As dentists, we’re visionaries, and if having an automated dental practice is something you’ve dreamed of for your practice, you might be surprised to learn it’s not very difficult to put in place.
If you want to create an automated dental practice, you only need a few pieces in place. After all, a vision alone won’t help you achieve your goal. You also must take action and hold yourself accountable as you pursue your goal. Here are the three pieces to put in place if you want to work toward building an automated dental practice.
Dental Facebook
When is the Best Time to Post on Facebook?
Have you ever wondered if there is a “golden hour” to post on Facebook? In other words, is there a specific time of the day when your posts will get the most engagement?
I get asked this question a lot, and I really wanted to address it in this podcast episode. However, like last week, this episode is a recording of one of my Facebook Live videos, so it’s a little different (but just as good!).
I wanted to share my knowledge with you and provide some useful tips to help you find the best time to post on Facebook for your practice to get the best possible results.
On the podcast I discuss:
- Using Insights to track activity on your Facebook page
- How to identify the best time of day to publish your posts
- Tips for pre-scheduling Facebook posts
- Promoting a time-sensitive event or post using Facebook’s Distribution Schedule
- Boosting your posts using Ads Manager
- Why you should plan your Facebook posts in advance
- Working with your team to create a productive posting schedule
Keep up with the Delivering WOW podcast by following us on Facebook.
If you want to find out how to get 30+ new patients per month through the power of Facebook Marketing, head over to my Facebook Bootcamp and join the Bootcamp today!
To watch the video of this recording where you can see my screen as I'm talking you through the best time to post on Facebook, hit play below:
Dental Facebook Posts: How to Increase Engagement to Increase Your Reach
Facebook for dentists is the best social media site to help you reach potential patients for your practice. Although Facebook doesn’t charge you to have a dental Facebook page or to post on your Facebook page, its algorithm limits the reach of posts unless one of two things happens:
- You pay Facebook to promote the post as a standalone dental Facebook ad or a boosted dental Facebook post, or
- Facebook sees people engaging with a post.
With paid posts, Facebook will generally share it with as many people as you pay to reach. That’s a great option for many dentists. My team and I have received up to 5,000% return on ads we’ve placed for my practice and other dentists we serve through our dental marketing done-for-you services.
To reach more people organically, your post needs to get them to engage with it by liking or otherwise reacting to it, commenting on it, or sharing it on their timeline.
Just like your goal might be to attract as many people as possible to your page and keep them there or get them to your site or your dental marketing funnel, Facebook wants users to stay on its site as long as possible. Thus, it wants to make their experience there as pleasant as possible and reduces the organic reach of business posts until it believes people like it. One of the ways it determines that is through engagement. The more people interact with your post, the more people Facebook will show it to organically.
The Best Dental Facebook Posts for Organic Reach
The best dental Facebook posts to help you increase organic reach are those that capture people’s attention while doing one or more of the following things:
- Sharing your practice story
- Sharing your core values
- Showing what makes your practice unique
- Evoking a positive emotion in people on a personal level
For example, in my practice, we stock our office with gourmet coffees and teas, lend iPads and noise-canceling headphones to patients, participate in community events, host charity drives, and regularly run contests and competitions. When we post about those activities—especially with great photos—we take or videos we make, our posts get dozens and even hundreds of likes, comments, and shares, and our posts reach thousands of people.
Other examples of good posts include those that:
- are about a kids’ club program logo you have or a picture of a happy kids’ club member
- celebrate with a great team member
- show off group perks you give your team members such as the loaded e-readers we give to ours
- feature events you host at your office
- highlight a team-building event like a night out or baby shower
- celebrate local events
- show you donating dental services to less fortunate people
- share patient testimonials
For my practice, we posted about community impact being one of our core values and included an image of us smiling with the winner of our free smile makeover giveaway competition, which we call Project Smiles. That post got dozens of engagements and reached 5,000 people organically because it got people’s attention and gave them something to connect with emotionally.
Another Project Smiles post reached over 10,000 people organically before we added an additional 45,000 people to our reach with a small paid boost.
Both of those posts had great imagery, shared some of our practice’s story, core values, and what makes us different than other dental practices. They were about building stronger communities and showed how we were making a difference. Thus, we were able to evoke a positive emotion in people and earn their engagement.
