5 Minute Social Media Makeovers: Stepka Family Dental

I presented 3 workshops on Social Media for Dentists at Yankee Dental Congress 2014 in Boston, where I met Joanna Stepka, who was at my workshop to learn more about how to use social media for her husband’s dental practice. Like most people in the workshop, she had a smartphone, but, unlike many people there, she was using it to tweet during the workshop. Impressed that she was live-tweeting during the workshop, I looked at the online presence of Stepka Family Dental after the workshop. Here is my 5 minute makeover.

Facebook

Stepka Family Dental’s Facebook page had a “vanity url”, namely https://www.facebook.com/StepkaFamilyDental. Easy to do, but not all dental practices do it. The first time I looked the cover photo was bland but the new one (right), updated 2 days after the workshop, is great and I assumed was inspired by what I taught. The pictures are clearly not stock photos, which I recommended dental practices avoid because they are so bland, but ones of the staff.

Could this be improved? In the workshop I showed sites that use group shots instead of individual ones. The individual photos, however, are easier to update if there is turnover. I like seasonally appropriate imagery and these look like they were taken outside in the summer, not recently. Overall, they are great pictures and the staff look competent and approachable, which is what you want in a dental practice.

The branding for the practice is clear. The tagline is “Providing dental excellence to Rhode Island families since 1973. We specialize in treating your family like it’s our own.” It is a little long but welcoming and establishes credibility by showing that this is an established practice.

The Facebook page has 341 likes, which is much better than most of the dental practices with a Facebook presence that I showed during the workshop.I suspected that the practice must inform patients that they are on Facebook. (In fact, Joanna emailed me the new sign for the waiting room, which is included to the right.)

The Facebook posts are of an appropriate frequency – around 6 a month at a glance. They do not seem to be on a schedule, but rather are occasional updates about office activities, seasonal information, and some dental humor and education. Some of the posts have likes and comments, showing that people are engaging with the content.

The website and other social media

The blog leads to the website, which has more information on the practice, the staff, testimonials, and work in the community. The other forms of social media are depicted with icons, including Google+, Pinterest, and Twitter. The website highlights the recent Facebook posts, which is great for letting patients know not just that Facebook is used but what is posted, which is more enticing than an icon.

Of the other social media platforms, Twitter is the most heavily used after Facebook and, on the website the icon for Twitter should not be last since it is updated frequently. The profile on Twitter (right), “Providing dental excellence to Northern Rhode Island families since 1973,” a truncation of the Facebook tagline that maintains the consistent branding. The image is, I understand from Joanna, in the process of being updated. Currently there is text over text, which looks sloppy.

The tweets are great – like the Facebook posts, they are interesting, diverse, and quite human, which is very appropriate for a family dental practice. The frequency is a bit sporadic, but there are at least a few tweets every month, so anyone looking would never feel like it was an abandoned account (I had examples of those in my workshop) or one not worth following. There are fewer followers than on Facebook, so there are opportunities to inform patients about the account when they are waiting for or leaving an appointment or in any emails sent out. Also, some professional Twitter accounts will indicate who is tweeting, which Joanna might consider.

Opportunities

The other social media, besides Facebook and Twitter, seems more experimental, like Pinterest and the blog. While there is some overlap between what is posted on the different platforms, the messaging is never exactly replicated, which is good. And experimentation is good, not just from the perspective of what Joanna tries, but from that of seeing what reaches and appeals to their target audience. Certainly it would be better if the website and all social media used the same name, Stepka Dental or Stepka Family Dental, and the same banner imagery, but each type of social media has restrictions and limitations, making it hard to replicate branding.

While the posts and tweets were varied and interesting, more on the staff might be of interest. Even the fact that staff were at Yankee Dental Congress could be highlighted, since patients want their dentists and hygienists to be current in their knowledge. Other opportunities are to provide some additional educational materials targeting the needs of the different age groups they see, since it is a family practice, and to include more images  of the staff. They should consider featuring some patients, with permission, in short videos or pictures, and even add pictures where possible to the testimonials. These images could replace the stock photos currently in use on the website. Given that the posts have personality, the images should too. Since they are involved in the community, more of that would give “human interest”. They could consider the use of a quarterly newsletter or eCards sent by email for patient birthdays or for holidays like Valentine’s Day with dental care messages.

Finally, in a search on “North Smithfield dentist” they came up high, so clearly what they are doing is resulting in good visibility in search results. Their steady use of multiple social media platforms can only help with visibility. I say this without knowing their goals, their other forms of promotion, or their metrics.

Conclusions

My overall impression is very positive. Without knowing the practice’s goals, but assuming that they are trying to attract new patients and to keep current patients engaged and educated, I think they are doing a great job. I heard from Joanna, who is shown here with her husband, Dr. Greg Stepka, “I was definitely inspired by your workshop and knew that I could ‘tidy up’ our social media fairly quickly. I plan on implementing e-newsletters and inviting patients to follow our social media as well. I started Pinterest & Google + after your workshop so those are in their infancy.” This ended up not being as much of a makeover but a commentary on what is clearly a work in progress.