Google+ For Businesses

Yesterday saw the launch of Google+ for business. So we want to pass along the info along with the pledge that we’re building out Google+ for orthodontists pages as I type. Ingenuity  :)

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The new facet of the social media platform, dubbed Google+ Pages, allows businesses to add their own content so that fans can stay connected “to the sports teams [they] root for, the coffee shops [they’re] loyal to and the TV shows [they] can’t stop watching,” Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra said in a blog post this morning.

“So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people,” Gundotra said. “But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.”

Social networking rivals, such as Facebook and Twitter, have long accepted business accounts. In fact, building a corporate presence on these sites has become an essential part of marketing your business on the Internet.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that—since its initial release in June—many businesses eager to get on Google+ established personal accounts to advertise their companies, but were forced out by Google as early as July. Terminated account holders, however, were consoled by the promises of corporate accounts in the future.

A week later, Google Product Manager Christian Oestlian posted an announcement to his Google+ page that a pilot program to test business accounts was in the works, to which thousands applied. Already, businesses such as Macy’s and Coca-Cola have begun using their Google+ Pages.

And for good reason. As is the release of Google+ Pages wasn’t enough excitement, Google also revealed two perks to having a business account.

“Today’s launch of Google+ Pages can help people transform their queries into meaningful connections, so we’re rolling out two ways to add pages to circles from Google search,” Gundota explained. “The first is by including Google+ pages in search results, and the second is a new feature called Direct Connect.”

According to Gundota, the Direct Connect feature guides users that type “+” before their query to the relevant Google+ page. For example, those searching for “+Pepsi” will be immediately redirected to the beverage’s Google+ page.

In addition to the aforementioned features, Google+ gives businesses the freedom to add friends or companies to their circles, interact with customers via Hangout video conferencing, attract followers and share information about themselves. Google+ Pages offer unique capabilities that Gundota is sure the corporate world will love.

“Not only can [fans] recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term,” Gundota said. “They can actually spend time with your team, face-to-face-to-face. All you need to do is start sharing, and you’ll soon find the super fans and loyal customers that want to say hello.”

Social Media Marketing in Orthodontics

It seems like the rules and trends for marketing in orthodontics changed overnight. In 2009, orthodontists were first exposed to the “new” marketing paradigm of social media engagement by way of Facebook and Twitter, the orthodontic journals abuzz with “how to’s,” “who’s who,” and “what’s what” articles showing up monthly. Orthodontists charged headlong into the world of social media with less of a blueprint for marketing success and more of a “let’s get there first” approach only to find themselves in 2010 asking, “What now and how do I measure ROI?”.

Most orthodontic practices charged into the revolution without any ammunition and no clear objective, so it would seem obvious to question the social media engagement a year in. Many decided to delay their foray into the revolution because they have no idea how to even fire the first shot. Either way, you are not alone if either of the above applies, and that’s good news. While the majority of orthodontists have some form of social network presence, very few have seen their participation pay off. And most fall short by simply not grasping the fundamental objective in a practice’s participation in social media; increase patient based referrals by giving your “network” reason and incentive to introduce the practice to their “network.” This concept is beautifully summed up by Ford CMO James Farley, “You can’t just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other.”

Pre-Planning Your Social Media Marketing Plan - Understanding Your Practice’s “Brand” and Creating Objectives

Before delving into a discussion about social media marketing, it is imperative to understand and clearly define your practice’s “brand” and its place in the local market. The importance of starting with this exercise will help you to keep the plan focused on delivering an easily repeated message, one that patients and the community at large will associate with your practice. You have to give the practice a “voice” and “personality” that can be communicated easily. Social media is, after all, social. So you must begin with humanizing the practice. In the social media world, the practice itself is the “person” with whom visitors, colleagues, friends, and patients will be interacting. And as such, if your posts are purely clinical, “How to care for your appliance, etc.”, the practice will be perceived as lacking personality, being “uncool,” and will therefore fail in terms of social interaction. To the point made earlier, you have to provide the “it” that people will say to each other. Ask yourself, or your team, this question, “Why would someone choose my practice over another in town?” Answers may range from “expertise,” to “friendly,” to “cutting edge,” to “best terms.” Then put yourself into the shoes of a potential patient or parent. Aggregate the answers into the creation of personality traits with which you can endow the practice.

