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GL: Exactly. And the names of those who give you a positive review on Google or Yahoo will be put in a drawing for a chance to win some sort of prize or even a special offer for a dental service. “ When you first set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts, you’ll want to add these social media icons to your Web site homepage with a direct link back to your social media pages. ” MD: I mentioned earlier that I’m sitting here with my iPhone in my pocket, and it’s buzzed a few times. And I don’t know whether it’s tweets from Lance Armstrong telling me where he’s cycling today, but I spend a lot of time getting information – whether it’s from Twitter, Yelp, Urbanspoon, Facebook even – on my iPhone. It’s become an important device in my life for managing what’s going on and how I interact with the world. When Apple released its 2009 fourth fiscal quarter financial results, it set more records and sold more iPhones then ever before. Just when I think that everyone has an iPhone, Apple goes and makes a record profit. What should dentists be doing to take advantage of the fact that everybody carries a smartphone and stays so closely connected to the world of social media? GL: Number one, their practice Web site should be iPhone compatible. This was one of the first things Officite did about a year ago when the iPhone grew in popularity. We made it possible for all of our dentists to have an iPhone-compatible Web site with easy navigation and quick links to phone numbers, appointment requests and social media sites so that patients on the go would always be able to access their dentist’s site. Remember, patients are busy and they want to make one click to get where they’re going. The iPhone is where more than 50 percent of your information is going to be gathered, reviewed and read, and this includes social media sites. Today you see kids, my 15-year-old included, who are on their iPhones more than the computer because that’s how they access their Facebook. And this is a great way to expand your reach to potential patients who may never see your direct mail, ads or even Google searches. As this generation grows up with social media and advanced technology like the iPhone, it’s necessary to adapt your strategy to reach out to an entire new patient base that is growing very quickly. MD: That’s a good point, because it’s the same way with my daughters – very attached to their devices. In fact, one of the only effective punishments we have left is to turn off the texting and take away the laptops. It is their connection to friends and to the world. And you’re right: This is the generation of patients who are coming next. In general, most of the discretionary choices I make are somehow reviewed on social media before I go out and interact with any given business. It makes total sense to optimize things for the iPhone – it is unique and it has broad appeal. As an information portal, it makes a lot of sense. GL: Four or five years ago we all started booking travel, buying books and other consumer products online – and that drove companies’ behavior to sell online. And the same goes today with the growing popularity of the iPhone. When you go to check an alert for a flight, you’re doing it on your iPhone at the airport. You’re not pulling out your computer anymore. When you search for a restaurant, you’re pulling out your iPhone. When I drove over here from my hotel, I got the directions on my iPhone. That’s the way I’m interacting with the world, that’s what’s changing. So when people look for a dentist, they want to be able to look on their iPhone as well. It’s all about taking control of who you are and how people gather information about your practice. MD: Another area I’m interested in hearing about is YouTube. You briefly mentioned it earlier and I guess it’s something that would be considered a social media site, but we’ve produced many clinical education programs here at the lab and we’ve put them out on iTunes. We notice they are immediately downloaded, but we’ve also found out they’ve ended up on YouTube, not by our doing! So we’ve started to put them on YouTube ourselves to see how many views we are getting on these clinical education programs. Not just here in the U.S., but worldwide – I’m huge in Moldova. I don’t even know where that is, but if I 50 www.chairsidemagazine.com
went there I’d be given a key to the country because a lot of dentists there have watched these videos. So it’s gotten easier. We use HD cameras in the operatory for filming; we’ve also got some cheaper handheld cameras. And then you get down to the flip cameras, or even the iPhone having a video camera, but I wonder: Do you have many of your dental clients doing videos and posting these? Whether it’s before-and-after shots or something else, is that considered social media, too? GL: Yes, and what that does is increase your case acceptance and expand your reach to patients searching for specific patient education videos. You can post your video to your YouTube account, and then link it to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. This is a great way to tie all of your networks together while providing a visual interpretation of a service, product or even a patient testimonial. MD: Even something as simple as bleaching before-and-after pictures, which I think many dentists take for granted now. It works so well and it works so often that patients aren’t even offered it anymore. I don’t agree with that thinking because it seems like almost every Google search that I do, when the results pop up, there is always an ad that says, “Slaughter your yellow