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Category: Social Media

5 Medical Practices Effectively Using Instagram

Instagram’s visual language is a great way to tell your brand and practice’s story. The layout is both straightforward and engaging. The platform is on the rise, and Instagram users are nearly 60 times more likely to share an image than those on Facebook. In a field that can be rather clinical, pun intended, Instagram provides medical professionals a means of showing their personality and building trust with their patients. Images spark engagement through follows, likes, and comments. A medical practice’s Instagram feed allows it connect with patients and customers through conversation, questions, and concerns. With the use of hashtags, you can find new audiences and grow your following.

In this post, I highlight five medical practices that are effectively using Instagram to promote their practice.

#1: Dr. Aamir A Wahab – @draamirwahab

Dr. Wahab’s dental practice Unforgettable Smile is located in Beverly Hills. He uses Instagram to promote the diverse dental and oral health care services he provides. Dr. Wahab counterbalances those more technical images, such as x rays, molds, and dental tools, with photos of himself with clients, both celebrity and unknown. Before and after images, with patient permission of course, are a great way to show client results. Not only do they demonstrate your skill, but it allows potential patients to see what’s possible. It’s also an ideal time to employ a hashtag like #transformationtuesday. Overall, Dr. Aamir’s Instagram is successful because it’s diverse in its content and constantly engaging—and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a “celebrity dentist.”

#2: Dr. Chris Balgobin aka Dr. BBL – @ddr.bbl

Dr. Balgobin is a cosmetic surgeon specializing in liposuction and Brazilian butt lifts, or bbl. He’s also a franchisee of Dr. Miami, also known as Dr. Salzhauer, whose Instagram is a little more eccentric than most medical practices. Dr. BBL’s Instagram feed is almost entirely before-and-after photos, and the majority of those are butt lifts. While some doctors on social media are more clinical and matter-of-fact, Dr. BBL’s Instagram takes very graphic results and portrays them lightheartedly. His use of emojis, selfies, and memes bring a more playful side to his medical practice. He’s done an expert job of displaying his niche in the larger field of cosmetic surgery while keeping his content engaging and tailored the platform on which it appears.

#3: St. Charles Vision – @stcharlesvision

St. Charles Vision is a doctor-owned facility providing comprehensive care. They have six locations serving the Greater New Orleans area. Their approach to Instagram is just as comprehensive. Their feed features new trends in eyewear, client portraits, celebrity spottings, and more! St. Charles Vision is also very active in the community, and their feed shows views around town. In a field all about the visual, it’s obvious that optometrists should be promoting themselves in graphic terms. Their feed features a lot of original images. Though they occasionally throw in an advertisement for a certain brand of glasses, the majority of the photos are unique to the business. They also connect their followers and encourage engagement with the hashtag #raiseyourglasses. St. Charles Vision’s new Distinctive series with artist Zack Smith features striking images of clients in fashionable glasses. This is a great way to promote your products and services, while also highlighting your wonderful customers!

#4: Dr. Simon Ourian – @simonourianmd1

Dr. Simon Ourian is a cosmetic dermatologist based in Beverly Hills. He uses Instagram to establish his expertise in his field. Dr. Ourian’s posts educate his clients about the causes of different cosmetic concerns, the various treatments, and even describe his consultation process and pricing. The classic before and after images of non-surgical butt lifts, laser treatments, and botox injections are visual testimonies of his work. These images foster both interest in the practice and trust in the doctor’s results. Dr. Ourian posts nearly every day and features a variety of images, as well as videos. This ensures his feed is diverse. He’s active on the platform but does not overwhelm his followers with multiple posts a day or anything overly promotional.

#5: Dr. Sandra Lee aka Dr. Pimple Popper – @drpimplepopper

Dr. Sandra Lee is another dermatologist that’s keeping it “poppin” on Insta, but definitely in a different way from Dr. Ourian. Dr. Pimple Popper has become an internet sensation, and this account is the perfect example of a medical practice using Instagram successfully. Be warned—her account is not for the faint of heart! Before Instagram, Dr. Lee’s YouTube channel had few followers, but now her Instagram account boasts 1.3 million followers! You can watch short clips of cyst removals, popped pimples, never ending blackheads, and literally everything in between. Want more? Almost every Instagram video on her account prompts users to visit her YouTube channel for longer clips.

