Episode #485: What Most Dentists Get Wrong About Social Media, with Allison Lacoursiere

  Not using social media is a big mistake. And for dentists feeling uneasy about the online world, today’s episode will change your mind! Kirk Behrendt brings in Allison Lacoursiere, founder of Clear Coaching, to explain why you need these platforms, how to do it well, and ways to connect with the patients you want in your practice. It’s time to embrace social media! To learn the best practices for social media success, listen to Episode 485 of The Best Practices Show!

Episode Resources:

• Allison’s website: https://www.yourclearalignercoach.com/
• Allison’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allison.lacoursiere
• Allison’s social media: @yourclearalignercoach
• Clearly I.G.’s social media: @clearlyig
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Main Takeaways:

• Understand your vision and values before showcasing on social media.
• An online presence helps your patients know, like, and trust you.
• Be authentic. Don't change who you are when you're online.
• Create a system for capturing special moments.
• Don't manage social media on your own.
• Social media is your digital resume.

Quotes:

• “[Social media] can be just as bad, or as frustrating, or as difficult as it can be good . . . It’s just the future. It’s the future of the way that we communicate. It’s the future of the way that our patients find out information about us. And what I like to call it now is it’s our digital resume when we are a business owner. And so, when we want people to understand who we are, what matters to us, and really pull back the curtain on what we’re doing in our business, social media is the best way we can do this with its visual platform and with the way that it’s reaching this audience.” (4:54—5:35)
• “[Social media] wasn't always as important. But it’s becoming more and more important because our audience has changed. The people that we’re trying to talk to has changed, and this is the way that they digest information. And so, one of the biggest things I would say that I see in the industry where we’re doing it wrong with social media is having a mindset that it has to be a certain way, or we have to be a certain way on social media for it to be successful.” (5:42—6:06)
• “If you can understand why social media is going to help your business, how it’s going to help your business, understand the platforms that you're going to use to get in front of the people that you want to serve the most, and then know how you can show up authentically, it’s not going to feel as icky and it’s going to have this very strong purpose to it so that you can really be excited about social media rather than dread it.” (6:10—6:32)
• “Don't change anything about who you are to get onto social media. Just show what you're doing that is working. Show the great care that you're doing with your patients. Show the fun that you're having with your team. Show who you guys are as a practice. And that's what's going to be the social proof that will allow patients to choose you and know, like, and trust you.” (7:13—7:32)
• “Doing [social media] well is understanding your values, your vision, who you are, showcasing in a very authentic way what's happening in your practice every single day. What's not doing it well is when you feel the need to only post dancing videos on the platform, or when you're only emulating other pages that you're seeing that really isn't authentic to you. You can always tell when you watch a video and the dentist is just like, ‘I would rather be anywhere else than be doing this dancing video right now,’ and it doesn't really work.” (7:34—8:05)
• “We either get to educate or entertain on our page. We provide value. And so, what kind of practice are you, and does dancing really resonate with the type of practice that you are? And if it doesn't, then don't dance. You don't have to. You can educate, and you can inspire, and you can provide value in different ways.” (8:06—8:24)
• “You have to remember, what is TikTok? TikTok is a social media platform that is entertaining and engaging. And a lot of people are on it because the nature of how engaging it is. And so, if we’re a dentist or a business owner, we’re thinking, ‘Why would I want to be on TikTok?’ It is to get in front of more people that we can serve. So, don't forget why we’re doing this in the first place. It’s not to get TikTok famous. It is to be able to share a message with the people that you want to serve the most to either influence them to come into your practice or to find out more about you. That's why we’re doing this.” (9:41—10:19)
• “The biggest thing that's going wrong is that dentists are trying to do it themselves. And that is not the best use of your time. Should you understand what best practice is for your social media? Absolutely. Should you understand what good looks like for your social media? 100%. But should you be managing and running it? No! Not at all. And so, either you have a team member that you feel is interested and excited about social media and has the time as a specific role in the practice that can learn and do it and take over the systems . . . or you find a company that has a dental background or understands dentistry itself and will create and produce authentic content. This is the key.” (11:35—12:23)
• “One of my mantras is, if you're going to try to do a very successful social media page, don't let a special moment in your practice go uncaptured. So, make sure your team is on board capturing those special moments, either with your patients when they're having a smile reveal or you're at your team event and team retreat and you're learning how to take better care of your patients. Capture all of that, because that is the authentic content that patients need to see to know, like, and trust you as a provider.” (13:25—13:55)
• “Teach everyone in the practice to know how to capture [special moments] and create one location where everyone puts their images to. Some practices are like, absolutely no phones in the practice. That's totally fine. Get a practice phone that everyone can capture content on. Other than that, you can have everyone capture their own content from their own phone and put it in a centralized area where that person will take the content and post it to the platform.” (14:05—14:27)
• “When it comes to Instagram, for example, on your Story — that is the little feature that goes away within 24 hours — 100%, post that organically from your phone. For your feed posts or your Reels, you can schedule those. And we know that what gets scheduled gets done. And when we block time to do something consistently, we’re going to be more efficient. And so, my recommendation is that you schedule what you can schedule. And then, daily, show up on the Story authentically, on the app.” (15:07—15:38)