Once you’ve established those traits, write them down and share them with your team. The team member(s) tasked with posting need to be keenly aware of the practice personality that you’ve created. He/she will need to become schizophrenic when making posts; he/she is no longer a team member, but rather “the practice.” This is very closely mirrored in your scripting for case presentation. The most successful practices in terms of case acceptance rate, are usually those that invest effort in humanizing the practice by promoting comfort and familiarity. They take the would-be patient on a tour of the facility, introduce him/her to the team, and establish confidence in acceptance because the practice as a whole cares “personally” about the patient’s outcome and the benefits it will yield throughout his/her life. This is the same message that you will convey through social media. Congratulations, you have your “brand.”

Creating the Plan

The social media marketing plan can be as simple or broad as you deem fit. Most practices will find that staying “narrow” will not require adding staff or outsourcing the plan’s execution. A “simple” plan executed properly can and will yield growth. Broader plans simply expand the social footprint of the practice and can increase ROI. Either way, the fundamental parts of the social media marketing plan will follow this outline.

1. What to say: All posts should exemplify or stand testament to the personality, or “brand,” of the practice that you have defined. Thinking in terms of this personality will make it easier for the posting team member to find worthy topics. All practices should have some form of “patient-focused” as one of it key personality traits. Encourage your team to digest and relay positive patient stories during your huddle. Make yours a “wall of accolades.” “Congratulations to Brittany for making all A’s / being elected student body treasurer / 1st chair clarinet. Not only will such posts endear you to the patients and families, but it will also convey to the message that the practice is, itself, sincerely interested in the successes of its patients. If your practice is “community-invested,” then follow local prep sports in the paper and talk about key games, congratulate local teams, and mention exemplary student-athletes whether they are your patients or not. Link to your local paper’s honor roll. Post funny stories from the paper. If the practice is “cutting edge,” subscribe to Digg’s RSS feed for technology and make posts about new devices and social network “tips.” Of little concern is that your posts are orthodontics specific. The practice’s brand is invariably connected to orthodontics already, so your task is saying something from the “voice” of the practice in which the reader finds value. This value is in turn reciprocated by the reader when their positive perception of the practice is affirmed and they communicate that forward throughout their “network.”
2. What not to say: If the goal of your social media marketing campaign is to get people to tune into your brand, then the antithesis of your efforts will be to have them tune out. Obviously, any post that could be considered negative, inappropriate, or unprofessional can tarnish the practice’s brand perception and must be avoided. But so too should posts that yield complete ambivalence. Those in the practice’s network already know that you are an orthodontist and expect an occasional post regarding “braces friendly foods” and “mouthguard awareness month.” But without more substance offered in the way of practice personality, they may tune you out entirely.
3. When to say it: The optimal frequency of posting is a much debated topic. Too many is oftentimes worse than too few. As a general rule of thumb, posting more than once daily to any given network, unless in response to a comment or post string, is too much. Once weekly is about the minimum, but such infrequency necessitates that the posts be meaningful. The strategy that is optimal is to make posting part of the schedule. For example, Monday is patient accolades, Tuesday is events and announcements, Wednesday is media posts (pictures and video), and Thursday is sports and/or weekend events. Once created, stick to the schedule as strictly as possible. Continuity is just as important as content.
4. Where to say it: Many practices have embraced Facebook and Twitter as their two networks of choice. But let’s delineate the two in terms of orthodontics. Facebook is a social network whereas Twitter is a microblog. As such Facebook is far more capable of reaching potential patients in your market, while Twitter is simply a way to improve your website’s search engine rankings. For simplicity, you may opt to link the practice’s Twitter account to its page on Facebook, thereby keeping both current by simply posting to Facebook alone. But some additional social media outlets exist that are worthy of consideration. Foursquare is a location-based social network that lets people “check-in” to your practice on their smart phones every time they come in. When they “check-in,” a post is made on their Facebook wall that announces where they are. With as little effort as putting up a sign in your practice, you may receive dozens of check-in weekly, translating to dozens of posts made by patients on their walls about your practice. Consider Flickr as the preferred location to post all photos about, for, and by your practice. Flickr is itself a social network. Link your Flickr account to the page on Facebook and your practice’s reach has grown two-fold.
5. How to incentivize it: If your practice has spent any time participating in social media, you’ve probably found that the most profound way to increase participation is to incentivize it. But a stringent word of caution is offered if you do such on Facebook. Facebook has a particular set of guidelines that specifically disallow many of the most common types of promotions offered by orthodontists on their pages. Contests such as “make a post on our wall and you’re entered to win” and “upload a photo to our page on Facebook to enter,” are violations for which Facebook would, if discovered, remove your page altogether. All the work spent in developing the page would be for nought. Search on the web for “facebook promotion guidelines” to find the full version. In order to properly (and legally) run orthodontic contests or promotions through Facebook requires the use of 3rd party applications. Few companies exist that specialize in creating such, but Ingenuity Orthodontic Marketing is unique in that it works exclusively in the field of orthodontics.
6. How to simplify it: A few applications exist that allow you administer all your social media accounts in a centralized “dashboard.” Perhaps the most popular of these is HootSuite. The free version should suit the vast majority of orthodontic practices’ needs, and will save considerable time and effort in administering your social media marketing plan.