Dr. Lee posts photos and videos daily. She’s consistently engaged with users, even building anticipation for full videos with sneak-peek clips and teaser images. Fans come together under her hashtags #DrPimplePopper and #popaholicsunite. Instagram users comment with their delight and disgust, and share these videos with friends and families for amusement and shock value. Dr. Lee has built a loyal fan base that keeps coming back. The Dr. Pimple Popper Instagram account has been featured in the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and more!

June 6, 2016
Should Each Franchise Location Have a Separate Facebook Page?

It’s no secret that Facebook is a social media powerhouse. With an average 1.09 billion daily active users, the platform has transformed the way people interact with each other and the world around them, and has revolutionized the way and speed at which we can access information. As consumers turn to Facebook more and more for information and as a means to connect with people, it comes as no surprise that an increasing number of people expect companies to be active on Facebook. According to a study performed by Hubspot, 95% of Millennials expect brands to have a Facebook presence.

Having an active presence on Facebook is no doubt a great way for brands to connect with their consumers on a more personal level, as well as a cost effective means to target new customers. However, what does this mean for franchises with multiple locations? Should each location have its own Facebook page, or should the franchise have one page that represents the brand but not necessarily each location?

According to Mashable, there are several questions a franchise should answer before deciding upon its Facebook strategy.

Does your business have components that vary based on the location?

For example, does your business offer different promotions, products, pricing, decor, etc. based on the location? If so, your business may benefit from delegating Facebook management to individual locations. By allowing franchisees to post their own content, each location can have more personal interactions, something that is very important if your business varies slightly based on location. Take McDonald’s, for example. Their menu varies based on the culture of the location. Therefore, they take a decentralized approach—they have a corporate Facebook page but also allow each location to manage their own pages.

Does your business benefit from a close relationship with its customers?

Service businesses are the perfect example of businesses that benefit from a close relationship with its customers. These businesses rely on positive interactions with customers. Because so many people are on Facebook, this is a great way to reach and interact with consumers on a personal level. Allowing franchisees to post their own content allows the brand to take on a personality as well as establish themselves as an involved player in the local community. Having a positive and strong presence on social media can be very beneficial in building strong customer relationships.

Are your industry’s consumers on Facebook?

It’s important to analyze if your target demographic is active on Facebook. For example, while 90% of Millennials are active on social networking sites, only 46% of seniors use the platforms. It’s important to analyze this to ensure that your marketing efforts are not falling on deaf ears.

Where are your locations?

While all of the above data seems to point towards a decentralized approach, there are many businesses that benefit from a centralized Facebook strategy. For example, if all of your locations are within one city or region, one Facebook page makes sense. Instead of oversaturating the market with multiple pages, it’s better to have one page that represents all of the locations within that city or region.

It’s also important to note that by allowing franchisees to post content, you forfeit complete control over your brand. By entrusting franchisees with managing their own Facebook presence, you are allowing them to represent your brand in every post, comment, or picture posted. However, in order to help guide your franchisees in post content and tone, a franchisor can provide them with Social Media Guides outlining their dos and don’ts for posting. Planet Fitness is a great example of this. While they do have a corporate Facebook page, they also empower each of their locations to manage their own Facebook page. The goal of the location pages is to drive local engagement and interaction within the community by posting about community events, special club promotions, and specific club information.

Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule. However, by assessing your industry, customer demographics and company culture, you can choose the best Facebook strategy for your franchise.

May 23, 2016
10 Things Your Medical Practice Should Be Doing on Facebook

We all like to think of ourselves as Facebook experts. This is 2016 after all, and Facebook has been around for over eight years. But the resting state of the online world in our internet age is continual flux, with updates and improvements becoming available quicker than you have the time or energy to research and evaluate. We know you’re busy, so let us give you the tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) version, with some easily employable tips and tricks that you should be using on Facebook.

1. Engagement, Engagement, Engagement!

Relationships can’t be one-sided, so make sure your Facebook fans see the benefit in keeping up with your page by responding to their comments, questions, and concerns. Just like your patients, your growing fan base wants to feel like they’re being heard. Taking just a few minutes to reach out to them and address their inquiries will keep your current fans happy and could even help you gain more interested Facebook followers. And, with Facebook providing users with an estimated response time right on your page, it’s more important than ever to quickly and thoroughly respond to your fans.