The more people engaged, the more people we reached, which helped us:
- capture more people’s attention in a positive way
- share our practice story with more people
- get our practice name seen in more feeds
- get people to know, like, and trust us
- convert people to patients
- get in front of current patients who might need a subtle reminder to schedule another patient
When your dental Facebook page is set up professionally and optimized to build relationships with people, this engagement can help you skyrocket your ability to convert strangers to patients.
The Worst Dental Facebook Posts for Organic Reach
Just like certain types of dental Facebook posts can encourage and increase engagement, other types can restrict engagement for the same reasons. If you’re on Facebook as a user, what posts capture your attention? What posts are you most likely to engage with?
Most users won’t be interested in stock content, boring posts, or negative imagery such as the picture of an in-progress wisdom-tooth extraction I saw on another dentist’s timeline! Those posts can be simple and easy to find, but they’re unlikely to earn any engagement or reach.
When planning your post to maximize engagement, get into the mindset of a Facebook user. Would you be interested in that post if it were in your feed? If your answer is no, don’t post it.
Instead, ask how you can change the post to be more interesting to and evoke emotion in people on Facebook.
Are Your Dental Facebook Posts Not Earning Engagement and Reach?
If you struggle to get people to engage with your dental Facebook posts, it might be that they don’t evoke emotions within people to earn their engagement.
If you want more help with dental Facebook marketing, check out the team of expert coaches, training, and resources we offer in our signature Delivering WOW Platinum Mastermind Program.
You can also join thousands of other dentists helping each other in my Free Dental Marketing and Profits Facebook Group!
Facebook Marketing for Dentists: 5 Reasons Facebook is the Best Way to Grow Your Practice
Dental-practice marketing has traditionally been slow, expensive, and ineffective, consisting mostly of direct mail, TV, or radio ads. That meant companies with the biggest budgets got the best results because only they could spend enough money to get great results. Over the past few years, however, Facebook turned the marketing world upside down. No longer do you need a huge marketing budget, radio-and-television-placement agencies, direct-mailing designers, and expensive printing and postage costs to connect with potential patients.
All you need is to know how Facebook for dentists works or to get help from someone who does, and you can get better results with a fraction of the marketing budget you would need to achieve the same results using traditional methods.
My team has helped dentists in my Inner Circle Mastermind transition their practice marketing from expensive and ineffective traditional marketing to predictable and cost-effective Facebook marketing. In doing so, we’ve identified a number of reasons Facebook marketing for dentists is the best way to grow your dental practice. Here are five reasons you should consider shifting some of your marketing budgets to Facebook, so you can experience the results for yourself.
1. Facebook marketing gives you the same power and access to information as big companies.
The best way to design an effective ad campaign is to identify the right audience to target. With traditional media or direct mail, large companies have traditionally had access to data that small companies did not. That access gave bigger companies with bigger budgets a significant advantage because they could spend money to design the right ads and place them on the right television or radio channels or send them to the right addresses to connect with the right people. With Facebook, every company has access to the same information, so you can target just as effectively as the big companies.
2. Facebook marketing gives you more and better data than any other advertising platform.
Not only does Facebook give you the same access to information as the big companies, the information they give you is much better than you could get with traditional advertising platforms. Facebook has extraordinarily detailed information about its users that it lets you use when identifying the people you want to target. You can build audiences based on age, location, interests, income, and other key information, and even a combination of a number of qualities.
Facebook marketing even allows you to identify and target people who have expressed interest in your ads but didn’t sign up for your offer, a process called retargeting. Retargeting is one of the most powerful ways to promote your practice because it allows you to target people who are already both familiar with you and interested in your offer. Sometimes people click on your ad, get distracted, and move on. Other times, people click on your ad and become unsure, so they click away. Retargeting allows you to put more ads in front of those people in a matter of minutes, helping you get multiple touches and remind them of their interest.
3. Facebook marketing is much more affordable than traditional media platforms.
By allowing you to target people based on very detailed qualities, you use your money far more effectively using Facebook marketing than you would by sending cards to everyone in a zip code or posting an ad on a radio or television show. In addition, Facebook’s costs are much lower, to begin with, so you can reach those targeted people for pennies in many cases.
For example, the people in my Inner Circle whom my team has supported often reach people for between 1 and 3 cents per person! That’s not a typo.
