In a recent poll in SmartBrief on Social Media —which  tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.

When they asked just this week “Do you use Pinterest?”  This was the answer:

• No, and we’re not considering it: 40.38%
• Yes: 30.77%
• No, but we’re considering it: 28.85%

As the social networks have matured and settled into their roles connecting with friends, (Facebook) Discovering what’s happening, (Twitter) meeting new people, (MyYearbook) Late to the party), and a new category of social applications, (Google+) entered the scene over the past year or two. These services, and soon to be known as social curation services, are here for us to provide unique ways of making the vast amount of information around us to be shared on the Web. These are tools which will create easy to find information, bookmark this information and read at your leisure.

Unless you have been locked up in a closet for the past year, you have probably heard of Pinterest.

According to the research by SmartBrief, Pinterest “recently emerged as one of the top 10 websites within the Social Networking & Forums category”. Pinterest currently has nearly 11 million total visits in a week (this is dating back to the end of December). For an invitation-only site that is only close to its second year in existence, this is amazing. In an additional study from Shareaholic is was reported that “Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.”

The data is pretty clear; Pinterest is rapidly growing in popularity and it’s great for referral traffic. For the 40% of you not considering it, I might suggest that you rethink that decision. As it seems with numbers like that, the hottest social media question of the day is, “How can you best take advantage of Pinterest for your business?”

You may ask who can I use this for promoting my dental practice?

Pinterest is a kind of visual/ inspiration bulletin board. Users, who currently must request an invitation to join Pinterest, create boards with categories like “Books I Love” or “Beautiful Places” or “Products That Save Me Time.” Users can then link images from websites (using a Pinterest browser bookmark) or upload images from their computers and “pin” the images to the boards. It is the same as using TWITTER where users can follow other users, and Pinterest images can be repinned and shared.

Imgagine the ways that you may be able to show off your beautiful office or cosmetic patient cases. You need to keep Pinterest on your social network radars. Pinterest may not be worth the time and effort for every dental practice right now, but it’s important to keep this site in your sights and to think outside the box about ways it could be leveraged to your business advantage.

Pinterest can be used to inspire or remind potential or current patients,  A picture of a the various areas of your dental office, new products and the results or information about them can be posted, while an image of a Cerec might remind you that you need such a tool for those cosmetic cases. Pinterest is  a unique opportunity for your brand to encourage current patients to check out aesthetic services to complete, or products you offer to purchase for themselves or a loved one; friend or family, for a birthday or holiday.

Do you see value in Pinterest for your dental practice? How are you using it, or how do you plan to use it? Please share your thoughts below or email me at: info@dentalpracticesolutions.com

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