8 proven dental reputation management tactics for rapid growth 

Reviews are an integral part of growing a dental business. A solid reputation is the deciding factor in whether a patient chooses your practice over a competitor. Effective dental reputation management encompasses three key areas: reviews, social media, and patient experience management. 

In fact, according to Birdeye data, review sites are one of the top channels people use to find businesses and services. Another study shows that 49% of consumers pay attention to both negative and positive reviews in the process. 

The dental market is fiercely competitive, with numerous potential patients to win over. Notably, only 26% of our survey respondents reported having  found a dentist they can rely on completely, leaving ample room for differentiation. 

Building and maintaining a strong reputation can be challenging, especially for dental practices managing multiple locations. To help, we’ve compiled the most effective dental reputation management strategies for your success.

What is dental reputation management?

Dental reputation management is the process of creating, monitoring, and managing an online reputation across social media, reviews, and listing sites. 

Potential patients scour review sites, listing sites, social media, and business websites while choosing a service provider. Building and managing your online reputation allows you to present a favorable business image across those platforms. 

Why is dental practice reputation management important?

In a competitive market, reputation is the tie-breaker for similar dental practices within the same location. Showcasing your ability to improve service, products, and overall patient experience is essential to attracting more patients. 

Specifically, studies show that 58% of consumers are indifferent or unwilling to support without a solid online presence. Another study showed that having negative reviews in the past twelve months is a strong detractor for 87% of consumers working with local businesses.

Benefits of dentist reputation management

In addition to directly impacting the bottom line, dental reputation management provides location-based practices a competitive advantage, boosts trust in the brand, and improves ranking for local searches.

Gain a competitive advantage

Dentistry is a competitive industry. Businesses need every advantage over their competitors they can get. With standardized procedures and similar target audiences, having a higher review score, positive word of mouth, and a strong online presence can provide a significant advantage organically for your practice. 

Patient demand for overall dental services remains strong; however, it is a bit soft for optional services like orthodontists or whitening. Dentistry, being a local business, needs you to stay on top of the competitors within a one-mile radius. What works for us is focusing on review scores and volume to provide our locations with a competitive advantage in terms of SEO and reputation.

Jody Martin, Smile Brands

Boost trust

A positive online reputation can also help build trust with potential patients. It’s important for your practice to showcase transparency and accountability, which is possible via reputation management strategies. Consistently replying to reviews shows that you value your patients’ feedback. When potential patients see these online interactions, they’ll be more likely to trust that you provide a quality dental experience.

Ranking higher on search engines

Effective online reputation management boosts your business’s search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, enhancing its online visibility. As a result, when patients search for “dentists near me,” they’re more likely to find you among the top dental practices with high ratings and positive reviews.

According to a study on multi-location businesses, 47% of respondents sought local healthcare providers online in the last year. By ranking high, you can effortlessly convert these searches into valuable clients. 

“Birdeye made Steele Creek Pediatric’s positive patient experiences more visible to potential patients. Our patients would automatically receive a review request after an appointment, with a link to an external site like Google, and Facebook. 

Today, all three practices have over 700 total reviews. Prospective patients can immediately see hundreds of quality patient experience testimonials with a quick Google search. The number of new patients has doubled since the practice started with Birdeye. “

Steele Creek Pediatric

5 easy steps for an impactful dental reputation management 

Businesses can control their online reputation with these five easy steps: 

1. Assess your online reputation 

The first step to managing your online reputation is to know where you currently stand. Start by assessing your online reputation by evaluating review scores and sentiments on review and listing sites and monitoring social media comments and brand mentions. 

You can know the task and form a strong reputation management strategy. 

2. Identify gaps in your reputation 

Now that you know where you stand, the next step is to identify the gaps in your online reputation. Some of the things to watch out for include: 

• What sites should you focus on 
• What topics recur across reviews 
• What customers are looking for 
• How well your competitors are doing in reputation management

3. Implement a review management strategy 

Reviews are a critical part of your online reputation. A consistent stream of online reviews can help you significantly improve your reputation and display positive social proof for your business. 

