INFORMATION ON TWITTER IS SO CURRENT AND can be filtered so specifically. It’s one of the very best tools in the world for learning—however, I say that with one gigantic caveat. For purposes of learning (not marketing… that’s different) you’ll want to follow the “right” people. By “right” people, I am defining it to mean people who talk about the kinds of things you’re interested in learning about.
When learning how to use Twitter for dentists, following the wrong people (defined as people who don’t talk about things you’re interested in) and you’ll end up with a string of useless, boring, time-wasting information.
So, learn from people around the world, but befriend people locally.
Twitter For Dentists Means Learn Globally But Make Friends Locally
Since you’re a dental services provider tied to a physical location, using Twitter to help market your practice should include some specific usage social media strategies. For example, if you’re in California, engaging with people in New York may not be a good use of your time. It’s important to find and follow people in your local area.
Here are a few tools below that will help you identify some of those individuals. Since you are not trying to find hundreds of people at one time, experiment with some of these options below. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. Find the one that you like using best:
- Search.Twitter.com/Advanced
- Twellow.com/Twellowhood
- NearbyTweets.com
- LocalTweeps.com
Use Hashtags With Local City Names
Go to Twitter search and place “#” in front of a city name. This can be useful in seeing what is going on in a city, but sometimes it isn’t really very useful for finding local people to connect with.
Don’t Be Seduced By The Counter
But, be very aware of it. You don’t want your ratio of followers to people you’re following WAY out of balance. The reason? One of the first things people look at in your Twitter profile is how many people you are following and how many people are following you back. There should be some parity. If you are following 1,000 people and only 23 are following you back, you will appear as though you do not understand Twitter and perhaps you are just using it to spam your stuff. It is better to grow those two numbers together.
Now, make a goal to find, follow, connect with, and befriend five local people each week.
You can do this!
Here are the titles and links to the other 4 related posts:
Post 1 of 5 – Can A Dental Practice Use Twitter Effectively? (overview)
Post 2 of 5 – Twitter Objectives In Dental Practices (the “why”)
Post 3 of 5 – What Twitter Is And What Twitter Isn’t In Your Dental Practice (the “what” and “when”)
Post 4 of 5 – Twitter Basics For Your Dental Practice (the “how”)
As our valued clients and friends…
We strongly encourage you to carefully read each of the posts in this series. Then, start using Twitter. Give it some time and be consistent. You’ll look back one day and be glad you started with dental social media marketing.
Adrian Lefler is the CEO and Co-Founder of My Social Practice and a recognized dental marketing expert with nearly two decades of experience. He is a trusted voice in dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and emerging technology, and he hosts BYTE SIZED, a podcast focused on dental AI, innovation, and technology.
