A Guide for Rating Your Social Media Content

It&rsquo;s 2014 and we are all familiar and fairly comfortable with Social Media. So, now, the separation begins. There will be those who know how to use social content to be really productive and those that spin their wheels, putting in time, money and effort with no value back.

Want to evaluate your Social Media strategy and content? &amp;n...

It&rsquo;s 2014 and we are all familiar and fairly comfortable with Social Media. So, now, the separation begins. There will be those who know how to use social content to be really productive and those that spin their wheels, putting in time, money and effort with no value back.

Want to evaluate your Social Media strategy and content? For elective medical or dental practices, here is an easy rule of thumb to use: Tell your story through your patient&rsquo;s experiences. You should be investing in developing that kind of content. So, here is a breakdown of what you should be paying for and what you can do yourself. Look at your social media posts and rate them Professional or Amateur using this guide.

Professional Posts &ndash; This content is worth an investment and tells your story in a superior way using the experiences of your patients as the content. Professionally culled and refined, these are the sorts of posts that attract followers and cause traffic.

1) Original Features: Original features are the highest form of content. Since they are about real people, these posts are unique, interesting and compelling because they are true. They work because it is also easy to identify with a person&rsquo;s story that is like our own. Therefore, feature stories about your patient transformations are the best way to communicate the value and impact of your services in Social Media.

2) Testimonial Content: Reviews are the new word of mouth. With a growing number of people relying on online reviews to make decisions about doctors and dentists, it is vital to organize and mobilize a positive message in the same format: the words of the patient. It is well worth paying for the gathering and culling of positive reviews to add to your social media content.

Amateur Posts &ndash; This content is not original and it tells your story only in a relative way. Most of these types of content could be used for a competitors practice without changing a word.

1) Light or Humorous Posts/Reposts: There is a place for this sort of post because it connects with people on a basic, entertainment level. But this content says nothing about the value of your business; it is just social filler. If most of what you put out is filler, you are spinning your wheels. Ask a question, try to get some responses to an either/or question or make an observation about the weekend. It&rsquo;s ok to repost a joke or a pic of a cute kitty. Do this yourself but do so with moderation.

2) Validating Reposts: In other words, you are using someone else&lsquo;s work. Now and then, reposting something you find relevant shows you are out there looking for interesting content yourself and care enough about your audience to share what you find. However, if this is your entire strategy, you aren&rsquo;t providing anything original and will lose your audience.

3) Facts/Figures: Watch out for your tone here. Reposting only facts and statistics as a strategy makes you seem desperate to convince people of the value of what you are doing. This is another strategy you can do yourself and you should only post one validating post per month.

4) Promotions: Promotions are lowest form of social post. Posts about promotions make the statement that you are only interested in advertising to your audience. It&rsquo;s ok to run promotions if they are infrequent, short-run and planned on a schedule. The more frequent your high content posts, the more acceptable it is to slip in a promotional announcement now and then.

So, look at your last few weeks&rsquo; posts. Rate them Professional or Amateur. If the majority of your social posts are of the Amateur variety and you are paying for Social Media, it is time to adjust your strategy. Don&lsquo;t pay for canned content. Pay for original content that tells your story in a unique and compelling way. If you are ready to adopt this strategy and tell your story through the words and experience of your patients, our Patient Testimonials and Online Review Manager programs can supply the Professional Content you are seeking. If you are interested in making this change to unique social media content, please let me know at <a href="http://dogstarmedia.com/index.php?option=com_contactenhanced&amp;view=contact&amp;id=1&amp;content_title=ZDcyZmM4NWU5M2IzZWNjYmFiMTRmYTk3ODc2YzM1MTRUR0YwWlhOMElHSnNiMmNnWlc1MGNtbGxjdz09&amp;content_url=ZDcyZmM4NWU5M2IzZWNjYmFiMTRmYTk3ODc2YzM1MTRhSFIwY0RvdkwyUnZaM04wWVhKdFpXUnBZUzVqYjIwdllteHZaeTlzWVhSbGMzUXVhSFJ0YkQ5bWIzSnRZWFE5Wm1WbFpDWjBlWEJsUFhKemN3PT0=&amp;encodedrecipient=7fa72b6b5f412f526f71e480bb777c86&amp;tmpl=component&amp;" class="ce-modal mailto2ce" rel="{handler: 'iframe', size: {x:800, y:480}} nofollow">donald@dogstarmedia.com .

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Donald Griswold

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