We’ve helped people get new patients for as low as just a few dollars per new patient, too! For example, we’ve helped one high-end cosmetic dentist get a number of new patients with an average ad spend per patient of only $4.00! That’s just not possible with traditional marketing!
4. Facebook marketing is much faster than traditional media platforms.
For a direct-mail campaign, you need to design a mailing and then get it proofed, printed, and delivered before anyone will be exposed to your ad. That could take days or weeks.
With radio or television ads, you need to write, record, buy the ad space, and get it played. Again, that could take a lot of time.
With Facebook marketing, within minutes, you can have an ad up and running to a highly-targeted audience with a compelling offer to get them in your chair.
5. Facebook marketing is much more flexible than traditional marketing.
If something isn’t working well with traditional advertising, it’s back to the drawing board for another expensive and time-consuming round of edits. With Facebook marketing, you can edit things out in a few clicks.
You can even split-test Facebook ads to test out alternate copy, images, offers, colors, and more, with a few clicks in Facebook’s Ad Manager or Power Editor. Facebook will then give you detailed statistics about what’s working best, and you can turn off the underperforming versions with one click. We do this all the time for our clients.
With traditional advertising, typically, you won’t even know if your ads are working for days, weeks, or more. If you want to adjust something, it’s back to the drawing board, with no knowledge of what isn’t working or why. On top of that, if you want to run a few different versions of an ad, you need to recreate the ads from scratch. With Facebook marketing, you can just swap things out with a few clicks.
Are you marketing your practice on Facebook?
If you aren’t using Facebook to market your practice, what’s stopping you? Facebook marketing is a game changer for dentists. It’s something you or your team can learn or even outsource to an experienced Facebook marketing team.
If you want to know more ways to create shareable content and grow your dental practice on Facebook, you can check out my Facebook Bootcamp program or join us in our Platinum Accelerator Program or our Platinum Mastermind, where I help dentists like you grow their dental practices so they can make more while working less.
You can also join my free Dental Boss Movement Facebook group, where thousands of dentists and I help each other build better practices.
My 5000 % ROI Facebook Campaign with Dr. Anissa Holmes
This jam-packed episode is all about the ROI…
Any time you decide to start running paid ads, you want to make sure that you are getting results! However, before you do, you have to know what types of messages drive people to take ACTION and how to find people who are likely to convert.
I share top strategies and tips, and take you behind the scenes of my Facebook Campaign that's giving a 5000% ROI.
I also share top strategies for increasing engagement, how to get your posts to go viral, and how to use little-known features of Facebook to boost your results!
Join the FREE Facebook Group of the Delivering WOW Community: www.deliveringwowhangout.com
Learn More About Delivering WOW U: www.deliveringwowcourse.com/wowu
The Facebook Algorithm Update and How it Impacts the Dental Industry
Here we go again…
Facebook has once again changed it's algorithm…which determines what people see in their news feeds. Facebook has stated that they will start to give priority to posts from friends and family, and place them at the top of news feeds. They've also stated that they want to make sure that users are getting informative and entertaining content..
You might be wondering how this impacts the dental industry…Well here's the low-down…
Gone are the days when you can post non-engaging, stock content on your Facebook page and expect it to be seen.
Now it takes creating SHARABLE content…AND…Embracing Facebook ADS….
I'm super excited about the algorithm changes because the PAID ADVERTISING platform has gotten really good…
Now you can create ads which can be seen in the news feeds of people who have visited your website, or specific pages of your website…
You can do Facebook Live streaming about a particular service that you provide, and retarget the same people that watched your video with Facebook ads that drive them to take action and come in for that service…
Even better, you can create video ads now for as low as $.01 to get your message in front of your ideal new patient…
You just can't do that with other forms of paid advertising…
This is truly an exciting time to market your practice….and get your message in front of your ideal new patient…which drives them to take action, schedule an appointment, and start treatment!!!
In my practice, we have been able to change thousands of lives of patients who first connected with us on Facebook…
They saw our message, and knew that we could help them…
In this video I share my a-ha moment of discovering the POWER of Facebook, as well as share 3 Super Strategies for Succeeding with the new Facebook Algorithm!
What's next?
Join the Delivering WOW Hangout, my FREE Facebook group!
Learn more about FB 101 and FBMastery, my online Facebook training.
