Yikes!  December is almost over and 2017 is right around the corner.  Here are five things to do now to close out the year right for your dental practice marketing and set the stage for practice growth in the next year.

#1 Write your January social media using the 5:3:2 rule

The goal of social media is to start a conversation and develop a personal connection with both patients and prospective patients.  The key word is – conversation! Think about what makes a good conversation – it’s interesting, both parties talk, and you walk away knowing something new. The 5-3-2 rule for social media first mentioned by TA McCann can help you create a more interesting conversation.

The rule is pretty simple; of 10 Facebook posts:

  • 5 posts should be curated content – content from other sources that gives your patients valuable information
  • 3 posts should be content you create
  • 2 posts should be ‘human’ – content that helps your patients relate to your staff.

Choose and create content that your audience will find interesting will increase your engagement and social shares.

Pro Tip: Post your most interesting tip on Thursday.  Dental Economics shared an article about Facebook success, and noted that Thursdays had the highest engagement rate for brands in the health and beauty industry per Buddy Media.

#2 Double check your online reputation

Check out your reputation on Yelp, Health Grades, Zocdoc, yellow pages, white pages, and Angie’s List.  Don’t forget whodoyou.com, vitals.com, rateabiz.com, and nextdoor.com.

Share the reviews with your office – the key here is transparency.  Use the positive reviews to highlight and reinforce the behaviors that make a difference in a patient’s day.  Negative reviews are a great tool to identify areas in your practice to change.  Get the entire staff involved in setting goals to impact the change you would like to see, and report on the progress toward these goals monthly.

Pro Tip: make sure you set SMART goals – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.

#3 Claim your Google My Business page

We know patients actively research pretty much everything online – and 1.17 billion people search daily on Google (5 times more than any other search engine!).  Google My Business pages launched in 2014 to help those searching find businesses faster.

Google My Business is free – if you do not claim your page, inaccurate information about your business could show up in search results, or worse, no information at all. Your Google My Business page factors heavily in how you rank in the local results section during a Google search (think organic SEO).

You will need to either claim your current business or create a new one depending on whether or not you have a page yet. Watch the video provided by Google to add or claim your business, or go straight to the step-by-step guide to setting up your Google My Business page  to ensure your business information is correct.

#4 Add Google Analytics to your website

You’re leveraging social media to build a conversation, updating your online reputation and making sure people can find you on Google – but is it actually drawing new people to your website?  If you’re not sure, check your Google Analytics information.

If you don’t have Google Analytics – it’s free and absolutely worth your time to set up.  Google has step-by-step procedures, but you will need access to the back end of your website to add the code. Your IT or web resource should be able to help.

Once you have analytics set up, set a reminder in your calendar to check it weekly and track if your marketing programs are bringing new visitors to your website.  If you don’t measure the results, you won’t know if your dental practice marketing is successful.

#5 Say Thank You

People LIKE to be appreciated, and to know that you value them for more than their deductible.  If you haven’t already sent out a Holiday greeting, use your patient communication software to send an email or text with a thank you and inspirational greeting for the New Year.  This isn’t a solicitation for business, or an offer for a new procedure – be sure to keep it simple and sincere.