• “Like anything that we’re implementing in our practices, we need to start from the very beginning and help our team understand why. Why is social media so important? Why are we spending time on this? Why are we creating this new effort in order for us to be successful on the platform? And really, it comes down to, ‘Guys, we need to educate our patients that we are an exceptional practice and that we are a great fit for them to come and serve their dental needs.’ So, really get that buy-in from your team. First, help them understand why social media is important.” (15:59—16:26)
• “Marketing is not about saying a different message every day. It’s about saying the same message in different ways.” (17:19—17:24)
• “One of the biggest things that I see wrong with goals is, first, it’s the delegation. Sometimes, you'll have a hygienist or a dental assistant be like, ‘Yeah, I like social media,’ and [the dentist would] be like, ‘Great. You can run it.’ And that is not a clear goal. That's not a clear delegation. It’s vague and it doesn't usually work. So, that's the first thing, is like, ‘Oh, my goal is to have my team member do it,’ without any direction or clarity. Big problem.” (18:19—18:42)
• “The second problem is expecting that after putting up three posts you're going to have patients banging down the door to get into your practice. Social media is the long game. And social media is more about social proof, credibility. I also call it your internal digital referral system. So, when people say, ‘Oh, you should go and check out the Greenbank dental practice,’ what a millennial will do is go onto social media and look at that practice. Because with Instagram, especially, it’s such a visual platform. You get to see the inside of the practice. You get to see the way that you're taking care of patients. And it allows that person to trust you more, and then create that appointment.” (18:43—19:20)
• “We call follows and likes vanity metrics because they don't mean a lot. And so, when we dig into the analytics of a page, we’ll see engagement. We will see views. We will see profile visits, website clicks. That's the actual metric that's going to bring patients into your office or create the return on investment that you're looking for. It’s not follows and likes.” (19:57—20:20)
• “The reality is, on social media, there are a lot of cool things to look at. There are puppies, amazing vacation homes. Dentistry is interesting, but let's be honest. Not a lot of people are going to be searching for dentists to follow. And so, if somebody’s not following you, that doesn't mean they're not looking at your page.” (20:21—20:42)
• “You will find the people that are interested and care about the things that you care about when you demonstrate your values on [your social media] page.” (22:54—23:00)
• “Something that we do as an exercise for the practices I work with, we write out the core values of the practice, and then we brainstorm what is a video we could film today that would honor that core value or showcase that core value as an example in your practice. And as a team, we brainstorm this, and we get fun, and we have a great time. We come up with a list of 30 to 40 videos that we can film that are going to honor the practice’s values.” (23:01—23:27)
• “When you're making a video, make sure that in the first two seconds, you're capturing attention. So, you're either creating a bold statement, you're answering a question, you're saying something like, ‘Most people don't know this, but here’s the answer.’ So, in the video, you want to immediately capture attention. The second thing that you want is to not make the video very long. That is a big mistake that people make. The other mistake that a lot of clinicians in my dental practices make is they get so clinical in their videos.” (26:10—26:38)
• “Your patients don't know anything, really, about dentistry. So, you have to take your clinical hat off when you're thinking about content for them. So, don't film videos that are bloody, that are gory. As amazing as that implant was placed, your patient does not want to see the insertion site.” (26:54—27:09)
• “Sometimes, patients will say with the retracted photos, ‘Ew, that's gross. I hate seeing teeth like that.’ So, we have to really understand what our patients are wanting to look for. So, don't film videos of very, very clinical things. Film videos of the patients experiencing what's happened because of the clinical things that you've done.” (27:12—27:32)
• “Have a photo release form in your new patient form now and have your patients sign that when they start in your practice. Also, that's not enough. When you take a picture or a video of someone and you're going to post it onto social platforms, even if they have signed that release form ages ago, or even recently, let them know, ‘We’re going to put this on our social media. We’re so excited.’ And the way that you ask a patient to be on your social media is making it about them. So, if I was like, ‘Hey, I love you in our practice. You are such a light when you come into our practice, and we want to have more patients like you. Would you mind sharing your experience on how it’s working in our practice so that we can have more patients like you come to our practice?’ That's the way to ask for that request rather than say, ‘Hey, I need to put something on my social media. Do you mind if we take a picture of you?’ Make it about the patient. Make them feel excited about it and proud to be on that platform.” (27:49—28:45)
• “[One of the biggest mistakes dentists make] is not doing it or not being on [social media]. And I think it’s time to embrace it. And I know that can feel like a lot of pressure, or it can feel uncomfortable. But remember that it can be what you want it to be. Social media is a tool for you to grow your business. And as much as we can get into comparison mode or, ‘This practice is doing this,’ remember, it’s for you, and it’s there to represent your practice to the people that want to come and see you.” (30:34—30:59)
• “It’s time to understand [social media], and to get comfortable with it, and to even maybe have fun with it because it will help your business grow. And if you're not on social media right now, it can be seen as being irrelevant or a non-trustworthy practice because you don't honor digital technology or modern-day communication styles. So, it’s time. And there are ways that you can do this in a fun and exciting way.” (31:02—31:27)