7 Simple Strategies To Reaching Your First (Or Next) Thousand Likes on Facebook
Many dentists want to know, do Facebook likes matter. Is focusing on growing your Facebook community worth your time and investment? Well, after building a phenomenal dental practice that has over 50,000 Facebook followers and consistently getting a 1500% ROI on Facebook, I have to say it absolutely matters!
So why are Facebook fans so important? Well, there are several reasons. The first, and perhaps one of the most important, is that once you grow a large community of loyal fans, you increase your chances that your Facebook page will be seen. It's all about numbers!
The more fans that you have talking about you, sharing your posts and liking your content, the more your posts will go viral. Facebook allows you to build a tribe of raving fans!
By the way, building your Facebook likes will build social proof. Once people come to your page and they see that you have thousands of fans, they think, “Ok, this practice is doing something right.” and then they want to know more! Also, the more fans you have, the more your posts get shared on Facebook, which helps to build your community, and ultimately your new patients.
In this lesson, here’s what you'll get:
In this lesson, I’ll share with you three incredibly simple, but extremely valuable, Facebook fan attracting tips. Implement these strategies and you will start to see more fans today. It's that simple!
Strategy #1: The Facebook Page Plugin
The Facebook page plugin lets you easily embed and promote any Facebook page on your website. Just like on Facebook, your visitors can like and share your Facebook page without leaving your site. To keep it simple, when visitors are browsing your website, there should always be an objective. There should always be an action that you want your visitors to take. One of these actions should be for them to like your Facebook page. Your website visitors will see a small box which includes your Facebook cover photo, a list of their friends who like your Facebook page, and a button to like your page. They also have the ability to watch the featured video attached to your Facebook page.
Here’s why you should add a Facebook Page Plugin to your website:
Visitors to your website are warm, which means that they have chosen to find out more about you. This means that they are likely to follow your Facebook Page too.
A Facebook Page Plugin is one of the most effective ways to grow your fan community. It is super easy to implement (takes less than 5 minutes!) and will allow first-time visitors to your site to keep in touch with what is going on in your practice.
Strategy #2: Target Friends of Fans with Facebook “Like Ads”
A very easy, inexpensive way to get more likes is by targeting friends of your current Facebook fans. The reason this strategy works is that friends of your current fans will likely have similar demographics to your current fans. They live in similar communities, have similar interests, and are likely to make similar decisions when it comes to which restaurant to explore or which dentist to visit.
Here’s why “Like Ads” work:
Like ads are the simplest to set up and are super cheap. These promotions can be boosted right from your page without having to go to the ads manager and take seconds to set up. When you attract friends of your existing fans, you are more likely to attract a “quality” fan.
Strategy #3: Target Your Existing Patients
This strategy is huge! A very easy way to boost your likes, and fast, is to target your existing patients. This means that your posts get seen in the news feeds of people who already know, like, and trust you. Once you create an engaging post that talks about great things that are going on behind the scenes in your practice, they will very likely react to the post and like your page. You do this easily by creating a custom audience within Facebook Ads Manager.
Here’s why you should target your existing patients:
Your existing patients are going to be the cheerleaders on your Facebook page, no matter if you are just getting started or when you grow thousands of fans. They will like and share your posts, and provide social proof that your practice is the best as well as share stories with their friends of why they should become a patient of your practice.
Strategy #4: Target People Who Have Similar Characteristics To Your Current Patients
This strategy is taking growing your fan base one step higher! Once you have created your custom audience of your existing patients, the next step is to create an audience that has similar characteristics to your existing patients. You do this by creating a lookalike audience. So basically you say “Facebook, create a list for me of people who have similar characteristics to my current patients. This is easily set up in Facebook Manager-Tools-Audiences-Create Audience-Lookalike Audience.
Here’s why you should create a lookalike audience to your current patients:
Lookalike audiences, created by Facebook, are those people who are most like your existing patients. This one is a no-brainer! This means that your posts are seen in the news feeds of people who are not current patients, but because of their likes, interests, or demographics are likely to become patients.
Strategy #5: Create a Website Custom Audience
Website Custom Audiences (also known WCA) allow you to create Facebook ads to target people who have previously visited your website.
Why is this so amazing??
