So we’ve all heard that Twitter is the new “hot” thing, but is it really?  While Twitter may be hip and cool personal use, there proves to be many disadvantages to utilizing it for your business, especially when it comes to the dental field.  There are three major issues that stand as a barrier when it comes to Twitter in the dental realm, which include target disconnection, voice choice, and time.

Disconnection Between the Client and Dentist
Let’s say you’ve just activated your Twitter account and things seem to be going well.  You have lots of followers and your tweets are perfectly crafted.  But when taking a closer look, you discover that out of your thousand faithful followers, only a small percentage of them actually fall into your designated target audience.  Sense a problem?  Twitter is great for attracting numbers, but not great at narrowing who your actual followers are.  This disconnection also exists quite easily because of how Twitter followers are set up.  Followers have to choose to follow your Twitter updates.  This is not like a direct mailer or billboard where the target is forced to see your advertising.  These mediums of the advantage of the target driving past your sign or checking their mail everyday naturally.  However, by the simple act of not clicking on your Twitter account, they never receive a single update.  Let’s face it, Twitter makes you easy to avoid.

Voice Choice
The big selling point on Twitter is how interactive it can be between the client and dentist.  However, what tone are you going to give your online voice?  Many a site will tell you to remain professional.  On the other hand, lots of sources swear by making personal connections with clients by tweeting personal shout outs or updates about your life in order to connect.  The dilemma between too personal and too corporate is fine, and can lead to inconsistency and less client/dentist connection than before.

Time Intensive
An important factor to remember is the time and labor that are required for an active and successful Twitter account.  This isn’t an email that gets sent out once a month to your patients.  This is a medium that demands updates multiple times per day.  Not only is this time and labor intensive, it is also inconvenient and will potentially take away from the performance and efficiency of whomever is responsible over the postings.

Convinced Yet?
While Twitter has proved to be quite successful for many businesses, it is vital to accurately assess your dental practice to determine Twitter’s effectiveness for you.  Don’t just hop on the bandwagon in an attempt to “stay up to date”, make sure to evaluate all your marketing options before making any decisions.  There are many other proven marketing methods available to the dental field.

Photo via Lauren MacEwen