As you get started using Facebook to promote your practice, you must always keep in mind the objective of your efforts. -Increase profits.

Is your Facebook page helping you increase profits? What are you doing with your page? Just letting it sit there? Are you just throwing promotions at your patients? Here’s something important to remember. Facebook is a viral network. Post something that someone would want to share and you will start to see the benefits (new patients) for your efforts. When people share your practice on Facebook, they are essentially telling their network of friends, “I endorse this product,” -or practice in your case. So do it right.

The question is then, what can you post that will interest your current fans and/or make them share it with their friends? How can you emotionally engage them?

Here’s a few ideas:

• Post a photo of a recent smile makeover that made the patient feel like a new person. Now, tag that person in the photo (with their permission of course) and include a brief write up of what you did. Then ask people the classic question, “what would you like to change about your smile?” This accomplishes many things: people see your great work and are impressed with your dental skills, they see that others are using you for these services and this is the big one, they start thinking about what they would like to change and they may just ask you about it on their next visit.
• Highlight a service but don’t try to sell it… directly. You hear about it all the time—patient education. Post a brief description of a service you offer with a video or photo. Explain what’s involved in the procedure and what the typical benefits/results are to be expected. If your patients know your practice offers a service, when they decide they want to go for it they will probably ask you instead of the specialist down the street.
• Reward your patients for referrals. Think of a promotion that would be attractive to your target market. Gift cards work great. If you cater to upper middle class suburban women, try something like “Refer one of your friends to us and we’ll send you a $30 gift card to Nordstrom after their first visit. And in case you’re curious, your friend will also receive the same gift card. You two can than go shopping together, on us!”

Remember, you want to offer up valuable and interesting information. Post after post of “receive $50 off your next root canal” is not going to get your fan base excited. Share, laugh and build your practice’s social community. Your patients want a dialogue, not monologue.