There is no perfect strategy that fits for every social media platform. That’s why we encourage our clients to understand the subtleties of each social media tool and think about them independently. What works for a dental practice’s Facebook page may not work on Twitter. What works well on Twitter, may not be right for Instagram, etc.
Over the years, one thing that I have learned about Twitter is that people don’t like engaging with a “faceless” brand. Twitter is a person-to-person tool, not a company-to-the-anonymous-masses tool. That means one living, breathing human being to another living, breathing human being. It’s hard to warm up to a logo.
Make Your Profile Image Personal
So many dental practices simply paste their logo in as their Twitter profile image. In many cases, their logo doesn’t fit very well. It ends up cropped weird, and difficult to see or read. But even more important, these profile images are not warm or memorable.
There are a couple of ways to do this better. Here’s an example from one of our awesome clients, Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca’s, Twitter account:
In Dr. Gorczyca’s case, she has not only personalized her profile photo, but also the header photo. Remember, people enjoy doing business with people they know and like. Personalized photos can really help.
Here’s a second idea for handling your profile image. I tweet on my personal Twitter account and I also tweet for My Social Practice. In addition, right now I’m tweeting for our Dental Digital Marketing Conference coming up in April. We wanted to include some branding for the two other accounts, but we also wanted to keep it personal by creating profile graphics that included a photo:
If you have multiple people in your practice who share the tweeting responsibilities, create a graphic for each of them—then, rotate the responsibility week-to-week or month-to-month, changing out the profile image as appropriate.
Find & Engage With People In Your Local Area
Obviously, your practice is tied to a physical location, so it’s important that you try to connect with Twitter users in your geographic area of influence. For example, if your practice is in Michigan, engaging with people in Florida may not be a good use of your time. There are some great tools out there that can help you follow the right people locally on Twitter.
Not using Twitter yet? Start! The learning curve is a little steeper than other social media tools, but the rewards can be great. And as Twitter usage continues to grow among your patients, you’ll look back in a year or two and be glad you learned how to utilize this effective marketing platform.
Are you using Twitter? Have some advice, or questions? Use the comment section below!
I love Twitter! I have made so many wonderful connections there. I hope others will, too! Thanks for the shout out!
Thanks for your comment, Ann Marie. And thanks for your good example of Twitter effectiveness.