teeth! Murder your yellow teeth!” It’s an obviously Photoshopped before-and-after: someone with teeth the color of cheddar cheese now has bone white teeth in the after. And any dentist looking at the before-and-after would say it looks fake or glow in the dark. These companies don’t have unlimited funds and they wouldn’t advertise if it wasn’t selling. Every time I see one of these ads, it reiterates to me that bleaching is still something that’s very important to the patient. It’s possibly the most basic, most conservative, certainly the most affordable esthetic procedure that we have, and I think dentists sometimes go out and get fixated on the “almighty” veneers or the crown and they forget about lowly bleaching – which, for the average American, is the esthetic change that they’re looking for. So I know that a before-and-after shot of bleaching and a little slide show on YouTube would be very effective, as it would be on a Facebook fan page, with a little testimonial. This seems like a very effective way to communicate with your patients and show them something that really 80 percent of them could benefit from. GL: Yes, exactly. So whether you produce that video yourself in the office using a patient – which always has a positive effect – or you get a video from a dental manufacturer like <strong>Glidewell</strong> that provides free patient education, putting a video on your Web site and social media pages is only going to enhance awareness about the services you offer. So, you’re right – a high percentage of your patients would probably benefit from a certain treatment and continually educating and informing patients about these procedures via your social media channels could eventually convince them to come in for the bleaching treatment. You could even tweet to your followers that you’re offering a special on tooth whitening, but it has to be Thursday afternoon. That might be a way to enhance and grow your revenue while filling chairtime. MD: That’s obviously what United Airlines is doing when they decide to tweet that they’re having a fare sale between L.A. and Hawaii for the next three hours. They’ve noticed inventories are low. And after three hours, they’ll tweet back and say, OK, it’s over. So they must have filled that inventory. Do you have some dentists doing that, filling some excess inventory that way? GL: We do, because dentists always know when their slow period is going to be. Whether it’s around the holidays or at the beginning of summer, dentists can plan their social media strategy in advance for the months business will be slow in order to increase the chances of filling chairtime. This might involve preparing blog posts, tweets or Facebook posts to inform patients that they’re having a special offer on cleanings or that a new procedure is available. MD: When we talk about blogging for the practice, part of it certainly could be video blogging, correct? GL: Yes, and I definitely recommend supporting text in your blog with a video. MD: From a patient perspective, it seems like a video blog would be very compelling. It’s almost like a behind-the-scenes look at what happens or what’s available or what could happen in a dental office. I don’t think “Extreme Makeover” or “The Swan” would have been as successful as they were if they didn’t include some kind of glimpse behind the scenes of what happens. So I think it’s one thing to blog and write about it but another thing if there’s a 60-second video showing some before-and-after pictures of the past week or the past month or something like that. I can see patients really taking an interest and wanting to watch that and learn about it. GL: Sure, a monthly blog with some video is always going to be a hit. I mean, when you go to ESPN.com, the Greatest Sports Item is a video now. As consumers, we are drawn to visuals. So the same should be true of dentists. Whether you build the video yourself or obtain a video from a vendor, posting it on your blog can generate a lot of interest. It grabs a patient’s attention and says, “Look, we have a new video of a patient receiving whitening or a new animation about Social Media and Marketing the Modern <strong>Dental</strong> Practice51
Page 1: Chairside® A Publication of Glidew
Page 4 and 5: Contents 45 Practice Management: So
Page 6 and 7: Letters to the Editor “Dear Dr. D
Page 8 and 9: Contributors Michael C. DiTolla, DD
Page 11 and 12: PRODUCT........ TrollFoil Dr. DiTol
Page 13 and 14: Dr. DiTolla’s CLINICAL TIPS PRODU
Page 15 and 16: Book Review “Aesthetic & Restorat
Page 17 and 18: Figure 5: The fractured ceramic sur
Page 20 and 21: Too Much Tooth, Not Enough Tooth Ma
Page 22 and 23: Creating suitable incisal edge posi
Page 24: tion using “s” sounds as well;
Page 27 and 28: Interview with Dr. Paul Homoly 25 I
Page 29 and 30: grand scheme of things, that single
Page 31 and 32: 3 units of implant to support a bri
Page 33 and 34: MD: And I bet most dentists know th
Page 35 and 36: have to do that you didn’t forese
Page 37 and 38: Several years ago, Reader’s Diges
Page 39: one; you’re a fantastic employee,
Page 42 and 43: 3. Acrylic provisionals should be p
Page 44: ■ Reasons for Biologic Shaping 1.
Page 48 and 49: Glenn Lombardi: Well, let me start
Page 50 and 51: Second, if you’re not comfortable
Page 54: anti-snoring devices.” That is go
Page 57 and 58: other while seeking wealth, attenti
Page 59 and 60: ubber and drive the bur into the fl
Page 61 and 62: inflammation in lesions on the wear
Page 63 and 64: In 1976 it also went out on a limb,
Page 65 and 66: Dr. DiTolla’s Patient Product Rev
Page 67: The Chairside ® Caption Contest IN

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