It is time I reached out for some help. I have a fairly clear understanding of how Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can fit into a marketing strategy. Heck, I’ve even set up The Dunn Show Daily via paper.li. Recently I’ve been hearing, reading, seeing quite a bit about Pinterest. So, in an effort to keep current professionally and to be a life-long learner, I gave it a shot. I’m puzzled. I’m a little stumped. I’m not sure I get it.
I’ve compiled a very short list based on my very short experience with Pinterest on some ways I can see Pinterest being used in dental marketing. So, here goes:
1. For the dental practice, pin boards for case before & after photos. This would be a good way to show off esthetic and restorative dentistry to both current and prospective patients. Pinterest could also be a great way to display patient testimonial letters and “thank you” photos. Dental study clubs may even want to share information among members via Pinterest.
2. For the dental practice, pin boards dedicated to pictures of the office, staff, and charity involvement. Add some personality to how the dentist and staff are perceived in the community. For example, photos from open houses or the staff decked out in Halloween costumes would make great pins.
The two above are good ways for a dental practice to augment its current dental website and social media strategy.
3. Manufacturers and suppliers could use Pinterest as a vehicle to feature product photo galleries (historical timelines perhaps). Increase customer engagement through contests to collect & pin photos of the products in use. Clinical products’ before & after photo galleries could also be posted to Pinterest. There could even be an opportunity to support customer service initiatives with updates to product manuals or photo guides to address FAQs, especially with respect to technology and equipment products.
4. Manufacturers and suppliers may find Pinterest of use to post photos from product launch events or Continuing Education courses. Again customer engagement is key, and Pinterest is a good tool to share photos of these types of events from the participants themselves.
Like I said, I’m a little perplexed on this one. This short list was my first brainstorm on how Pinterest might be used to support a social media strategy in dental marketing. I’m eager for your feedback. How do you see Pinterest fitting into your marketing efforts?
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I think you are pretty much on the money, Michael. However, the majority of Pinterest users are women – with some statistics putting that majority as high as 80%. It’s not that it was designed to be that way. It’s just that it caught on with women much quicker. So until men catch up and get in touch with their repressed scrapbooking instincts, what does it mean to dental marketers?
* For dental practices Pinterest can eventually rival Facebook as dentistry is very visual and women make most of the family healthcare decisions.
* For dental manufacturers who specialize hygiene products, your reason #4 is that much more relevant.
Great post keep ’em coming.
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Thanks for the comment. I think you raise a good point about the gender bias of Pinterest. HubSpot posted a recent article about some industries unexpectedly making creative use of Pinterest which supports what you say: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33302/7-Industries-You-Wouldn-t-Expect-to-Be-Creative-on-Pinterest-But-Are.aspx I agree with your bullet about the use for dental practices – Pinterest can be a great way to showcase to moms a practice’s restorative/esthetic capabilities. Ditto for more “lifestyle” imagery for pediatric focused practices.
You raise another great point regarding hygiene product manufacturers. I think Pinterest can become more important for other dental product manufacturers as female enrollment in dental school continues to rise. According to ADEA…
“Women’s representation among first-time, first-year enrollees increased in 2009 to 47 percent (from 44 percent in 2008), with representation among all first-time enrollees of 39 percent. Because of the significant growth in women dental students, 15 of 58 dental schools have 51 percent or more women first-time enrollees.” ADEA also has a nice graph showing the trend of enrollment by gender, and female enrollment continues to be on the upswing (http://www.adea.org/publications/tde/Documents/Dental%20School%20First-Time%20Enrollees%20by%20Gender,2000%20to%202011.pdf).
I appreciate the feedback, and thanks for reading!
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