Baia Dzagnidze

Why Dentists Should Target Google+ For Social Media Marketing With so many social media networks present today, it's overwhelming to decide which one to focus on. Especially when Facebook dominates the market with 1,871 million active users, followed by Instagram (600 ml) and Twitter (317 ml) this year. Throughout the past years, organizations have viewed Google+ as a waste of resource to grow their business. Many don't understand the importance of it for the social media marketing purposes. Released in June 2011, five years after Facebook opened its doors to everyone, Google+ was an invite-only network. In six months Google+ became a network for everyone over 13 without invitation. In 2016 it hit 440 million active monthly users. Google+ is a great tool for SEO goals, personal branding, and content sharing. And here are the reasons why you should include it in your social media marketing plan. And here are the reasons why you should include it in your social media marketing plan. It's An Extension of Gmail Let's face it: Google has developed many excellent products over the past years. And to some extent, we all use Google account for emails, Google Drive, YouTube or its any other product. With 1 billion active monthly users in 2016, the 75 percent open Gmail on mobile devices. Why does it matter? With a strong presence on Google+, you have the possibility to connect with 75% of 1 billion users! With compelling content you can turn these users into the potential clients of your dental business. Also, if you are a Gmail user, whenever you send an email to someone, your Google+ profile appears in the right corner. Thus, the recipient can find out who you are, what you do, look at your website or any other social networks. Optimize your profile. Add a profile picture, small bio, workplace, links and anything else you would like people to know. This way your profile will also show up in search results. Be a Big Fish in a Small Pond Almost every dental practice in your area has a website and a Facebook Page. And very few might have Google+ profile. Thus, having a page on Google+ gives you the possibility to dominate the market in your area. Following the new trends in social media marketing will make your dental practice stand out and keep the good ranking. The Content Gets Indexed Immediately Google+ pages and profiles help your dental business with SEO (search engine optimization). It's comprehensive search engine tool for your dental practice because you can: a. rank for those keywords that you didn't provide in your page description b. drive traffic to your Google+ and then to your website and blog This is how it happens: Google crawls and indexes your posts to Google+ almost right away. In the past, you had to fill out a web form and wait a couple of weeks to get indexed. Now you click +1 button and voila! The world's #1 search engine prioritizes its products and ranks them higher. Thus, the crawl is so fast. Google may even preview individual posts and give them, even more, authority in a search! To cut a long story short, you should revise your social media marketing strategy. Being present on Google+ increases your chances to rank on the first page of Google even if your website isn't. Moreover, those listed on the first page, get 58.4% of all clicks from the users! How to Rank Higher You need to build a network on Google+ using its Circles. The Circles are lists. And when you add someone you categorize them as friends, family or colleagues. The broader your Google+ network is, the more likely you are to show up in search results. ● Make your page or personal profile complete. Add introduction using words associated with your practice. Don't forget to add any relevant links and set it to public. ● ● Claim your custom URL. Google indexes this one too. Be active. It's obvious, but I will stress it out again. Share your blog posts right away when you publish them on your website. Use full blog titles and include a short description as well. If you have writer's block and don't know what to write about, here are some ideas to inspire you. Don't Treat It as Another Social Network One of the mistake businesses make when planning their social media marketing is that they look at Google+ as another social media network. Google has officially stated that Google+ is not a social network and you should treat it differently. When you post something on Google+, users tend to view the content rather than engage with it. Thus, you won't build many relationships with your customers through it. Use it as a link between your other networks for your potential clients to connect with you there. Remember to provide compelling content to your audience. Have Reviews on Google+ Reviews and testimonials are critical in most niches. Dentistry is no exception, and if you want your practice to rank high, you need reviews on Google+. And rumor has it, people see them before Yelp. Do you remember we said above that Google prioritized its products? Profiles at Google+ often show customer review average. It can even be above Yelp depending on how many reviews you have on both sites. Take this into consideration and work on your Google+ reviews. Your potential customers will turn to competitors if you don't have reviews on your profile. Do not be shy to ask your patients to write reviews. Join the Communities The Communities are like Facebook groups. People join a community of like-minded individuals and share posts in the group. According to Google's official data, Google+ has 1.6 million daily new community joins. It's quite powerful, isn't it? If you have few followers, those Communities are essential to your social media marketing. Post your content there and engage with others within the group. Take a Look at Demographics The demographic of Google+ users is very specific. The biggest percentage of male social media users are on Google+ at 73%. 55% comes from the United States. All Resources Under One Roof All the Google products are at your fingertips. Once you have a Google account, you can use Hangouts, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail and Google Drive to name a few. Google created each one to benefit and optimize your social media marketing strategy and take your business even further. Submit the address of your practice to Google Maps, share big files or case studies via Drive, look up any relevant video on YouTube and share with your audience. You can even schedule an online consultation via Hangouts. Just be creative and adapt to new trends. Rank for Local Search Results When you search a product or a service on Google, it comes up with local search results. Google considers its own aspects and the number of +1s on your page to rank your dental practice as Local in the area. Thus, this point goes hand in hand with having reviews on your page. One more reason for you to ask your customers for testimonials. These reviews increase the authority of your page and improve the chance to rank higher in search results. This feature gives your dental patients the opportunity to get recommendations based on their circles, location and past reviews, publish their reviews and photos of their favorite places, find a dental practice in their area, see the pictures and read the reviews. Consequently, your practice may get new patients, drive traffic to your site, boost your ranking and connect with other local businesses. Thus, focus on it in your social media marketing! Look at Other Dental Practice Pages Do your homework. Look at not only the competitors of your business but at major brands and their performance. For instance, National Geographic and NASA use their pages to share breathtaking photos. Dalai Lama uses the platform to share his message with more than 7 million followers. They all get meaningful engagement. Google+ is a superb tool to build an audience with a lot less competition compared to other social networks. Final Notes The bottom line is that you need to get on Google+ as soon as possible. And if you had some other strategy for your social media marketing, revisit it. You are missing out on a great potential with Google+. Do not forget to be as active as possible, follow influential people and pages in your niche. Engage with content posted by others by clicking +1 and commenting on their posts or photos. The more engagement you receive, the more loyal followers you get to rank better on Google. If you think all this is very overwhelming and too much for you, you can contact us to help you grow your dental social media marketing.