Welcome to Ingenuity, Sarver Orthodontics!

Sarver Orthodontics, a leading orthodontic provider in Birmingham, Alabama has recently partnered with Ingenuity Orthodontic Marketing to unleash the magic of social media marketing and orthodontic contests for the practice.

“Effective patient communication is key for an orthodontic practice,” offers Dr. David Sarver. “And in this day and age social media has become the place where people communicate. By partnering with Ingenuity to implement a social media marketing plan and web-based contests, our practice will be better able to engage our patients and the community at large.”

Carleton Wilkins, President of Ingenuity Orthodontic Marketing adds, “Dr. Sarver is himself universally known as a preeminent orthodontist, lecturer, and teacher within orthodontic and dental circles. Ingenuity’s goal is make this reputation more easily shared among the people of Birmingham by way of social media marketing. Sarver Orthodontics is an established and trusted practice in the Birmingham area. Dr. Sarver’s patients, both past and present recommend him to everyone they know. Ingenuity is going to provide a better vehicle to increase patient referrals and improve patient-practice communication.”

With the marketing expertise, social media acumen, and web-based orthodontic contest platform, Ingenuity is set to move Sarver Orthodontics to the next level of online communication and marketing and will help introduce the practice to a wider segment of the Birmingham population. The collaboration marks yet another example of the rapidly growing popularity and importance of communication and marketing for orthodontic practices through Social Media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and more.

About Ingenuity Orthodontic Marketing
Ingenuity is an orthodontic marketing firm that brings a unique and fresh point of view into the world of orthodontics. By creating, managing, and hosting web-based orthodontic contests and launching strategic social media marketing campaigns, Ingenuity helps its client orthodontists to better communicate with its community, and thus increase patient referrals and dental referrals. For more information, visit www.ingenuity.cc

About Sarver Orthodontics
As an orthodontist, Dr. David Sarver recognizes the importance of his responsibility to you and your child. His philosophy is based in the knowledge that orthodontists are generally the first professionals who are asked to make decisions that can enhance or diminish a patients’ facial appearance. Dr. Sarver utilizes the most advanced diagnostic and treatment techniques available today. The practice is fully committed to being perpetual students of the orthodontic profession and are dedicated to giving the residents of Birmingham, Alabama, and the surrounding areas a reason to smile!! For more information, visit www.sarverortho.com

SEO, Site Rankings, and the Orthodontic Practice

One facet of Ingenuity’s orthodontic marketing plan is to help its clients garner top ranking in the search engines.  In light of the more “glamorous”   parts of the plan, such as social media marketing and online orthodontic contests, the more mundane is often overlooked.  But make no mistake, it is of critical importance that your site rank at or near the top of the search engines for a search of “(your city) orthodontist” and the like.  

