So here are a few things to know about the Timeline Platform before you set yours up. In future posts we will talk about some strategies you can implement on your practice’s page, but for now here are a few important things to know before getting started.

1. Cover photo: The cover photo is the first thing that people will see when they visit your site. You need to find an image that represents your practice and what makes your practice unique. This is a great opportunity for creativity. Have fun with this image. Change it over time for holidays like Google does with their logo, or to celebrate important events. It’s important to note that Facebook has established rules for what can be put in the Cover Photo. It may not contain any sort of promotion. You cannot provide links, phone numbers, messages asking people to like your page, etc. Remember this is not the image that will show up in other people’s news feed, that is your profile picture.
2. Pinning & Featuring: Pinning and Featuring are the main features to use to promote your practice and interact with your patients and followers. Pinning is simply selecting certain posts from your page to be placed at the top of your page. Those selected posts will stay on the top of your page for seven days. Featuring is a very cool tool. When you feature a post it expands to fill the entire width of your page instead of a small section of the time line. I wouldn’t recommend using this feature with text but it is great to use with visuals.
3. Milestones: Events on your timeline are called millstones. Story telling is becoming extremely popular in social media and using milestones will allow you to share your practice’s story with your patients and followers.
4. Landing pages: Many of you may have been using landing page apps on your Facebook pages previous to the Timeline switch. These pages still exist but they are imbedded into your page now instead of being the first thing seen by visitors to your page. I won’t go as far as to say these apps are irrelevant now, but they don’t serve the same purpose as they once did.

There is much more to learn about the new Facebook Timeline and how you can use it on your practice’s Facebook page. Keep an eye out for future posts with some ideas for strategies you can use to implement it. For now, hopefully this post gave you an idea of what timeline is and how you can start to use it.

1. Establish Credibility: Patients want to feel trust and security when they visit the dentist whether they are new patients or not. A blog is a simple way to show those who visit your website that your practice is credible and experienced. Don’t think that your blog needs to be like the “mommy blogger” type that only talks about happenings in the office, instead use it to give dental tips, educate your patients on procedures, and to provide answers to their questions.   When people read your blog they will get a great feel for what your practice has to offer.
2. Web Traffic: According to Mintel research on Internet marketing, companies that blog get 55% more web traffic. You may not think that more visits to a dental practice’s website is that big of a deal but it can really help your practice grow. That means more opportunities to reach new patients, more credibility within the industry, and a fantastic opportunity for growth.
3. Build Relationships: Every dental practice has their own unique way to build relationships with their patients. In some cases a blog can be a great tool to assist in this important task. Your patients can interact with your practice, ask questions, and even participate in discussions or other activities.  
4. Its Simple and Cheap: Maintaining a blog doesn’t require a lot of time, effort, or resources. Update it as you see fit, share stories and videos, and keep your patients updated on the happenings of your practice.  Two or three hours a week is plenty of time to keep your blog interesting and attractive.

A blog might not be for every practice, but it is definitely something that you should consider. There are many other benefits besides these we have talked about and the best way to discover them is to give it a try. If you have had a good experience with your dental blog we would love to here about them in our comment sections. 

Approximately 90% of Americans have access to the Internet in their homes, and with the importance of the Internet in today’s society continually growing this number is only going to increase. The question isn’t whether or not you should advertise online but how you should go about it.  I want to take a moment to talk about some of the different types of online advertising available, a few of the benefits of online advertising, and what types are best for your business.

First here is a quick list of different types of online advertising your can use

• Email Advertising: Simply Advertising via email.
• Display Advertising: Advertisements like banners and other display types.
• Affiliate Marketing: Partnering with other publishers and paying media fees when traffic to the advertiser is gained.
• Behavioral Targeting: Targeting consumers based on online behaviors. 

Each type of online advertising has its benefits but there are a few advantages they all seem to have in common. The first of these is how measureable the results can be. Most advertising mediums can only guess how many people saw or were exposed to your. You also can barely guestimate the number of people who actually took action from seeing the ad. With online advertising you can more accurately analyze the performance of your ad. The results may not be perfect but they are pretty accurate.

