Social Media Marketing – Do This, Not That (Part One)

Is your Facebook community flourishing or flailing?  Before you begin to judge the value of your social media efforts, be sure you are taking full advantage of all opportunities.  Below is a list of social marketing do’s and don’ts (part one).

Don’t #1 – Use a stock photo for your profile picture. A stock photo is even less effective than using a logo for your profile image.  Why?  Your profile image is the main image that people see with every post or tweet.  As consumers we’ve learned to ignore advertising.  What screams advertising more than stock imagery? It’s as if we have a subtle radar in our eyes and minds that alerts us to someone trying to sell us something in social media.  By using stock photos as a profile image, you loose the opportunity to genuinely connect with your fans.

Instead Do This – This is a very simple fix.  Use a photo of a real person or people from within your practice.  A team photo or solo picture of the doctor is best.  Authentic images will allow you to better connect with the people who like you—and that’s what social media is all about … making human connections. A next best option to using a photo of you or your team is a logo that is designed to show up well in a thumbnail.

Don’t #2 – You have a Personal Facebook Profile, but you don’t “run it” yourself, rather your staff does. I’m seeing more situations where doctors are letting their team open a Facebook profile on their behalf.  The team member or members will “friend” others on behalf of the doctor, at times accept patients as friends, and even comment as the doctor.  This is wrong on so many levels, however my biggest concern is risk management. Misrepresenting yourself in social media is a great way to mislead people and break trust.

Instead Do This – Fix this problem by taking over your own personal profile. The only person who should be acting on your behalf is you. If you have no interest in interacting or participating on Facebook, you shouldn’t have a personal profile.  Rather close your account and assign your Facebook Page management to a trusted team member.  Just to be clear, it’s not uncommon for there to be multiple Page administrators for a Facebook Business Page, which is fine.  It’s with regard to Personal Facebook Profiles that this is a definite don’t.

One of the advantages of social marketing is the ability to easily change or revise your strategy and experiment.  What are you doing that is working—or not?

Part two of this article to follow next week.