There’s a reason it’s called social media! For more tips on posting irresistibly engaging content, check out this post by a fellow influencer.

2. Create Shareable Content

The key to great Facebook messaging is shareability. Creating compelling, viral content that your fans can’t help but pass on increases your reach outside of your social network, earning you more fans and more influence. Consider curating a monthly list of debunked medical myths or posting an article detailing easy lifestyle changes that result in major prevention benefits.

3. Show Me the Money!

With subsequent Facebook algorithm updates, overly promotional posts are receiving less and less organic distribution on the platform. Thus, it has become increasingly important to put some spend behind your posts in order to engage specific audiences, especially since gaining fans doesn’t necessarily mean your content will reach those fans. Appealing to your growing fan base and encouraging engagement and familiarity with your products, services, and industry through post promotion is an extremely cost-effective way to combat these updates.

4. Practice Events

Facebook events are a great way to get your business and services in front of the community. Create your own events around prevention, fundraisers, and community outreach. Is your practice offering free flu shots? Create an event and allow people to invite their friends. Watch your RSVP list grow!

5. Community Events

Events can also be a great way to express your involvement in your community. Do you have a team participating in Relay for Life or a March of Dimes event? Show your solidarity, and encourage your fan base to support your favorite cause by creating your own Facebook event or attending one!

6. Know Your Audience

Being familiar with your fan base can help you provide content and services tailored to your fans’ interests. The Audience Insights tool can provide you with an invaluable cache of information. You can analyze the times of day your fans are most active on Facebook, the makeup of the Reactions your posts receive, and even the demographic makeup of Facebook users near your place of business.

7. Analyze Your Reactions

Also available through the Audience Insights tool, or by viewing individual posts on your page, are the myriad of Facebook Reactions users can now express. Taking a look at the various responses like Love, Haha, Yay, Wow, Sad or Angry can give your practice a good feel for the type of content your Facebook fans are interested in seeing more of as well as the content they’re definitely not interested in.

8. Make Posting Easier with Scheduling

Don’t have a dedicated social media team for your practice? If you rely on a few helpful individuals, and especially if you’re taking on the task of social media management yourself, you will definitely want to familiarize yourself with Facebook’s post scheduling tool. If you want your page and its content to be consistently at the forefront of your fans’ newsfeeds, and trust us, you do, the ability to “set it and forget it” is priceless.

Check out this post for a step by step on how to get started with this feature.

9. Update Your Page!

Just as you stay up-to-date on the latest medical innovations and techniques, you must maintain currency in your social media efforts! Keep your contact information current and accurate, and post content with an eye towards the future (i.e. new developments in the field and what this means for the patient). This up-to-date and active approach will help make your practice’s page more likeable.

10. Consistency Is Key

In addition to keeping your post content current, maintaining branding consistency across different channels, such as your website, blog, and social media profiles, is a must for any practice wanting to build authority in the community. A user should be able to seamlessly navigate between your multiple online presences without a jarring change in the consistency of color and imagery, helping your brand to project a pervasive, qualified influence.

As they say, practice makes perfect. So go, implement these tips and tricks to see what works for you and your practice, and keep checking back with us for the latest updates!

May 18, 2016
Why Social Media Is Critical for the Growth of Your Business

If your business is not already harnessing the power of social media to build and retain its customer base, then you may be missing out. According to Pew Research Center, almost two-thirds of Americans regularly use social media sites for their personal and commercial needs.

But how exactly do you successfully market your business with social media to find more potential customers?
The key to leveraging the power of social media, when it comes to your business, is to focus on those attributes that make your business unique and to focus on prospective customers who look like your best customers. When I say “look like,” I mean demographically and psychographically. So if your best customers are poodle-loving, Jaguar-driving, octogenarians than that’s who you should try to target first. By focusing on prospects like the customers who already know and love you, your chances are much better of making a connection.

Your Customers Are Using Social Media

When it comes to social media, your customers are already savvy, regular users. Among adults who are online, 76% use social networking sites. You’re likely now wondering exactly which social media sites your customers are using. By an overwhelming amount, it’s probably not a surprise to learn that Facebook is, by and large, the most popular with 72% of online adults as regular users. Following up the lead are LinkedIn with 25%, Pinterest with 31%, Instagram with 28%, and Twitter with 23%. In one of our client’s compelling success stories, a non-profit group wanting to promote its annual fundraising event used Facebook to reach its goal of selling more event and raffle tickets. By using a branded Facebook landing page and targeted Facebook ads focused exclusively on tickets, the group met its goals and generated over $70,000 in online ticket sales.

