Facebook 200: Facebook Services & Ads

In the first three parts of our Facebook series, we learned some helpful tips and tricks to help you maximize your Facebook outreach and grow your online practice:

• Introduction to Facebook & the 60/20/20 Rule
• When & how often to post on Facebook
• How to increase engagement

Now who’s ready for a Pop Quiz!? Just kidding. Now that we’ve learned the basics for posting on Facebook and maximizing your reach, I’d like to dig a little deeper into Facebook’s new Services feature that helps users find local businesses, as well as Facebook Advertising.

As we discussed in the previous segments, the goal of the most recent update is to focus the Newsfeed on Facebook’s core value of “Friends and Family First” by limiting the reach of posts by businesses and media outlets (although the real goal here is to get businesses to pay for advertising). Many small business owners fear this will cause engagement with their Page to drop, and it most likely will. However, that does not mean that Facebook can no longer be a valuable (and free) marketing tool for your dental practice. Enter Facebook Professional Services.

Facebook Services

Facebook Services is an online directory within Facebook that helps users find the best local businesses and services they need. The Pages with the best Facebook Reviews and Ratings will show up on the top of the list. Facebook Services uses the following criteria to determine which businesses will rank first:

• Where the business is Located
• Matching keywords in the Page Name, Description & Category
• Overall average Star Rating
• Number of Ratings
• Recency of last Review
• Number of Check-Ins
• Previous interactions between Page & users
• Connections between users who Check In, Rate & Review

We recommend you to log in to your Facebook Page and make sure your settings are optimized so that users can easily find your business with a quick search. If you have a ForeverSite™ with us, we’ve already gone through your account to make sure everything is up to speed. Lucky you!

Reviews & Ratings

As you can see, Reviews and Ratings will now be more important than ever if you want your business to thrive on Facebook. You should encourage your team members, friends, family members, and of course your patients to give you a good Rating and leave a Review. It’s important that you respond to every Review you get to show Facebook you are actively engaging with your Page, and show potential patients you care.

Facebook Ads

It’s no wonder the price of Facebook Advertising has recently increased after Facebook said, “We’re not going to show people your content anymore.” They know exactly what they’re doing. But how effective are Facebook Ads, actually?

Facebook Ads are great for targeting specific demographics (age, location, lifestyle). Historically, most of our success through Facebook Ads comes from targeting mothers and families. These are typically leisure clicks, unpressured browsing, and are good for acquiring new patients and getting brand recognition. So maybe if you’re just starting up a new practice, or are just trying to get new patients, Facebook Ads could be worth the investment for you.

However, if you’re trying to promote a specific service or special offer, Facebook Ads may not get the results you want. We’ve found Google Ads to be much more successful because they target people searching for specific keywords for services they need. Patients searching for dental services already know they need dental work and are ready to pick up the phone and call, while people browsing Facebook are generally not looking for a new dentist.

Well, that concludes our four-part Facebook series. We hope you’ve learned some helpful tips and tricks to help you make the most out of your Facebook Page. Stay tuned for updates and more insider advice on how to successfully market your dental practice in an ever-changing online world.

As always, if you have any questions or would like us to take a look under the hood of your practice and marketing efforts, Schedule your FREE Practice Assessment today!