practice [3 Simple Tips]
How Your Dental Team Can Promote the Office Effective Marketing Is a Culture It’s common for marketing to become one of many duties that sustain your dental practice, a chore to be crossed off a list. Often, someone in the office is responsible for marketing; this person reports to the
