Is Social Media Right for YOUR Business?

Are there certain businesses that shouldn’t use social media to market? Now, you might think a business such as a dentist might be a bad match for social media marketing. What are they going to do, tweet about cavities and tooth loss? That would be a downer.

I recently heard from a specialist in cosmetic dentistry about using social media to supplement their other forms of marketing. I had to ask myself the question, is this really a good idea for their line of business?

The first thing I asked was what type of work did he most enjoy doing? I learned that he was passionate about helping people improve their smiles and thus their self-image. One of the things that gave him the most joy was helping out when a young child had an accident and lost part of his two front teeth. He was passionate his business and how he was able to help the individuals and families he served.

On his website I was able to find testimonials and stories written about him in the past.

Then I went to work. Created a fan page for him and started researching topics of interest in both general dentistry and cosmetic dentistry. Also built his fan base from 0 to 100 fans in about a month. This might not seem like much, but he had a budget to consider and was reticent to solicit former patients for some reason.

Nevertheless using some ingenuity and ideas like running a “post to my fan page for a chance to win a prize” contest and searching his contact database for people he knew from his local town (with prior approval of 20 names at a time), his fan page is starting to take hold and people are actually posting on it. This helps increase his visibility to their friends as well.

So can social media marketing help build any type of business? Yes. My biggest piece of advice to this somewhat reluctant dentist was that social media would allow him to join the conversation already taking place on the internet. Any type of business can find interesting ways to engage people in the conversation.

What do you think? Is social media right for your business? Leave me your thoughts in the comments below.