The Social Media Tipping Point

To understand even more clearly how critical social media use can be for businesses, let’s take a look at what your competitors are doing. According to a recent survey on how small businesses are using social media, 53% are active users. In addition, more small businesses are investing in social media strategies with 25% of marketing budgets expected to be channeled to social media over the next five years. Meanwhile, your customers are increasingly influenced by what they see online with 57% saying they judge a business by the positive (or lack thereof) reviews that they see online.

Where and When You Should Post

Now that you understand the changing landscape of social media and how integral it is to a successful marketing strategy, it’s important to know what sites to focus on and when you should post. Facebook remains the clear winner in terms of the number of users. To break it down further and look at the gender and age preferences of that 72% of online adults who use Facebook, 77% of women online use Facebook versus 66% of men. In addition, 87% of 18 to 29-year-olds use Facebook versus 73% of 30 to 49-year-olds. Knowing who to target and when can be useful. It’s important to know that certain days of the week and certain times of the day can make a big difference. Posting on Facebook on Saturdays and Sundays from 12–1 p.m. can result in 32% higher engagement, with Thursdays and Fridays from 1–4 p.m. resulting in 18% higher engagement. The times to avoid posting are weekends before 8 a.m. and after 8 p.m.

It may seem overwhelming at first glance, but taking the first step and getting your business engaged in social media is not only worth your time; it can also create a ton of new customer opportunities. To help you make the most of this opportunity, and to learn more, check out this handy Social Media “Cheat Sheet.”

Image Credits:

Social Media Flowers Image – HTSABO
Facebook Graduation Image

May 3, 2016
How to React to Facebook Reactions: All Your Business Needs to Know
Here is my take on what businesses and marketers need to know about Reactions and how the change will impact our data.

How is Facebook tracking Reaction data?
- Right now, Facebook is including all Reactions bundled together for the metrics on “Likes” in ads, and in the top level of Page Insights.
- It’s also good to note that “Reactions are treated the same as Likes for ads delivery (ex: Loves carry no extra weight than Likes in the auction).”
- Until Facebook (or a social media analytics software company) rolls out a more efficient way to look at the individual Reaction data, it’s going to need to be done manually.
Let’s check out the different ways we can view data in this example of a post with 13 total Reactions (9 Likes, 2 Loves, 1 Haha, and 1 Wow):
- To see the Reactions from individual Facebook users, click on the liked row of names at the bottom of the post from your Page’s Timeline:
- To see total reactions on the broadest level, check out the Posts section on your Page’s Insights tab:
- View individual Reaction data by clicking on the post text on the Overview or Posts section of your Page’s Insights (this one is my personal favorite):
- Note that this data is NOT currently included in exports.
What can I learn from analyzing my customers’ Reactions?

If you are willing to put in the manual labor, there’s a lot you can do!
- [bctt tweet=”Marketers can create better content by examining trends in their #FB Reactions. “]If you are seeing lots of “Love,” it’s a good indicator that your customers will want to see more posts like that. Don’t forget to use the data to actually change the way you are writing posts in the future.
- You may also want to test out different types of posts, with goals of evoking different emotions. For example, if The Center for Restorative Breast Surgery were to post about a heart-wrenching breast cancer story, they might expect to receive a higher number of “Sad” Reactions. On the flip side, if they post an inspiring survivor story, they may see more “Love” and “Wow” Reactions.
What changes will this bring about in the future?

As of now, we haven’t heard from big players in Social Media analytics, such as Sprout Social, Socialbakers, and Hootsuite. But I have no doubt they are working on it! It’s my hope that these companies can provide lots of easy-to-analyze data that will empower marketers and business owners to make the right decisions behind content creation and relationship building with customers online.
- Facebook will be counting Reactions the same as Likes for News Feed influence…for now. Eventually, they do plan to use the data later for more targeted News Feeds.
- Potentially, the use of more emotions could drive Reactions up, and comments down. If people are able to click “Haha,” they might be less likely to spend their time and energy commenting “LOL.”
- There has been a constant shift to shorter attention spans, so we will have to monitor Reactions vs. Comments on similar posts from before and after the change.
- Something I would love to see as a marketer is the ability to track conversions on your website with users who gave a certain individual Reaction. I’d also love to serve unique ads to users who emoted beyond the Like, but it might be a while until that’s a possibility.
I love the new Reactions because they are going to allow businesses to connect with customers on a much more personal level. I will love them more when I can get some cold, hard (and easier to access) data behind them, but for now, we are moving in the right direction!