4. Monitor online portals and social media 

After assessing and generating reviews, it is time to focus on popular review sites and social media platforms. Constant monitoring ensures you get notifications on every customer review, brand mention, and comment. This way, businesses can instantly respond, act on negative feedback, and improve their online reputation. 

5. Implement a system to catch negative feedback and act on it 

Negative feedback across platforms is a serious issue for your online reputation. While you monitor all reviews, your reputation management strategy must allow for a special alert system for negative feedback via reviews and social media channels. 

You can also integrate a ticketing system to ensure every negative feedback gets the attention it deserves. 

8 dental reputation management strategies for your business

There are many ways to approach dental reputation management, such as managing a website, claiming business listings, investing in reputation monitoring, review management, boosting social presence, and improving patient experience. 

Let’s explore these methods in detail in this section.

Branded website 

An SEO-optimized website showcasing your dental services is critical to your online reputation management strategy. It ensures customers get their information directly from you instead of gleaning it second-hand from review sites.

Start by using relevant keywords in the messaging and content on your site. Having location-specific pages on your website also bodes well so that you can rank well for keywords like “dentist in houston” or “dentist in California”. 

Optimize your website for a good mobile experience for best results.

Business listing management  

Claiming your business listings on relevant review sites helps you control the information displayed. This means you ensure potential patients have the correct information about your office(s), including your address, phone number, and hours of operation.

Consistent business information allows patients to find and connect with your office easily, boosting their trust in your brand. 

Reputation monitoring 

Knowing what customers say about your business is half the battle for dental reputation management. That is why setting up active reputation monitoring systems to catch glowing recommendations, angry messages, and negative feedback is critical to business success. 

Businesses can set up Google Alerts for brand mentions, subscribe to review sites for email alerts, or use comprehensive reputation monitoring tools like Birdeye to stay on top of public feedback. 

Get more reviews

“Implementing Birdeye has allowed my patients to share their experiences with future patients searching for an oral and maxillofacial surgery practice. New incoming patients consistently reference my reviews in consultations and first meetings. Thanks to Birdeye’s simple platform and integration with our practice management software, reviews have become a major source of patient referrals to my practice, second only to our referring dental colleagues.”

Michael B. SalinDMD Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, Innovative Implant and Oral Surgery

Reviews help patients get a better idea of the services you provide and what to expect when they schedule a visit. This is why collecting and managing reviews from your patients is necessary for a positive online dental reputation. There are several ways your practice can start getting more reviews, including:

• Ask for reviews – Get in the habit of asking your patients to leave a review soon after they’ve left your office. This is a great way to get immediate feedback from patients. Plus, it’s more likely they’ll leave a review while the experience is still fresh in their minds. 
• Add a review widget on your website – Another way to collect reviews is by adding a space for customer reviews on your business website. Having a review section lets patients provide direct feedback. This is a great way to show potential patients that you’re transparent about your dental practice.
• Make it easy – It takes time and effort to write a review, so be sure to make the process easy for your customers. You can do this by sending links to your review sites in all of your customer communication like follow-up emails and texts. Also, post QR codes that link back to your review sites in the reception area. Making the review process as simple as possible will help your practice generate more reviews.  
• Be responsive – No matter which approach you choose, it’s important to respond to all reviews – including negative reviews. Patients will inevitably have some complaints from time to time, and it’s important that you listen to their feedback and address their concerns in a timely manner. If you ignore or brush off patient feedback, they won’t hesitate to take their business elsewhere and discourage others from writing you a review.

Capture real-time patient feedback with surveys

Survey feedback can also provide a direct indication regarding business reputation, customers, and market sentiment. In addition to reviews, businesses can run customer survey campaigns to gauge how customers feel about your products, services, individual employees, or pricing. 