Another benefit of online advertising is the ability to control who sees your ad. For example, what good does it do to show an ad for soccer cleats to a baseball player? With almost all online advertisements today you can make sure that the right people see your ads. You can use SEO tools for specific key words, or demographic selection tools to aim your ads at the right people. For example, if someone just moved to St. Louis and needed to find a dentist, they will most likely search in Google for something like, Dentists in St. Louis. Those dentists who have either built their site to appear at the top of the organic rankings or are advertising through Google for those key words will most likely get the business of that potential new patient.  Other online advertising mediums like Facebook allow you to select certain demographics or psychographics of the people your ad is targeted for. You can select interest, location, age, etc. so that you know your ads are reaching the right people.

The biggest thing to understand when deciding the best medium to use for your business is where your target audience is. Certain online advertising mediums are more effective tools for more niche market businesses. Other mediums will provide greater reach and exposure to more people across the globe.

There is much to learn about online marketing and the benefits it can bring to your marketing and advertising campaigns, but this short post should give you some ideas and get you thinking a little bit about how your business can using the Internet to grow your business. Be creative, think outside the box, and you’ll discover great results from your online advertising.

• Information: Your visitors are looking for information. Period. Be sure that the information on your site answers their questions while still being organized and simple.  Proper use of information on your website will assure that your visitors will not get distracted and bounce. Take the time to make the information easy to find, understand, and apply. Another important fact to remember about the information on your site is to “Keep it above the fold”. The more scrolling visitors have to do on your website, the less likely they will be to stick around.
• Stay focused: Visitors are almost always driven to your page by links from advertisements, blogs, and other outside sources.  Make sure that the landing page of those links coincides with the information provided in the advertisement or blog where the link was found. You don’t want a visitor looking for information about a dentist’s payment plans to be sent to a page providing directions to the dental office. The result would be a quick bounce and the loss of a possible new patient. 
• Build Trust: Keep in mind that most visitors to your website are there for the first time and know little about your business.  A visitor who is not familiar with your company will be hesitant to leave you their contact information. Build credibility and let them know that your business is established and trustworthy. A great way to do this is to show reviews from customers, list partnerships, or show awards that your business has won.

 Don’t underestimate the influence that a great website can have on the success of your dental practice.

• 78% of Internet users conduct product research online.
• 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.
• 67% of B2B companies and 41% of B2C companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
• Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic.
• Facebook’s share of the display market grew from 7% to 12.2%.

 So, for the month of February I want to talk about the importance of your Dental practice’s online presence. We’ll talk about websites improvements, online advertising, blogging and other social media tools that you can use to help grow your practice. Consumer behavior is changing and if you want to get the best results from your marketing campaign, these posts over the next month will really help you to get on the right track.  

• Be the example: You have to start with yourself. If your employees see you losing motivation than they will more than likely follow suit.  Take time each day to quickly evaluate yourself and make sure you are doing your part to accomplish your business’ goals. There will be days when it is hard to remain positive and optimistic but doing so will go a long ways in helping your employees to keep course and do their part as well.  Be the example.
• Creative Reminders: Anyone can simply type up a goal, print it out, and pin it up in the office where everyone can see it, but is that really effective? Finding fun ways to remind your employees of the goal and their part in accomplishing it will help maintain their motivation. Don’t allow the goal to get old; keep it fresh with creativity.
• Baby Steps: We are all familiar with the famous line from “What About Bob” where Bob uses "baby steps" to accomplish his goal. Although the concept might seem comical in the movie it actually contains a lot of truth. Looking at a goal as one large task is like trying to drink through a firehouse. It is simply too much at one time, but if you break it into small baby steps it appears much more achievable.  Breaking goals into baby steps for your employees will keep them motivated because they will be able to see progress. Otherwise they will never feel like their work is amounting to anything and that their goal is no closer to completion than it was the day before.
• Reporting & Rewarding:  In a previous post we talked about how the work rate increases when work is reported, this concept is critical for keeping employees motivated to accomplish goals. Develop a system of reporting so that you can review your employee’s progress over time.  Remember to be creative.  Making the reporting progress fun will really benefit your employees. If your employees are accomplishing their “baby-step” tasks be sure to reward them so that they continue to work hard. Not recognizing your employee’s efforts  will put you on the fast track to unmotivated and unhappy employees. 

Don’t let the initial excitement of setting goals die in your office. Help your employees to stay motivated all the way across the finish line. Be sure to reward them for their work so that the next time a goal is set they will once again find the motivation to finish the race. 

Accomplishing goals is not easy, but it is worth it. It takes hard work and dedication to follow through to the end and accomplish your goals. So here are a few ideas of things that you can do to be sure that you accomplish your goals and that you and your business grow from them.