Website Custom Audiences is one more way to reach an incredibly warm audience. People that have already been to your website are already exposed to your brand. Once they see your posts showing up in their feeds, they are very likely to become a fan and keep engaging with you. Website Custom Audiences allows you to target your visitors organically. Custom audiences allow you to target your patient list, but now you can reach people who may not be a patient nor a current Facebook fan but they have visited your website.
Another very cool feature is that you can focus on those who visited a particular page or a section of your site. You can also concentrate on those who visited pages that included a particular keyword in the URL.
This customization potential for such ads is incredible.
Strategy #6: Increase Your Engagement
Here’s how engagement will help you attract more fans:
One of the most common reasons why people struggle to grow their Facebook fan base is that they don't have any engagement on their page.
If you don’t have engagement your posts won’t be seen in the news feed that is where all the action is on Facebook! You want to make sure that people are liking, reacting, commenting and sharing your content, and you must be responsive. You never want people to ask a question, and no one is there to respond.
When you get your fans to comment and share your content, their friends will also want to jump on the bandwagon. Lots of people like to follow the crowd, and when their Facebook friends are sharing your posts, they want to know why and will want to be part. (These shares also mean that you don’t have to pay for the engagement, it just happens naturally). If you want to increase your fan base, increase your engagement!
Strategy #7: Be Consistent
The final step to increasing your fans on Facebook is to be consistent. Far too many dentists post way to infrequently to see any real results. You must create a consistent schedule for posts, and make sure that they are posts worth sharing. I recommend posting at least once daily, especially while you are growing your fan base.
Tips to help with consistency are to share the posting tasks with a member of your team using the Facebook Pages app, schedule your posts within Facebook itself, or use a scheduling automation software like Meet Edgar.
Grab your free guide:
What's Next?
Join the Delivering WOW Hangout, my FREE Facebook Group
Learn more about my ONLINE Facebook courses
Dentists get READY! BIG news about the Live Video Revolution from Facebook and YouTube!
And the excitement with Live Video continues every day…
Facebook has just announced 3 BIG new features which they will be rolling out to Facebook Live, their live-streaming platform built into Facebook.
The platform will soon let you do two-person remote broadcasts, pre-schedule your streams and create a virtual waiting room for viewers and broadcast with MSQRD's face masks.
OK so what does this mean for Dentists?
This means that dental practices will be able to pre-schedule the time that they are going live, so that the users can hang out and wait for a broadcast to start. This will allow Facebook to send users a notification before the stream starts so they can be waiting when you go live.
The other new features will allow you to invite a friend to your broadcast and use filters, such as those available in Snapchat, to go live with a mask on.
Another big announcement was made yesterday, as it relates to live streaming, this one with YouTube:
“Today, we are announcing a new chapter in bringing the power of live video to creators everywhere. Soon, we’ll be putting the power of YouTube live streaming in the palm of your hands.
YouTube mobile live streaming will be bakes right into the core YouTube app. You won't need to open anything else, just hit the big red capture button right there in the corner, take or select a photo to use as a thumbnail, and you can broadcast live to your fans and chat in near real time.”
2016 is the year of LIVE video. Dental practices who are early adopters will have the advantage.
How To Master Dental Marketing With Dr. Anissa Holmes
Woohoo.. We have made it to Episode 30…And this is a GOOD one!
In this Episode of the Delivering WOW Dental Podcast, I take the time to answer the most commonly asked questions that I get from dentists….
1.) Where Should I Begin When Starting To Market My Practice.
2.) Why Do You Feel That All Dentists Need to Use Facebook to Market Their Practices?
3.) Why is Facebook Marketing NOT Working for Me to Get New Patients?
4.) How Do I know How Much To Spend on Marketing.
Here I discuss which forms of marketing work as well as where to start. I discuss which forms of Marketing give the best ROI, and well as how to calculate ROI. I discuss the role of targeted marketing, and how it can help you to reach your ideal audience and grow your new patient list.
A lot of time is given to common mistakes that dentists make with Facebook, as well as how that impacts their new patient numbers. A special focus is given to how to determine your marketing budget.
Links in the Show:
Does Facebook Really Work To Grow Dental Practices?
Is your practice on social media? If not, you are missing out on an excellent opportunity to grow your practice. The average American spends 40 minutes per day on Facebook.
This is HUGE!