What is your take on Reactions for businesses and marketers? Let me guess: it’s either like, love, haha, wow, sad, or angry! ?

Image Source:

Facebook Reactions GIF
March 4, 2016
5 Things Healthcare Professionals Should Never Post on Social Media

Over the past decade, social media has become a major part of nearly all aspects of life, including the business world. With the ever-growing importance of social media marketing, more and more businesses—including doctors, dentists, and others in the medical field—are using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. to connect with current and potential future customers.

Thanks to the expansive, direct, and often personal nature of social media, with all those benefits also come numerous pitfalls that must be avoided to ensure that you get the most out of social media. Here are five things to never post on social media if you are a doctor or work in the medical field.

1. Inaccurate Medical Information

We have all seen it on social media before. Somebody shares an article claiming a miracle cure or the shocking results of some unbelievable new study. Unfortunately, very few of these attention-grabbing headlines are actually backed up by truthful scientific research in the article itself.

As a trusted medical professional, it is your responsibility to avoid sharing or liking these bogus news stories about medical treatments unless you have thoroughly read the story and have verified its accuracy. Sharing something like this can reflect very poorly upon you and your practice. Be wary of satirical articles as well, because some people may not be able to distinguish the difference at first glance.

2. Misleading Information or Images

An offshoot of the previous category, misleading information or images can be just as detrimental as false info. This can include anything that could be considered deceptive or ambiguous to patients. Photoshopped images, exaggerated guarantees, and more can fall into this category.

A perfect example of this can be seen with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ rules and regulations specifying that any images that are not real patients must be identified with “Model” on the image itself.

3. Anything Violating Patient Confidentiality

Similarly, The American College of Physicians cautions doctors to be particularly aware and respectful of patient confidentiality when using social media. This is a slippery slope in today’s over-sharing society—even a faceless image of a skin rash can be a breach of patient confidentiality.

Remember to always obtain written permission from the patient if you want to use an image of them or any body part. It is best to avoid talking about specific patients at all on social media unless you have clear permission to do so. And be careful when taking pictures around your office to post so that no patients or medical records can be seen in the background.

4. Opinions on Controversial Issues

Today, many people use social media to express their opinions and speak their mind without realizing that there are consequences for what you say in the digital world, just like in the real world.

It is best to avoid any controversial topic or “hot button” issue at all cost. This includes divisive subjects including anything to do with religion, politics, racism, and abortion.

5. Complaints or Rants

It is equally as important not to use social media as a platform to blow off steam. Using social media to complain about your day or a patient or to rant about a particular situation will always come across as unprofessional. Everything you write on social media has the potential to come back and haunt you.

In the end, it is best to remember that when using social media as a physician, only post information that your patients and community will find useful. Be professional and remember that social media posts still have real world outcomes that can negatively affect you and your practice.

Image Credits:

The Simpsons
Scrubs

February 17, 2016
Earn More Facebook Friends for Your Business with These 4 Tips

According to the National Day Calendar, what we all know as February 11 is actually observed as National Make A Friend Day, not to be confused with June 8, which is National Best Friends Day (though we celebrate that here, too!). As it is described on the National Day Calendar website, new friends can broaden our horizons by guiding us to see with fresh perspectives, challenging us to try something new, and connecting us to opportunities, all of which are common features of Facebook friends.

Friends Are for More Than Just People

For this reason, people aren’t the only ones adding more friends to their Facebook lists. In fact, businesses, brand names, and even franchises have joined the world of Facebook. The more friends your company can make on social media sites such as Facebook, the more your audience grows, as will your SEO, and from there, the success of your business.

Facebook itself understands this great significance of friendship, as it just recently celebrated its 12th anniversary with a new goal of having five billion of the world’s seven billion humans connected to the social network by 2030.

