Dr. Slaine McGrath shares his approach to social media marketing in dentistry.
Talented cosmetic dentist Dr Slaine McGrath, who landed a job at a top Harley Street clinic just two years after graduating, joined the Dental Leader Podcast to talk about how he became one of the most prominent dentists on Instagram.
Prav Solanki: Slaine, was it during your time working at the Harley Street clinic that you started marketing and generating some kind of patient base of your own or was that later?
Dr. Slaine McGrath: No, that was a little later. I started working at the Harley Street clinic in 2015, but it was around 2018 that I started doing social media marketing. It started with a nurse [Kerry] who worked with me at Ruh Dental. She was Andy McLean's nurse and she had basically started Andy's Instagram for him. Andy was someone who was like, "What is this Instagram thing?" and Kerry was pushing him, saying, "You have to do this. It's an amazing way of marketing." And then his career took off, and rightly so, because he's an incredible dentist and he has a lot of work to show.
But I think Kerry helped develop it for him and with him. He started saying to me, “You need to start Instagram.” I was pretty nervous about putting my work out there. At the time, I was doing a lot of general dentistry, maybe one or two cosmetic cases, and looking back, they’re not great. I was pretty nervous about the criticism I would get for posting pictures of my teeth online and the fact that most of the people who followed me were just my friends and they would be like, “What are you doing posting pictures of your teeth?”.
“It’s all about how you treat and manage your patients and how you talk to them.”to your patients.”
I finally gave in, Kerry helped me build my Instagram profile and that was how quickly it grew. I think, at that time, there weren't very many people doing social media marketing. Now, I think the space itself is pretty competitive because there are a lot of people doing it, but at the time it was pretty easy to build.
The more you post, the more patients you get and the bigger the portfolio you can build., which was my struggle at first because I didn't have enough cases to post. So I was posting the same things over and over again. But the more you post, the more people come to you and the more pictures you can post.
Payman Langroudi: We have to give Kerry credit publicly here, because, as you say, she helped. She helped Andy, she helped you, and then she also developed our social media. Kerry took care of Enlighten's Instagram in the beginning, when we were nowhere, and it worked for us too.
What advice do you have for someone who's starting out in social media marketing? Because Enlighten does these Mini Smile Makeover events, and we talk to the dentists there and ask them, "Who has a dental Instagram account?" Very few do. What's your advice for someone who's worried about getting started? The things I think people worry about are (a) “What will my aunt think?” and (b) “What will other dentists think?” How did you overcome that?
Dr. Slaine McGrath: I think so. the people close to you are the ones who will support you. And you always have to remember that you have family and friends who will support you in this. I think that the harshest criticism comes from other dentists. As long as you are confident in what you posted and feel like you did everything you could for that patient, then it is very difficult for anyone to criticize you.
They can say, “Okay, that line angle isn’t perfect.” But what if? Because it’s a learning curve for all of us. As long as you know you’re not posting the case of an 18-year-old who needed orthopedics and you put 20 porcelain veneers on him, you know you’re posting your best work, then what? What’s the worry? Someone may criticize the fact that it's not perfect, but you know, no one is perfect.
“The more you post, the more patients you get and the bigger the portfolio you can build.”
Payman Langroudi: I remember when you spoke for us at The Minimalist, I remember you brought this up by showing us photos of other dentists' work and saying, "Look, I was looking at Dr. Duval's work and Dr. Apa's work and I was thinking, 'I'm not nearly as good as them.'" But then you showed these other cases that were getting a lot of love, and we could all tell that they weren't the best cases. And in a way, maybe then you thought, "Well, I can do this too if these people are getting love.".
Dr. Slaine McGrath: Absolutely. Those are the cases with the horribly inflamed gums and calculus everywhere. And they've had teeth extracted for veneers rather than for orthodontics and people keep saying, "It looks great." And you're like, "Well, in whose eyes?".
“As long as you are confident in what you posted and feel like you did everything you could for that patient, then it’s very hard for anyone to criticize it.”
My advice is to start, because I felt exactly the same when I started; I thought I would get so much criticism, but as long as you post your best work and do what's right for the patient, you'll be surprised at how little criticism you'll receive.
And when you get them, I think you either have to ignore them completely and not let them affect you, or you have to handle them properly and not start an argument with someone just to justify your point. People will be there to troll you and criticize you, because that's how it always is.
“I was pretty nervous about the criticism I would get if I posted pictures of my teeth online.”
Prav Solanki: Are there any tips or suggestions when communicating with patients via social media? You mentioned how would you send a voice message in response/response to a patient, which is good because voice is faster than fingers, so you save a little time, but it's also a little more personalized. What can you share with us in terms of engaging with them and sparking a conversation and engagement, what advice do you have?
Dr. Slaine McGrath: I think that would depend on the type of social media page you have. For me, on my Instagram, it's predominantly work-based and the whole purpose behind it is just to get patients in the chair. I have no interest in being an influencer. I'm not interested in pictures of myself or my family or anything, but I'm very aware that pCustomers buy you as a person, not as a dentist.
Now, obviously, this works differently for everyone, because for example, if we take Dr. Andy McLean, with Instagram, I don't think there's even a single photo of him on it. Or if there is, it's him in a corner of the clinic somewhere. It's very much just about teeth, and his before and after pictures are so amazing that it's great and that's how it works for him.
As for me, I think I have a slightly more personal page, so I post pictures of my family, just because people get involved in it and I think people almost connect with you through it.. For me, I think it's really important to have that personal touch. If a patient contacts me, they usually don't just say, "Hi, I'd like to make an appointment." It's a few questions and I think they're buying into you as a person and not just as a dentist. I respond to them, sometimes it will be a typed message if it's just a quick reply, but it will always be from me and quite personal.
If it's a longer, more complex question, then I'll send it as a video or as a voice note. I know Dr. Affan used to send all his patients video responses, because they know you took the time to send it to them, and it looks a little different if it's not just coming from the receptionist or the treatment coordinator. They know it's your advice and it comes from you.
I think it's good to have a voice note or a video or something like that where you say, you know, this is my consultation fee, this is when I'm available to see you, and this is what we're going to do for you on your first visit. They know exactly what's going on before they walk in the door, and there's never any drama in the clinic.
Payman Langroudi: What is the best advice you have ever received?
Dr. Slaine McGrath: I think it has nothing to do with clinical dentistry and I think it's all about how you treat and manage your patients and how you talk to your patients. Because I think patients leave happy if they've been treated well and they might come back to you and say, "You know what? This truth is not quite the way I want it to be. I want you to change it." But as long as you are truly understanding and empathetic with them, you will come back as many times as they want to get their teeth into the perfect place.
Conversely, I think that if there's some kind of animosity or hostility between you and the patient, they're much more likely to make a complaint, and it's going to be much more difficult for you than it would be for someone you've gotten along with. So, I think that Showing empathy is probably the best advice I could have received.
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Source: enlightensmiles.com
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