Facebook has made a significant impact on my practice. We currently receive more than 40 new patients a month from Facebook alone. Facebook is our #1 strategy for external marketing. Why? Because it works. Facebook is where we share our practice story, our culture. People see us having fun and see us impacting so many lives in our community. From Facebook, followers go to our website, they see pictures of our dentists and our team as well as see beautiful before and after photos of our dental work.
We love referrals from Facebook! These new patients walk in already connected — they know us. They feel like we are their personal friends. People buy from people that they like and trust, and acquiring new patients from Facebook builds that confidence.
We currently have an active Facebook page with more than 50,000 Fans, which we have grown one like at a time. We post updates there that show off our culture and spread our brand message. We are known as the fun, friendly office that provides an amazing experience, beautiful dentistry, and gives back to the community.
It’s crucial when you are creating your social strategy that you realize that you will not get 1,000 Fans overnight. It starts one Fan at a time. It also starts by creating killer posts that evoke emotion.
Sometimes you may hear dentists say, “Oh Facebook doesn’t work, or Instagram doesn’t work,” and so you assume those are not worth your time….
But maybe it’s not working because their posts are not engaging….
Maybe they stopped too soon….
Maybe they think they have to do it all themselves…
Or maybe they don't know what they don't know. That Facebook has the #1 Ads platform in the world, and that once they learn (or have their team learn) how to mix engaging content with ad strategy, their practice will IGNITE…
ARE YOU READY TO MASTER FACEBOOK TO IGNITE YOUR PRACTICE?
Join my FREE Facebook Group
Learn about our Facebook Courses
How To Explode New Patient Numbers and Boost ROI through Facebook Marketing
“2016 is the YEAR of Live Video, and the Year to get Active on Facebook!” Michael Stelzner- Social Media Marketing World 2016!
I have said this from early 2016, and it was stated very clearly at Social Media Marketing World, the largest Social Media Marketing Conference in the world. This is the year to get your practice on Facebook, as there are some massive advancements happening that can allow you to connect with your future patients in a powerful way.
Social media has become an effective way to attract quality new patients to your practice. The key to successful social media marketing is a combination of excellent content and a proven strategy. In this episode of the Delivering WOW Dental Podcast, Dr. Holmes is interviewed by Gary Takacs of the Thriving Dentist Show. In this interview Gary and Anissa discuss; Why social media is the new media, why dentists need to include social media in their marketing activities, the specific strategies dentists need to use to successfully attract new patients via social media and the new FaceBook rollouts and features that will impact the dental profession.
“Anissa is THE recognized expert in social media marketing and you will LOVE her passion for social media and helping fellow dentists master social media marketing!” – Gary Takacs
Want To Learn More? The Ultimate Dental Facebook Course To Grow Your Facebook Audience is Here!
These Facebook Live Rollouts Are HUGE for the Dental Industry. Don’t Be Left Behind!
Every once in a while, there is a major change that effects how businesses reach their customers. And guess what? Facebook has just changed the game.
Facebook has just rolled out Facebook Live, and this new feature is going to change the game for dentists as they are trying to market their practices.
So what is Facebook Live?
Facebook “Live” offers the ability to create and watch live videos within Facebook as the action happens. While you’re recording the live video, your fans are able to comment and interact with you. Once you are streaming, your fans are able to comment on your video, and you are able to respond while on the stream. Your fans can also subscribe to get notifications of when you come on LIVE.
But here's how Facebook Live is a game-changer! Once the livestream is complete, the video will post on your practice's Facebook page just like your regular videos. This means that your fans can continue to engage with your video and ask questions even after the live stream is complete. You can also boost your replay with ads. And here is the kicker. Your fans can SHARE your video. (Talk about going VIRAL!)
Here's How I see Dentists Using Facebook Live:
• Q and A Sessions about Dental Services
• Live Office Tours
• Demonstration of New Equipment and/or Technology
• Announcement of Promotions
• Chat with the Dentist/Hygienist
• Patient Financing Chats with the Front Office
• etc…
On my FIRST day of using Facebook Live, here were my stats: After 5 hours, the video replay reached 1345 people, was viewed 245 times and had a ton of engagement. All WITHOUT being boosted.