Snippets:

• 0:00 Introduction.
• 2:25 Allison’s background.
• 3:50 Why social media is important in dentistry.
• 6:32 The importance of authenticity on social media.
• 8:26 Social media is here to stay.
• 8:59 Feeling the pressure to be on TikTok.
• 10:56 What dentists get wrong about social media.
• 12:48 How to build a system for social media.
• 14:46 Should you preschedule your posts?
• 15:42 How to get buy-in from your team.
• 17:59 What people get wrong about goals.
• 20:44 The other secret to marketing.
• 23:33 Why marketing is important for clear aligners.
• 25:43 Using videos versus photos.
• 27:33 Get permission to post and make it about the patient.
• 28:47 The future of social media.
• 30:26 Last thoughts on what dentists get wrong on social media.
• 31:28 How Allison can help you and how to get in touch.

Allison Lacoursiere, RDA, OA, CPC, ELI-MP Bio:

Innovator Allison Lacoursiere, RDA, OA, CPC, ELI-MP, is the creator of the Clear Aligner Systemization methodology. Allison helps dentists and teams streamline efficiencies to increase both patient and practice satisfaction and health.

A native Canadian, Allison moved to Bermuda at the age of 19 to work as a dental assistant and to seek adventure and try something new. She incorporated a system in that practice which generated $80K a month in clear aligner production.

With over a decade of dental practice experience, Allison is a sought-after mentor and speaker. She helps dental teams improve culture, increase production, and grow into their full potential. She is certified through International Professional Excellence in Coaching and is a member of the International Coaches Federation. Allison is a member of Toastmasters International and has trained with Dale Carnegie Speaking Institution. She is a Certified Transformational Trainer through LionSpeak.

Allison is passionate about fitness and wellness. She is an active team member and competitor on the Bermuda National Beach Volleyball Team. Allison is also a certified personal trainer and yoga instructor. Her passion lies in empowering individuals to achieve their ultimate potential and life satisfaction.