The main reason we place high search rankings as such an imperative is for the sake of brand alignment in helping to increase your case acceptance rates; let me explain.  You, as an orthodontist have worked ardently to create the atmosphere and structure of the practice itself.  This appearance reflects the overall quality and prominence of the “brand”.  At the initial consultation and case presentation, you strive to impress upon the would-be patient this quality image of your practice, the “brand”, and make it easy for them to accept on the spot.  But yet you have some percentage that do not.  The oft-heard statement of “let me talk to my husband/wife” is often code for “I’m going to do more research before I accept.”  Thus the patient/parent goes online and searches “(your city) orthodontist”.  If you rank at the top for that search, then your presentation and marketing message are aligned, and the patient subconsciously deems you as “the best.”  If you are second page, near the bottom, then the reverse may yet be true, your brand image does not align with your case presentation.  And the patient/parent then becomes a “shopper.” 

We can definitely help our clients’ search engine rankings and we bundle SEO into our overall marketing agreement with out client orthodontists.  One of Ingenuity’s key strategies in promoting the practice via social network marketing and online orthodontic contests is to generate a substantial increase in traffic to the practice’s main website.  This increase in traffic helps to boost the practice’s search engine ranking, but is often not enough to move a client site to number one.  At the core of SEO is the way in which your site is structured (at the programming level), backlinks, social mentions, etc.  And Ingenuity has an on-site and off-site search engine optimization package that focuses on all these aspects to drive its clients to the top.

SEO alone is no marketing plan.  But no orthodontic marketing plan should exist that doesn’t place an imperative on search engine rankings.

Orthodontic Marketing by way of Social Media

We are often asked to speak at both doctor and consultant meetings about utilizing social media to help grow a practice.  Social media in the field of orthodontics is, after all, our chosen niche in increasing patient referrals. Ingenuity uses orthodontic contest marketing to incentivize a practice's patients to introduce the practice to those patients' friends, families, and social circles.  But where does Facebook fit into this equation?  How do we utilize Facebook to increase the virality of a given contest?  How do we recommend that the practice conduct itself on Facebook to maximize sharing?  Do things such as posting banding and de-banding photos make sense? Is the practice violating any facet of HIPPA by posting patient photos?

The key to the success for any contest that we host in attracting new patients is formulaic.  So too is the approach we recommend that the practice itself undertake in posting on Facebook (or any social network for that matter).  The first realization is that the posts need to support a "marketable position" for the practice, something akin to imbuing a personality upon the business itself.  To meet this objective it is often advisable that the posts be more focused on the happenings of the practice than its clinical side.  So what about posting patient photos, such as banding and de-banding photos?  We'll err on the side of caution and simply not broach the legal aspects of such (we'll save that for the phone call).  But let's look at such posts from the standpoint of practicality and marketability.  On the side of marketability, the practice needs to set a clear schedule for such posts to occur.  We typically recommend that they be made en masse once per week.  The reason is simple; continual (daily) posts of this type will quickly be tuned out by the followers of the page.  Too much, too often, too similar.  Thus having a photo post en masse makes sense in terms of both marketability and practicality. Once per week makes the task much simpler.

A point that we make continually, though, is that regardless of how engaging the content of such a page may be, there simply has to be some facet or impetus that makes its followers likely to share it with their friends. Otherwise, the page is little more than a blog shared between practice and patient.  This is where Ingenuity Orthodontic Marketing really hits its mark.  We have the platform, plan, and people to make the practice "go viral," and all without the constant oversight (or even participation) by the orthodontist or team.  As such, the practice is not disrupted and can easily adapt to the new growth that the orthodontic contest marketing can yield.