Having a great dental content marketing plan can reap serious rewards for any dental practice. That being said, many feel that this responsibility falls only on the shoulders of the practice owner or manager. That shouldn’t be the case.
Every dental practice is unique. This means that not every marketing technique will work in every dental practice. But one thing that I can tell you for sure is that involving your staff members in your dental content marketing plan will only help to contribute to its success.
Why?
Well, the greater the number of staff that can help generate ideas and produce good content, the more likely it is that your dental practice will be successful.
As we know, ‘many hands make light work,’ so with your whole team pitching in, your dental content marketing efforts will be larger and more efficient.
So what are some ways you can get your dental staff get involved in your online marketing efforts?
Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Have your staff update their employment status on social media profiles
If your staff are using social media platforms, it’s a good idea to ask them if they’d feel comfortable updating their employment history to include the fact that they now work at your dental practice. Along with that, you may wish to ask your employee to provide an appropriate link to your website or social media pages.
These simple requests can make a difference in helping enhance your practice visibility to friends, family, and others. This, in turn, will help to generate a whole slew of new patient leads.
Encourage tagged photos
Try and encourage your staff members to take photos at work and post them on your Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram account. Readers love seeing comradery within your team as it portrays a strong bond, which people will identify and connect with. That being said, there are a few important points to keep in mind…
Always make sure that you don’t post photos of patients without their consent, and even be careful not to have any patients visible in the background. By all means, take a selfie, but make sure there’s no one behind you. Your staff may need some training or reminders about these points in order to make sure you’re compliant with rules and regulations.
Train your staff to use engagement techniques
To get your staff involved with online dental content marketing techniques, how about getting them to engage with internet browsers?
However, before you let them loose on the general public, it’s probably a good idea to provide them with some sort of training.
Four good points to remember is to teach them to use:
- Questions
- Invitations
- Hashtags
- Call to actions
Although it’s great to have your staff regularly posting generic things, such as “have a great weekend,” it won’t really help you reach your goal of building awareness for your practice. Instead, get your staff members to ask questions, post fun and interesting facts about your dental practice, and invite interactions with the public.
For instance, a good example of an engaging post would be something along the lines of “Hope you all have a great weekend. Who has got exciting plans?” This gets your audience involved and encourages them to interact.
Another good example is something like, “Remember that brushing and flossing your teeth regularly helps you to keep dentally fit. Did you know that having a healthy mouth has health benefits as well? It helps prevent strokes and heart disease. ‘Like’ if you have a good oral health routine!”
To make it even better, add a call to action, such as “Call us today to book in with our dental hygienist.”
Get your staff blogging
A good dental content marketing plan will use blogs to generate new and fresh content. That being said, it doesn’t mean they should only be written by you. After all, you’re busy, too, right?
Instead, why not get your team involved by encouraging them to produce content? The good news is that most of your employees are used to talking about dentistry and answering patient questions on a day-to-day basis anyway. Therefore, in theory, it should be relatively easy for them to write a short post about interesting dental topics or answers to common FAQs. Why not ask them? They may jump at the chance to play a more active role.
Make use of your website
Remember, you don’t have to confine your dental content marketing efforts only to online platforms. Extend into the offline world by encouraging all your staff to direct patients in the waiting room to your website when the opportunity arises.
For instance, when a patient is enquiring about a particular treatment, your staff member could add to the conversation that there’s a great blog post on your website that might help them in making their decision. Also, always include your website address on all your newsletters, brochures, and appointment cards. You could also get your employees to point new patient enquiries to your website by sharing the URL, whether over the desk, phone, or email.
Encourage your staff to listen to patients
Your dental employees are often the first point of contact with potential patients, and it’s important that they can build genuine relationships with them. The use of social media is one way to do this. Make sure that your staff are creating blogs and social media posts that are timely and informative for your patients. This way, when word-of-mouth takes place on social media, your practice builds trustworthiness by listening and responding fittingly.
Online reviews
With 88% of people checking online reviews before choosing a business nowadays, it’s important that you have good recommendations. One way to boost your reviews is through your employees. Get your staff members into a good routine of asking patients for reviews, whether it be your receptionists or dental hygienists.
Alternatively, you could include links in your online dental newsletters to specific review sites and have your team monitor them regularly. Of course, ideally, you’re looking for positive recommendations, but it’s equally important to have your staff respond respectfully to any negative comments or criticisms straight away.
As you know, your team are vital to your business and the day-to-day running of it, so it pays to get them involved in your dental content marketing plans as well. Make sure that all your staff understand why patients should choose your dental practice and the ways in which they can help encourage people to do so. The more engaged your dental team are, the more successful your marketing efforts will be.
If you or your staff need a hand with any content, then don’t delay. Get in touch with the Dental Writers team today on +34 605 45 73 42, and let us show you what we can do.