But first, you have to know how to make those friends, so we’ve gathered four main ways to grow a Facebook friends list for your franchise.

1. Post More Videos – It’s All About the Movement

In the same way that YouTube grew to be so popular, Facebook Live is allowing people to broadcast in real time to their audiences directly from their mobile devices. The movement of the video in the News Feed catches the attention of those who are watching, and they’re more likely to share such content with their own group of friends, which will result in more views on your page, and from there, more friends.

2. The Message – Communication Is Key

The recently enhanced communication tools on Facebook help businesses offer real-time customer support through messages in the form of an online chat type of private messaging system. With this advanced messaging ability, your franchise can respond to conversations in private, more quickly, and with greater sensitivity than ever before.

3. Pass It On – The Ripple Effect of Shareability

Organic reach via Facebook is increasingly becoming a thing of the past, but there is one way around it, and it is through shared content. When you craft your Facebook status in a way that will encourage or entice your friends to pass it on to their friends, this will increase your reach, which will therefore lead to an increase in your list of friends.

4. Advertise with a Purpose – Give Them What They Want

When creating paid Facebook ads for your franchise, try to think with regards to what your audience wants more than what you seek. If you create an attention-grabbing, thought-provoking advertisement in a unique way, such as the carousel format available on Facebook, then you will be more likely to succeed. Along with that, create content that requires or encourages an interactive response from those who will view it. The more that people respond to what you post, the more others will see it and visit your Facebook page as a result.

When it comes to the nature of growing a Facebook friends list for your franchise, think in the same way that you would if you were trying to make friends yourself. With that, you will personify your franchise in a way that makes it relatable to those who see your content, encouraging them to engage with you and therefore continuously add more friends to your list!

February 11, 2016
Focus on Brand and Audience to Leverage Your LinkedIn Profile’s Referral Power
LinkedIn is for lawyers. If the anecdotal evidence—such as an attorney receiving a 10x ROI from a four-hour investment—is not enough to convince you, consider the takeaway from Chester and Del Gobbo in the ABA’s 2012 Law Practice: “Now that the use of social media is… widespread, disengagement is not the answer. The issues are not insurmountable, and being a wallflower lets others gain a competitive advantage.”

With a little forethought, LinkedIn can become a powerful referral tool.

The Discovery Process

Before you can present your online persona to the public, you need to set some objectives to guide your content:

1. Know your audience. When you know your audience, you not only know which of their needs you can meet; you also know what they are not interested in. Do not invest time on subjects or past experience that are not relevant to your audience, especially on a new profile. Not sure who your audience is? We can help.

2. Know your brand. Your brand is the value you offer others. To build a successful online presence, you want to become a thought leader, or “influencer,” on all things related to your brand. Thought leaders are not only recognized for how they think, but also for how they lead. Put another way: your audience is as motivated by trust and likability, the “leader” side, as by your perceived knowledge. To create a successful brand, you need to find the intersection of ability and likability.

When building your profile, every content decision you make should be based on demonstrating your ability to meet your audience’s needs or promoting your brand.

Opening Arguments

Two types of viewers will see your profile: the public and your connections. Connections can see all of your information, but public viewers need to click and scroll before they can access everything. You have three opportunities to draw public viewers in: the photo, the professional headline, and the summary.

Only your connections (right) will see all of your information at first glance. Use a descriptive professional headline to stand out to searches (left) and public viewers (center).

3. Use a photo. It should be professional, of course, but more importantly, it should support the brand you are promoting.

4. The professional headline is not a job title. LinkedIn autocompletes this section with your current job title, but you need to change it immediately. Titles such as “attorney” or “partner” do not tell the public about the services you excel at, the people you can help, or the value propositions you are passionate about. In other words, your job title may not effectively support your brand or target audience. Use a professional header that includes keywords and presents a value statement.

5. The summary is anything but. Your whole LinkedIn profile is a summary of your professional life—do not lead this section with an even more abbreviated version. Summarize your brand by looking to statements that address:
- Who do I help?
- Why do people trust me?
- Why do people like working with me?
- What have I accomplished?
The summary may be the last thing read by a viewer who is interested in you but still on the fence. Use it to encourage the people who are intrigued by your professional headline to become interested in your accomplishments.

The Evidence

Now you have drawn your audience into the parts of the LinkedIn profile that address job experience, education, and skills. Use these sections to solidify the claims presented in your professional headline and summary.