Two days after going live, I created an ad for a later stream replay to be seen in the newsfeeds of friends of my current Facebook fans. I set my ad budget at $10.00. Here are the results: 8966 Views, 47 likes, 11 comments, and 11 shares.
With every stream that you do, your subscriber numbers will increase, your videos will be shared, and there will be a ton of new likes to your page as well as plenty of engagement. And guess what happens when you get more engagement? Facebook sees your page as relevant, and more of your posts get seen organically in your fan's feeds.
Here's How You Start a Live Stream
To Create a Live Stream, Click Publish From Your Mobile Device.
The next step is to tap the Live Icon.
The final step is to choose an eye-catching headline (including emojis), and tap Go Live!
Once you complete your stream, you can always edit the video title, add in video tags which help with search, and create a call to action.
Here are some of the latest features that are rolling out:
· Live reactions. This makes it easy for your viewers to express their feelings in real time during a live broadcast. Viewers can select Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry, and the reactions animate right on top of the video. Live Reactions appear in real time and disappear quickly so broadcasters and other viewers can get a sense of how people are feeling at different points during the live video – it’s like hearing the crowd applaud and cheer.
· Filters and Doodles- you will be able to draw on the screen in different colors to personalize your broadcast.
· Dedicated Place for Discovery- The Messenger icon will be moved and replaced with the Videos icon. This will allow people to find and search for videos by topic.
· Invite Friends- when viewers are watching the videos they will be able to invite their friends to watch the stream live.
· Replay comments as they happen. As you are streaming, viewers’ questions will be available for the replay in the order that they were asked. This will allow for a natural flow of the stream.
· Live Broadcast Audience. This will allow you to track the total number of unique people who watched the video while it was live
· Viewers During Live Broadcast. You can see a visual representation of the number of viewers during each moment of the broadcast. This will allow you to see how long it would take to build momentum and how long you should broadcast.
Here's How to Make the Most Out Of Facebook Live:
1. Let your fans know when you are going live. A great example is letting your fans know that you will discuss dental implants on Friday at 12:00 p.m.
2. Write an eye-catching description before going live. This will let your fans know what your broadcast is all about. This is also what your subscribers will see when they get your notifications.
3. OK, so this one is huge! Ask your viewers to subscribe. During your stream tell your fans to tap on the subsribe button to get notifications the next time you go live
4. People feel more connected when you acknowledge them. Call your fans by name and answer their questions when you are live.
5. Broadcast for longer periods of time to reach more fans. The longer you broadcast, the more likely fans are to discover and share your video with their friends on Facebook.
6. Finally, be creative and consistent!
What's next?
Join the Delivering WOW Hangout, my FREE Facebook Group
Learn How to Increase Your ROI and New Patient Numbers by Learning Facebook Strategy
Are You Afraid of Video? Take the Challenge!
This WEEK is ALL about VIDEO, and the importance of using video to grow your brand. Are you using Video to grow your brand? If not, you are missing out on a fabulous opportunity to connect with your audience. This includes your patients, and your soon to be patients. As dentists and businesses owners, you have to do video! The great thing about video is that it allows you to connect with the most people. They are able to see and hear your message and feel your passion.
I often talk about being an early adopter. Video is the next BIG thing. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are all telling us that this is where we need to be.
Facebook has Facebook Live video streaming, where you can be notified when someone you follow comes on live, with a replay which can be shared. Instagram has just rolled out 60 second video ads, Twitter has Periscope which broadcasts video— both live and replays — directly into Tweets. Snapchat features video both in video chats and stories.
Right now this “Video” space is wide open because many people are afraid of it. However, this will change. You want to get in early.
Video is also the best way to get your patients to market your practice for you. Written testimonials are great, but when your soon to be patients see your real patients sharing real stories of their transformations in your practice, your new patient numbers will skyrocket.
I am kicking off a 7 day Challenge. Here's how it works:
· I challenge you to use a smartphone in your practice to take a video patient testimonial, kick off a promotion, or share your culture.
· Next, upload the video directly into your practice's Facebook page.
· Share the link to your video in the Delivering WOW Hangout, my FREE Facebook group so we can all love on you!
· Finally, test the results of the clicks, likes, shares, and reactions versus your photo posts.
You have 7 days to post. Do you say you want results, or are you taking ACTION to get results? Ready, set go!!!
Want to make better videos with your mobile device? Here's the gear I recommend