Having a dental website, blog, newsletter, Google+ page and Facebook page are all important factors in keeping your dental practice in front of your dental patients.

Some dentists are still not convinced that Facebook is an effective Internet dental marketing tool.

Last week, Facebook started the process for its highly-publicized IPO. In anticipation, the online competitive intelligence service Hitwise just released their 10 Key Statistics about Facebook, comparing the Facebook audience with that of other social networks.

Here is what Hitwise found –

1. Facebook captures 1 in every 11 Internet visits in the United States.
2. 1 in every 5 page views occurs on Facebook.
3. The average visit time on Facebook is 20 minutes.
4. Facebook’s audience skews slightly more female than the online population as a whole.(Female is 57%, male is 43%).
5. The ages of Facebook visitors are indicative of the website’s strength in the marketplace, with relative parity in distribution of its visit share by age vs. the online population (Ages 18-24 is 18%, 25-34 is 23%, 34-44 is 21%, 45-54 is 19%, and 55+ is 20%).
6. Facebook wins 499,949,430 visits from the most affluent income group versus YouTube’s 223,732,591 visits and Twitter’s 15,166,795 visits.
7. Facebook became the #1 ranked website in the US on March 9, 2010.
8. “Facebook” is the most searched term in the US and Facebook-related terms account for 14% of the top search clicks.
9. Facebook users are highly loyal to the website; 96% of visitors to Facebook were returning visitors in January 2012.
10. Internationally, Facebook ranks in the top 2 websites in every market except China, where Sina Weibo, Baidu Zhidao and Renren are the dominant social networks.

Hitwise further states that “Facebook is the largest website in the US and a top performer in numerous international markets. The fan base of the site is loyal and spends a significant portion of their time online on the social network. Facebook’s influence is seen in the presidential elections, digital shopping habits and beyond.”

Last June Hitwise concluded in their Facebook Fan Acquisition and Analysis that 1 Facebook fan is equal to 20 additional visits to a business website over the course of a year. If you have 500 Facebook fans, this means an extra 10,000 visits to your dental website a year.

Hitwise wrote, “The figure of 1 fan = 20 extra visits to a website uses a unique methodology that combines Hitwise data with data from social media experts Techlightenment. We took the top 100 retailers ranked in the Hitwise Shopping and Classifieds category and bench-marked visits to those websites against the number of fans those brands had on their Facebook page. We then also looked at the propensity for people to search for those retail brands after a visit to Facebook using our Search Sequence tool.”

Here at The Wealthy Dentist we firmly believe that your dental marketing plan should include a Facebook page. With dental patients spending more time online, dentists should increasingly be looking to use Facebook as a part of their dental marketing.

Facebook fans can play a role in dental patient retention and procurement by helping to drive dental website traffic, boosting dental practice awareness, demonstrating dental treatments or acting as a customer testimonial billboard.

9 out of 10 dentists use Facebook as their preferred place to network online.

While Facebook is facing criticism over their often-disputed privacy policies, most of the dentists using Facebook use it for both professional  and personal networking.

“We are at the beginning stages of our Facebook dental marketing. We are using it as an informational, personable and promotional platform. We are giving our patients useful information, keeping them updated on what is new in our office, and giving away prizes for liking our page. We also give patients $5 off their services when they check in!“ responded one dentist.

The Wealthy Dentist decided to survey dentists to ask what sort of social networking they do online, and whether it was for personal or business purposes.

Dentists use the following social networking sites professionally -

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Blog
• Google Plus

And for personal use?

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google Plus
• LinkedIn and blogging were used the least

Here are some dentist comments:

“We have a business Facebook page which does well for us. I update it regularly and have a couple staff that like to write updates on the wall, too.” (Ohio prosthodontist)

“I haven’t yet figured out what to make of Twitter.” (General dentist)

“I still prefer word-of-mouth recommendations most of all.” (Arizona dentist)

“I really do not have the time or inclination to follow through with these media platforms.” (Massachusetts dentist)

With Facebook about to make a public of offering, which is estimated to bring in about 10 billion dollars, it is time for just about every dental practice that is serious about dental marketing to get on the Facebook bus!

