How to Establish Facebook Safety and Security Guidelines for Your Dental Practice
By: Paige Johnsen, Marketing Director, DPC Technology
Social media profiles for your dental office are great platforms to educate and engage with your patients. They are also a tool to build brand awareness as the leading dental expert in your area. This is all in an effort to create long-lasting trust with your patients, which will result in recurring appointments and increasing patient referrals to your office. However, there are Facebook safety and security guidelines for your dental practice that you should follow.
Many dental practice owners are discouraged by possible security risks and the potential for negative reviews, which causes them to avoid social media altogether. From a marketing and branding point of view, I do not recommend ignoring the opportunity that Facebook and other social media platforms provide for your business, free of charge.
4 Steps to Facebook Security for Your Dental Practice
Step 1: SET BOUNDARIES
Whether you have one or multiple employees in your office contributing to your Facebook page, you need to set a standard for the type of content you will be posting. Not only does this help with generating consistent branding, but it also makes sure that each team member stays within the lines of what is appropriate to post. This may not seem important, but it is critical for the safety of you and your staff.
Step 2: AUTHORITY RESTRICTIONS
Not every team member will have the same level of authority for posting on Facebook. Every social media site is different, but here is an example of the authority levels for a Facebook business page:
- Admin – This is pretty much your VIP, all access pass. Be careful who you give this power to and make sure if the employee is no longer with you, that you remove that authority as soon as possible.
- According to Facebook, an Admin can manage all aspects of the Page. They can: send messages and publish as the Page, respond to and delete comments on the Page, create ads, see which admin created a post or comment, view insights, respond to and delete Instagram comments from the Page, edit Instagram account details from the Page and assign Page roles.
- Editor – Can send messages and publish as the Page, respond to and delete comments on the Page, create ads, see which admin created a post or comment, view insights, respond to and delete Instagram comments from the Page and edit Instagram account details from the Page.
- Moderator - Can send messages as the Page, respond to and delete comments on the Page, create ads, see which admin created a post or comment, view insights and respond to Instagram comments from the Page.
- Advertiser - Can see which admin created a post or comment, create ads and view insights.
- Analyst - Can see which admin created a post or comment and view insights.
- Live Contributor - Can go live as the Page from a mobile device. They can't: comment as the Page, create ads, access Publishing Tools or view insights.
Step 3: READ THE PRIVACY AND SECURITY SETTINGS
Cyber crimes have been linked to hackers gaining your personal information that is easily accessible through public view on Facebook and other social media sites. Be aware of the information you share online. To learn more about Facebook safety and security guidelines for your dental practice, follow the link to Facebook Privacy and Security Settings.
Step 4: THINK TWICE
Have you ever asked yourself or one of your coworkers, "Is this okay to post?" If you have to ask yourself that question, then it probably isn't worth it. Choose your words wisely when engaging with a negative comment or review. Always remember your audience and make sure your posts reflect a correct representation of your dental practice. When it comes to the type of content you're posting, it should be L.I.F.E. content, which we will break down and discuss in our next blog post.
I hope that my suggestions for Facebook safety and security guidelines for your dental practice were helpful. This was meant to serve as an overview of a few things that you can put into place now. We will continue to discuss these security features in further detail and expand with more social media platforms.
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