From the category archives:

Social Media

Protecting Your Online Reputation

November 10, 2011

Great infographic from Mashable
Protecting Your Online Reputation: 4 Things You Need to Know.

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Is Living Social Illegal?

October 24, 2011

The article linked below revisits a worrisome issue. Do state and federal laws against kick backs for referals apply to services like Groupon? Personally I find it a stretch, that has nothing to do with the original intent of the laws. Never the less the issue has been brought up, so be prepared.
With the rise [...]

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More Facebook Activity, Fewer Privacy Concerns?

October 21, 2011

Social Media, especially Facebook, continues to be a hot topic that everybody is interested in but nobody seems to understand completely. The linked article from PC Magazine has some interesting stats. Among them; lots of users (including me by the way) are not pleased with the new features recently added. Heavy users of Facebook are [...]

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10 Ways To Get More Business With Social Media

October 17, 2011

Yes, in answer to the question in the AmEx open forum article linked below; I do think social media is overrated. On the other hand I am still willing to give it a chance and there are plenty of smart people who believe social media is the future. So if you want some idas on [...]

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New at the ADA Sesame 24-7

October 15, 2011

More news from the ADA. One of my favorite high tech companies Sesame Communications introduced a new upgraded product Sesame 24-7. It is a complete cloud based e-service that manages all (or almost all) of our online patient communication systems. The main components are:

Search Marketing
Web Site Design
Mobile Web Sites
Patient Log In
Appointment Reminders
Patient Engagement

All of these [...]

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Getting “Liked”

October 10, 2011

Here is another slick idea I picked up at the Sesame breakfast. The dental offices that are generating lots of online activity especially Facebook “likes” and such are making it easy by offering patients the opportunity to “like” them when the patient is in the dental office. The dental office has an iPad (or equivalent) [...]

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Facebook Features and the Fan Page

October 3, 2011

From DoctorBase
While we certainly don’t expect Fan Pages to be abandoned by Facebook, it does appear that they’ve taken a backseat to social engagement between users in Facebook’s current plans.
Their conclusions are similar to mine.
The announced changes may make the user experience better but I do not see how they will enhace Facebook for small [...]

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So How Much Should a Company Pay for a Facebook “Like”

September 28, 2011

This PC Magazine article relates to some of my previous thoughts regarding Facebook and dentistry. Here and elsewhere.
For the most part, Facebook’s over 750 800 million users interact with each other, rather than companies.
By ”paying” for a like this article is not referring the unsettling trend of people ”selling” good reviews on Yelp and elsewhere; [...]

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Facebook Changes Again: Everything You Need To Know

September 27, 2011

As we predicted, Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote at the f8 conference in San Francisco Thursday introduced some of the most profound changes seen on Facebook since its inception
The linked Mashable article does a good job of outlining and explaining the major changes to Facebook. I have a couple of personal observations to add.
These continual changes are [...]

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Small Business Social Media Engagement?

September 26, 2011

American Express Open Forum article
A new study came out this week by Roost, a tech company focused on helping small businesses go social, about the best ways for small companies to achieve maximum engagement on social networks
The article lists three ways small businesses (like a dental office) can use social media effectively. These are photos, questions and [...]

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Facebook Unveils New Friends Lists

September 16, 2011

I read about this supposed big advance at several online tech sites but don’t see how it will make much of a difference. Either Facebook is just for true close friends, which means it has little or no use as a marketing system or it is a broad system to contact hundreds of people you really [...]

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Ferreting Out Fake Reviews Online

September 14, 2011

According to the NYT article linked below people are offering to write positive online reviews for a fee. (HT BoctorBase)
“For $5, I will submit two great reviews for your business,” offered one entrepreneur on the help-for-hire site xxx, one of a multitude of similar pitches. On another forum, xxx, a poster wrote, “I will pay [...]

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I Hate Dr. Xxx

September 8, 2011

I have written many times about the power of online reviews and how we are poweless to do much if anything about it. Here and here: This takes it to a whole new level.
Chris Cook of Bakersfield, CA, created the “I Hate Dr. Dove of Bakersfield” page after taking his 5-year-old son to pediatric dentist [...]

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Google+ launches an “ignore” option

August 27, 2011

The Ignore Option
Today, with the less intense “ignore” option. You can hide certain people that you don’t necessarily want to see but you’re ok with still having them interact with your content.
This sounds like another good innovation (like Circles) that will make Google+ more effective for a business like a dental practice.
via Google+ launches an [...]

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Facebook is Free…kinda”

August 26, 2011

One of the big talking points social media proponets always make is that it is free. Ya but.
It is free to set up a business Facebook page, then what.
Is it free like “free beer”? Not really. It’s more like a “free puppy”.

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Yelp vs. Google

August 23, 2011

Hmmm, from DoctorBase
Just when we thought opinions of Yelp couldn’t sink in lower in the eyes of doctors, we find that they were the driving force behind why many of you had your star ratings removed from Google Places. Is there currently a website more reviled by doctors? Have they burned their last bridge, or [...]

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Google Plus for Dentists

August 11, 2011

 Another online source for info on social media and dentistry. sm4dentists. The linked article here discusses the potential for Google+ and dentistry. But then tells us we can’t use it yet…but when it really starts working it will be great. I agree if it in fact does all we are led to believe it will [...]

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Online Reviews: More Thoughts

August 10, 2011

Some interesting thoughts on Google, Yelp, Google Places, online reviews and Facebook from the smart guys at DoctorBase.
It’s no secret that he biggest review site on the web, Yelp, was not a fan of Google displaying what they felt was their content. Yelp claimed Google was essentially stealing their content to drive traffic to their [...]

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Google+: The Complete Guide

August 9, 2011

without further ado, here is Mashable‘s complete guide to Google+:
via Google+: The Complete Guide.

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Most Facebook Fans of Small Businesses Arent Local

August 8, 2011

According to the linked article the vast majority (like 85%) of people who “like” a local business do not live in the area. This has obvious implications for dentists. Almost all our “customers” our patients are local. In fact very local. Location and convenience are prime factors for people choosing a dentist.
The theory is that [...]

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