Facebook is now used by 1 in every 13 people on earth and is beating Google in terms of traffic.

60% of dentist who responded to this survey have a Facebook page for their practice, while 40% do not.

Suburban dentists use Facebook pages more than urban dentists, with rural dentists not using Facebook pages at all.

Of the 60% of dentists who are using Facebook pages, the average number of “likes” for a page is 158. The highest number of page “likes” reported are 821 and the lowest is 5.

Here are some dentist comments on Facebook pages –

“Facebook provides easy interaction with patients who are active users.” (Minnesota dentist)

“We have had giveaways every other month like a gas card, free teeth whitening, and an iPad on Facebook.” (General Dentist)

“Just starting to use it. Giving away a Kindle for Christmas for one lucky new Facebook Fan.” (West Virginia dentist)

“Electronic email seems to be more effective. They don’t have to like you to get postings, even though the can unsubscribe.” (California dentist)

“I am not sure exactly what Facebook’s value in marketing does for a practice.” (California orthodontist)

“I have a Facebook page because people feel dentists should be involved in latest social media…” (Illinois dentist)

“I am not sure I want one.” (New Jersey dentist)

“Yes, I think if it’s done correctly, it will be another way to market my practice.” (California dentist)

“I haven’t seen much benefit, despite the 1-2 time a week postings.” (Nevada dentist)

“I don’t have a clue about how to set it up.” (General dentist)

“We use it for referrals, trivia, giveaways, etc.” (Utah orthodontist)

“I don’t have time to maintain it and it’s not helpful if you don’t spend some time on it.” (Texas dentist)

As a dentist, if you want to increase your dental marketing influence, a Facebook Page is an additional option; it’s not something that’s going away anytime soon, and we anticipate that it’s something that will continue to grow.

We will continue to keep you updated on how a Facebook Page can assist your dental marketing efforts.

Do you have a Facebook Page?  What are your thoughts?

And what's most remarkable about this story isn't the truly innovate form of internet dental marketing using online social networking… it's the fact that there's an NHS practice with space for new dental patients!

Historically, it's been challenging for many UK citizens to get dental care through the NHS. In many areas, it's next impossible to find a dentist who'll take on a new NHS patient.

So the NHS invested £65,000 to create places for 10,000 new patients, but the VI Dental Centre in Bridlington still has 2,000 spaces available. And marketing-minded staff have turned to the internet, using sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Read more: Facebook campaign to fill Bridlington dental places

Facebook is the clear leader; half of dentists use it professionally, and 4 out of 5 are on Facebook for personal purposes. One in three dentists uses Twitter professionally, and one in three is on Linked In.

“I believe they will and have had a great impact on dental marketing," predicted one dentist. "It remains to be seen exactly how this will impact patients actually using these sites to select their dentists."

“Social Networking is FREE," raved a website designer. "It gives your dental websites visibility that they would not otherwise have. Most everyone under 50 use the internet for everything. Print is gone, and the internet social media is free right now, so why not take advantage of this?"

Here are some more comments from dentists:

• “It seems a little non-professional, but I don't knock those who do. I'm personally annoyed with my chiropractor's posts, so skip over them. I imagine my patients would do the same.” (Texas dentist)
• “Too new…not sure of impact.” (Pennsylvania orthodontist)
• “I think all of these sites are a huge time killer!" (Alabama dentist)
• “No online social networking personally or professionally anymore. Most of it is a waste of time. I'd rather spend the valuable time with my wife and kids.” (Ohio prosthodontist)
• “I have begun to use LinkedIn for contacts across the nation for my orofacial myology business.” (Nebraska dental hygienist)

Read more: Dentists & Social Media for Online Dental Marketing