6. List accomplishments, not job descriptions. A list of responsibilities encourages your viewers to skim. Open each job description with a short (1–2 sentence) description of what you do. If you use a list, list your accomplishments, not your responsibilities. You do not need to give an exhaustive account; the purpose of these descriptions is to pique your viewers’ interest so that they contact you or look deeper for information.

7. Focus on the quality of skills, not the quantity. This is where knowing your audience plays a huge role. Focus on the skills that matter to them. LinkedIn ranks your skills by how many people have endorsed them, which creates a visual hierarchy that emphasizes about ten skills over the rest. By only listing a dozen skills, you create the impression of focused expertise. List too many skills, though, and the ones that are most relevant to your audience may be overshadowed by less important skills.

(Note: It is recommended you review your bar association’s guidelines on online advertising to determine if skills are considered to be claims of specialization.)

Closing Remarks

Very few of the people viewing your profile will read all the way to your volunteer work or organization memberships. That does not mean you should skimp on these sections; they are your opportunity to cement a connection with the people most interested in your brand.

8. Show your passion. This is another opportunity to bolster the “leader” part of your brand. Stay focused on causes that both you and your audience care about. Show, don’t tell, by listing volunteer experiences and accomplishments, honors and awards, and professional organizations.

9. Use publications and projects to encourage sustained engagement. Unlike most of the profile sections discussed above, projects and publications enable you to include URLs to outside sources. Direct readers to your legal blog or website to further bolster your online presence.

10. Do not just build a profile; use it. The lawyer who saw a 10x ROI from LinkedIn spent one hour building his profile and three hours building his network, followed by 30 minutes every week maintaining it. Plan on investing at least as much time sharing your profile as building it:
- Join and comment in LinkedIn groups.
- Regularly share updates and engage with other people’s updates.
- Never stop looking for contacts.
Over time, a well-curated social media presence will grow into a second profile that shows who you are—the likable and trustworthy part of your brand. When designed with your audience and brand in mind, your LinkedIn profile becomes the cornerstone of a professional network that can drive referrals.
February 2, 2016
5 Ways Your Dental Practice Can Win More Patients (and More Smiles) with SEO
Today’s dental patient is becoming much more Internet-savvy.
- 81% will do research online before booking an appointment
- 71% will find their new dentist on the first page of a search engine result page like Google or Bing
- 55% will choose one of the top three results
It’s no longer good enough to simply have a website. If your site doesn’t show up on the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs), you are losing potential patients. Maybe you already have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy but have yet to notice the benefits of increased exposure and web traffic. Or maybe you haven’t thought much about SEO. Either way, there are a few steps worth considering to boost your client referrals. Here are five fundamental and actionable tips to help you maximize the effectiveness of your website.

1. Local Keywords and Your Specialty

By adding hyper-targeted and high-converting keywords to your website’s content, you can achieve a higher organic ranking in the SERPs. Instead of choosing “dentists” as your keyword, pick out an area of specialty. It is much easier and more effective to optimize “pediatric dentist” than “top dentist.” With a targeted keyword, you will be able to avoid competition from across the country and reach out to people who need you for specific dental services.

2. Dental SEO Blogging

A dental practice website with a blog section is leveraging Google’s algorithm in their favor. A regularly updated blog helps boost your SEO rankings in two different ways. First, you can include your keyword in the first section of the post, which can facilitate organic traffic. Blog posts also help give your website unique, non-duplicate content. When a searcher is searching for your keyword, all duplicate content is noted by the search engine, and those websites are punished for their inauthenticity. Blog posts that include your keyword will help your overall ranking.

Between teeth whitening and root canals, the average dentist does not have a lot of time to devote to a blog. But blogging does not have to be a time-consuming task. When writing a blog post, consider using reader-friendly formatting like lists, including outbound links to resources, providing actionable tips, writing in a conversational tone, and using real-life examples. As an integral content marketing tool, your blog will help boost your SEO ranking and convey a professional, helpful image.