• Passion: You can’t expect to find the motivation to accomplish a goal that you really don’t care about. Make sure that you set goals for yourself that are driven by a passion. If your circumstances require that you set a goal for something that you are not especially passionate about, find a way to discover passion within that goal. Find a reason to love it. If you can find passion behind every goal you will find it much easier to motivate yourself to accomplish it.
• Write it Down: It has been said that a goal that is not written down is simply just a wish. Be sure to write down your goals so that you can easily remember what it is that you are working towards. If it is not recorded you will not accomplish it.
• Review: Once you have written your goals down, review them often. Put them in a place where you will see them everyday so that you can be reminded of what you are working towards. Take time each week or month to analyze your progress and find areas where you can improve. Accomplishing goals is a process, not an event.
• Support: If you have goals set within a group, make sure that you all support each other. Remind each other of what you are working towards, and congratulate others for their work to accomplish the goal. Working together and supporting one another will go a long way to help you accomplish your goals.
• Reward Yourself: Be sure to reward yourself when a goal is accomplished; you deserve it.  A healthy reward for accomplishing a goal is a great idea because it will provide another source of motivation. 

Obviously this list doesn’t include everything that you can to do to help yourself accomplish your goals, but maybe these ideas will spark your imagination and help you find the techniques that will work for you and your dental practice.  We would love to hear about your experiences and what your practice does to help accomplish your goals. Share your stories and ideas in the comments area below. 

Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. If we do not set goals in life we will never be able to fulfill our full potential. The same can be said for our business. Setting goals will drive your business to reach its full potential. As we learn to set and accomplish goals we begin to accomplish much more with our time than we would otherwise. So besides the rewards we uncover as we fulfill our goals what other benefits come to us along the way as we work towards them?

• Clear Vision: Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. As you set and work to accomplish your goals you will see that the tasks you complete each day have more purpose. Your work becomes more efficient because you are focused on a clear vision and it is reflected in your productivity.
• Unity: As your goals create a clear vision for yourself and your employees, a sense of unity begins to grow between yourself and those you work with. People better understands each other needs because they understand the end to which all of their efforts are directed.  Having goals for those within an office provides a sense of unity for employees and motivates them to all work harder together.
• Joyfulness: There is definitely a sense of accomplishment that comes from uniting with others to fulfill a common goal. This sense of accomplishment creates an excellent work environment where people are happy and motivated.
• Confidence:  As you and those you work with continue to accomplish your goals, confidence within your business will grow. Confidence is contagious in a work environment and can be a fantastic asset to your business.

As the new year begins and you begin to establish goals for your dental practice, look for the benefits that your practice will experience as you work towards and accomplish your goals. The power to grow your practcie is in setting and accomplishing your goals. 

Every dental practice will have different goals for the year, but I believe that growth is a common goal. Finding more patients, doing more work, and making more money is a common desire for most dental offices. So here are a few ideas of how you can use Weave Communication’s services to help make your practice grow this year.

1. Patient Retention: Every year dentists spend thousands of dollars on marketing campaigns to bring in new patients, but how many of these patients come in for more than one visit? Research show that the average practice retains less than 41% of their new patients. That means that the ROI of their marketing budget is less than half of would it could be. A great place to grow your practice is improving your patient retention. That’s why Weave Communications offers dental recall services to contact your overdue patients and schedule them for appointments. Dental practices using Weave are making an additional $6k-$10k per month from their overdue patient-base.
2. Office Efficiency: Weave’s new Weave Connect software is a great solution to the inefficiency that often arise in dental practices. Improved communication between employees and with patients as well, better reporting tools, objectively prioritized tasks lists, and much more can help your office save time, money, and work more efficiently than ever. As your office begins to run more efficiently more opportunities for growth will come.
3. Patient Relationships/Loyalty: Having great relationships with your patients is a key to the growth of your practice. Good relationships lead to patient loyalty and good referrals to your office. Weave Connect has tools that allow you to develop your relationships with your patients. Imagine an automated task list that has birthday reminders for your employees to wish patient’s a happy birthday or congratulate a couple on a wedding anniversary. They can also add notes on the patients profile so that when the patient calls in your employees can ask about a recent family vacation or congratulate a mother on her son’s recent game winning home run or a little league soccer championship her daughter just won.  Small tools like these can go a long way in helping you build meaningful relationships with your patients and help grow your practice.

So try something a little different this year and see how Weave Communications can help your practice grow and accomplish your New Year’s resolutions.