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Social media – The game changer for dental practitioners in India
A new breed of healthcare entrepreneurs have emerged in the last couple of years, primarily leveraging technology to support citizens in their quest to stay fit, eat right and detect signs of illness early on. But real transformation can only happen if medical practitioners too adopt technology to interact with citizens and guide them to stay healthy. In this context, social media can be a game changer, especially for specialist care providers such as dental surgeons, ophthalmologists, dermatologists, and ENT specialists.
HealthCare India has conducted a survey to understand what Indian dentists thought of social media as a tool for furthering their practice and reaching out to patients. The survey report also addresses some of the challenges faced by dentists in adopting social media for professional purposes and shares practical tips on how improve social media use.
Here are the excerpts from the report:
Key Findings of the report are:
63%of respondents said they used social media for work purposes.
42% of respondents spent 1-5 hours a week and 33% spent less than an hour a week on social media for work purposes.
Only 28% of respondents had a budget for investing in social media activities.
Report analyses that why dentists are reluctant adapters of social media for professional use. As per the report around 90% of survey respondents said they used social media for personal use, however, only 63% said they used it for work purposes.
The report says, the possible reasons for this relatively low transition could be:
a) Limited understanding of how social media works in a professional context
b) Limited exposure to social media marketing and return on investment
c) Lack of necessary skills to create social media content
d) Uncertain whether social media presence/ promotions are permitted by the Indian Dental Association (IDA)/ Dental Council of India (DCI)
e) Lack of well-known example of peers using social media successfully.
It is interesting to note that survey respondents have rated Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogs (in that order) as the top three preferred social media platforms for work.
Survey respondents have indicated the following the top three reasons for using social media for work purposes:
1. To connect with other dentists (70%),
2. Raising awareness of one’s practice (61%) and
3. Educating patients (51%).
The report also mentions about the 5 FAQs on how to use social media for professional purposes:
1. How much time and effort should be spent on social media before one can see traction?
2. How do I sound credible on social media?
3. Will investing in a social media certification course help me understand social media?
4. How do I know if I am doing well on social media or not? What benchmarks should I use?
5. How real is criticism on social media and how should I respond to it?
Read complete report@