3. Build Backlinks

Backlinking is a central element of SEO, and to boost your SEO ranking, you need to generate content that others will want to link to. Having creative, informative blog posts can also help build backlinks, mostly because people will want to share your posts. Another way to build backlinks is to get featured. If you ever have the chance to write a blog post or opinion piece for a medical publication, do it! If a local new station wants your advice on a new dental implant treatment, don’t shy away! When you appear on another website, a link to your website is often included in the story. In the eyes of the search engine algorithms, this is one of the most effective ways to gain authority, boosting your SEO ranking.

4. Don’t Be Camera Shy: Use YouTube

You went to dental school, not film school, but if you have the resources, making a short YouTube video can really boost your SEO ranking. YouTube is the second-largest search engine on the Internet, but because videos generally have less competition, a video can rank higher in the SERPs. If you are targeting a region, you should include that area in the video’s title. Even though your video doesn’t have to have Leonardo DiCaprio in it, it also doesn’t have to win an Academy Award. Instead, it should focus on sharing general information about your practice or medical tips. You could even get patients involved and use videos as a platform for sharing patient testimonials. Whatever your approach is, video content will help tag your website as a superior one.

5. Get Social

A strong presence on social media can help the trustworthiness of your site. Because Google+ is owned by Google, your dental practice should put an extra emphasis on gaining +1s and building a network. In 2013, then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt said, “Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.” For optimization purposes, you cannot just have a verified account: you must also regularly post and try to gain followers. Facebook has only minor effects for healthcare SEO ranking, but it is a great tool for building a presence in your community. The number of times your office is tweeted about, as well as the number of tweets you tweet, can also slightly impact your ranking. No matter the platform you choose, make sure all of your posts are relevant and authoritative, as these posts will be most likely to gain a reaction from your audience.

There are many elements that impact your SEO ranking. These are five actionable tips that every dentist should be using for their SEO strategy.

Image Credits:

Dentists at Work Image
YouTube Invisalign Patient Testimonial
Guri S. Dhaliwal Facebook Page
February 1, 2016
3 Tips to Help Law Firms Generate More Leads on Social Media

In 2015, 35% of all lawyers obtained clients from their social networks, according to an ABA survey. Tech-savvy attorneys and digital marketing experts alike know that social media sites like LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook are great business development tools. Engagement is an imperative. In fact, it is the new word-of-mouth for client referrals. Here are three tips to help any firm develop a strong social media strategy.

1. Start Slow and Develop a Message

To start, a firm or individual attorney should pick out one or two social media platforms and focus on posting quality, engaging posts. There are only 24 hours in a day, and legal professionals already have a lot on their plate. By focusing efforts on posting good content on a few outlets, a firm can develop its own individual image and message. Once a lawyer becomes comfortable on one or two platforms, they can open various social media accounts and integrate their message across all of them. In 2015, 96% of lawyers and 90% of law firms maintained a presence on LinkedIn, while 33% of lawyers and 52% of law firms maintained a presence on Facebook. As the most popular social media sites in the legal field, these are the best places to start networking. Legal professionals also use Twitter, Google+, blogs, and several other niche social media platforms.

2. Set a Policy: Reactionary Content

Who is the target audience, and what will solicit a response from them? Because of the conservative nature of law, many attorneys may shy away from controversial topics. However, as long as the information is within the constraints of what an attorney is allowed to say in public, it can be posted on the Internet. The whole point of social media is to provoke a reaction. Effective legal social media means not only engaging with potential clients on industry-specific topics, but also provoking a share, like, +1, or comment. One tactic involves posting about real world events, changes to state or federal law, landmark rulings, or events the firm is hosting. These posts showcase the attorney as an expert who is aware of the most recent changes shaping the dynamic field. Up-to-date content appeals to potential clients who may respond with their own opinions, creating a conversation and potential leads.

3. Build Relationships

To maximize the reach of a firm’s social media message, make sure every attorney is involved. If one partner writes a blog or is featured in a local news story, make sure everyone in the office does what they can to promote the story. Through re-posts and shares, good news stories can reach a much larger audience. Each and every digital connection is a lead. To build professional relationships, use social media platforms at conferences, local business events, or any other professional event the firm is involved in. By connecting with other attendees or organizers, a lawyer can expand their social media outreach even further.

As long as a firm approaches social media as part of a modern marketing campaign, it is easy to develop a successful strategy. Social media is not just for the young: the largest-growing demographic for Facebook is ages 30-50. A creative law firm can connect with social media users of all ages to generate leads and gain new clients.

January 25, 2016