Last year we had surveyed more than 100 dentists in India, mostly from the metros. Based on the responses we had released a report, that was published by the Indian Dental Association in their newsletter. We are very excited to announce that we have completed the surveys this tear as well and will be publishing our report in January 2018. In the run up to that, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit some of the findings from last year.
According to a survey report, we found that Dental practitioners are reluctant adopters of social media for professional use. While 90% of survey respondents said they used social media for personal use, only 63% indicated that they used it for professional purposes such as connecting with peers (70%), raising awareness of their practice (61%) and educating patients (51%).
With the government of India’s healthcare policy emphasizing on preventive healthcare, medical practitioners and hospitals have to find new ways to reach and educate patients to stay healthy. In this context, social media can be a game changer, especially for specialist care providers such as dental surgeons, ophthalmologists, dermatologists and ENT specialists.
The survey report, possibly the first of its kind in India, outlined possible reasons for low social media adoption as ranging from limited understanding of social media; lack of skills needed to create compelling content on social media; uncertainty around how regulatory bodies such as the Indian Dental Association perceive social media use; and absence of well-known peers using social media.
We have seen interest from dentists to use social media for professional purposes. But the rigors of running a practice means they seldom have the time to invest in familiarizing themselves with this medium.
Other salient findings of the report include the following:
- The top social media platforms used by respondents for professional work include Twitter, LinkedIn, and Blogs (in that order)
- 42% of respondents spent an average of one to five hours a week on social media pertaining to work. About 33% spent less than an hour a week.
- Only 28% of respondents had a budget for investing in social media activities
According to the report, social media can be used to educate, promote, interact and advise patients. To this effect, the report also includes a section on five commonly asked questions and actionable insights to help medical practitioners build their social media presence credibly.
To download the report, please click here and learn other key findings and stay tuned for the launch of the 2018 report.