Implications of Facebook Dislike For Your Practice

1. Skip Controversy. As much as it may be tempting to post controversial content, stay away. As a service business it’s your job to maintain an open and comfortable environment for your patients. Don’t risk alienating current or potential clients with controversial posts.

2. Engage. Specifically ask for engagement with an open ended question. By doing so, you will encourage your followers to comment rather than like or dislike.

3. Take it Off-Line. Again, it may be tempting to respond to a dislike comment right out in the open. You think you’re nipping it in the bud, but in reality you’re helping that comment to gain steam. Facebook’s algorithms see any activity on a post as a reason to show it to more people. The best thing to do with something negative is either to delete it using your administrator page or reach out to that patient by phone to address their problem or concern.

4. Understand Your Audience. Are you posting information that is relevant to your audience? Do you know who your audience actually is? Many orthodontic practices that reach out to us for help think their audience is teens because the majority of their patients are teens who need braces or Invisalign. We remind them that teens aren’t the ones paying for these services - nor are they the decision makers about which practitioner they will see. Parent’s are your true audience - specifically moms. Make sure your content is relevant to the mom’s of your community and you’ll get many less dislikes.

5. Don’t Overdo It. Many practices think that more is better when it comes to social media. Not so. It’s important to understand the posting etiquette of each platform before starting. For Facebook think 2x a day, Twitter as much as 5x. If you post too many times, people will start to ignore, unfollow or dislike. Keep it light, keep it positive and don’t overdo it.