Surveys also allow you to avoid negative feedback by giving customers a space to voice their concerns without having to go to review sites or social media. This way, you can capture the feedback, work on it, and improve patient experience privately. 

Strong social media presence 

Dental practices with an active social media presence are more likely to convince patients to choose a service provider. Studies show that consumers spend almost fifteen minutes evaluating a provider’s social media presence, especially if they are from Gen Z or Millennial generation. 

South Georgia Dental transformed its multi-location social posting with Birdeye, seeing an uptick in engagement and follower growth. Learn how Birdeye can significantly aid in growing your dental practice on social media. 

Dental practices can post educational dental hygiene content, share a spotlight on your dentists, run through typical procedures, and reshare patient testimonials. 

Did you know that 61% of survey respondents feel more loyal to the person providing the service than the brand? Giving your dentists and other team members a spot on your channel can help you connect with your audience. 

Review marketing 

Social proof goes a long way in showing potential patients how trustworthy and exceptional your business is. Displaying positive reviews on your website, email marketing campaigns, social media, and other customer touchpoints can greatly benefit your business. 

Using a reputation management tool that automates sharing positive reviews can set your dental practice up for success. This will ensure potential patients see the best things your current patients say about your practice. 

Patient experience interventions 

While it is important to promote positive reviews and tackle negative reviews, improving patient experience is a key part of dental reputation management. 

Improving accessibility to your business can also go a long way. This way, you can hear their grievances, service requirements, and more so that you can instantly handle them.

Additionally, setting up AI-driven chatbots trained on frequently asked questions can significantly improve patient experience from the first touchpoint. 

You can also use insights from reviews, survey feedback, and social media to identify service gaps and make necessary improvements. 

Just as Steele Creek Pediatric Dentistry turned things around on patient experience with Birdeye, you can, too. Dr. Goodman has ensured patients receive high-quality care by analyzing the most frequently mentioned topics across reviews.

Top dentist review websites

Online reviews are a vital resource because they help patients make informed decisions about your practice even before setting foot in one of your offices. Since potential patients often read online reviews before choosing a dentist, it’s important for you to be represented on popular review sites like Google and Bing.

There are also review sites specifically for the dental industry. Here are some of the top dental review sites that you should consider:

• Healthgrades – Healthgrades is one of the most popular dentist review sites. Healthgrades pays attention to both positive and negative feedback, so potential patients get a complete understanding of your practice. In addition to patient reviews, Healthgrades also takes into account factors such as dental school performance and malpractice history. As a result, Healthgrades positions itself as an invaluable resource for anyone looking for a new dentist.
• 1-800-Dentist – 1-800-Dentist lets dental practices manage their reputations by giving them the ability to monitor and respond to patient feedback. The site also provides educational resources for dental practices, such as articles on the industry and practice management.
• Dentistry.com – Dentistry.com lets dental professionals track their online reviews, interact with patients, and address any negative feedback. The website also offers a directory of dentists, so patients can easily find a practice in their area.

Dental reputation management: Grow your dental practice with ease

Patients rely heavily on online reviews and social media to choose the most trustworthy and valuable service provider in the current competitor market. Managing your online reputation is key to positioning your business as the #1 choice in a particular location. 

A strong online reputation management strategy can help your business boost trust in your business, increase online visibility and outperform your competitors. 

Focusing on building a strong online presence with a website, business listings, and social media, along with patient experience interventions, can greatly impact your online reputation. 

Frequently asked questions about dental reputation management

Successful dental reputation management with Birdeye

Ensuring a consistent patient experience can be quite challenging, especially if you manage multiple dental practice locations. While manually monitoring review sites and social media is possible, working with a reputation management tool can work wonders for your dental business. 

A positive online reputation doesn’t come in a day; it is an ongoing process that requires constant time, effort, and resources. 

Birdeye has helped over 5,000 dental practices build and maintain a strong online reputation by automating review management, listings management, social media management, and customer experience solutions like chatbots and appointments. 

Watch a free demo to learn more.