MARKETING 2. About your services, treatments that you have been involved with. Perhaps share some case studies, befores and afters. This allows your followers to comment and discuss the cases creating quite a bit of engagement. 3. That are shared from other trustworthy sites
that are also relevant to your business.
As you progress you will feel more comfortable posting and find your own personality and voice. You may be formal and reserved or quite loud and outgoing, anything goes really, just find your voice. Of course, you will still need to work within the GDC guidelines for social media behaviour.
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
It is important once you set up your page and start to post that you are able to respond quickly to any comments, messages or requests. Take time to set up the messaging service properly and one great tip to avoid any adverse or rude comments is to set the profanity filter to high! This is in <Settings> <General> It may seem unnecessary but I have seen many accounts that
would have avoided an embarrassing post or review had this been set up correctly. A page that is vibrant, colourful with a variety of posts and where the owners of the page respond quickly will soon start to build a following and gain numbers quickly.
READY TO GO…
Once everything is set up you are ready to go. I find a good start is to have a note book/diary to note your posts and plan which days you are going to post. I like to post daily or at least 3-5 times a week, others will tell you only to post when you have something to say. I think, especially in the early days you need to find something to say! Plan your posts, thinking about the type of message you want to send out to the world. You want to connect with your reader, not “sell” to them. Ideally we all want to create that “viral” post that will catapult you into social media stardom and it may be that you have a skill for this, so always be on the look out for opportunities!
The reality for most of us is that we provide interesting, readable content that engages our ideal client in such a way that they then become a customer of ours. I would spend the first few weeks getting to grips with posting and looking at varying your posts in these ways, once you feel comfortable you can then start to be a little more adventurous. Perhaps post some videos, or even a Facebook live. By learning more about social media and posting regularly you will find your business’s voice and identity, even learn to produce that essential viral post that will catapult you to dental stardom! All the best! I wish you all the best during this difficult period of transition and as usual should any of you require a face to face chat via Zoom with some pointers for your marketing I am more than happy to offer these free of charge, please just email and I will set up a call.
DENTAL NEWS
WHY IS THE GDC CLAIM FROM THE GOVERNMENT’S CJRS? By Laura Pearce I Solicitor at JFH Law
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On 9th June 2020, after discovering the GDC had made a claim to HMRC under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), we made a Freedom of Information Act request to them in respect of their decision: 1. Not to stop, reduce or set up emergency payment plans for ARF payments; 2. To place staff on furlough, despite receiving full ARF payments.
On 7th July 2020 the GDC responded to that request. As you will see, this does little to explain the rationale behind the GDC’s decisions. When responding to the question as to why ARF’s were not reduced, the GDC said: The tasks of the GDC in carrying out its regulatory role, which are set out in the Dentists Act 1984 have not changed. We are required to remain financially stable and to meet our statutory obligations to ensure the public are protected and confidence in the professions is maintained. If the work remains unchanged, why were 28 members of staff placed on furlough? Why is the GDC claiming payments from the Government AND registrants? Surely by claiming from the CJRS and continuing to take AFR payments the GDC will be
financially better off this financial year; the CRSJ was designed to protect business who are struggling financially, not to increase a companies turnover. The GDC has confirmed that for the period 18th May to 7th June 2020 the salary of 27 employees was topped up and the figure paid by the GDC to top up those salaries was £6,143.71. We decided to make a further request for information as it wasy unclear how the GDC could justify retaining the existing ARF due to the unchanging nature of their regulatory work during lockdown, whilst also claiming state aid for 27 furloughed workers. On 21st August 2020 we received the response to our further request. This reveals that during the pandemic the GDC took advantage of the government’s “furlough” scheme, furloughing 27 out of 353 (just under 8%) of their staff, claiming £101,491.64 from HMRC. GDC registrants will be all too aware that despite the limitations on their practice throughout the pandemic, the GDC chose not to reduce the ARF for dentists or DCPs; their income was therefore unaffected by the pandemic. These funds can therefore be described as an unexpected windfall for the regulators.
www.dentaltechnician.org.uk
On 20th March 2020 Rishi Sunak unveiled the CJRS. During his announcement he stated: "Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover most of the wages of people who are not working but are furloughed and kept on payroll, rather than being laid off…That means workers in any part of the UK can retain their job, even if their employer cannot afford to pay them, and be paid at least 80% of their salary. The GDC chose to top up the salary of the 27 furloughed workers. Curiously, during the same period, other GDC employees were paid overtime for additional work done, albeit in “different teams”. The CJRS was designed to save jobs in businesses and organisations that had been impacted by the pandemic. Given the GDC has specifically confirmed that its functions during the pandemic remained unchanged and it’s income was not reduced during this time, it is still unclear what justification they have for making a claim to the Government for tax payers money. The GDC received just 146 emails from registrants regarding their decision to retain the ARF during lockdown, this has allowed them to justify their decision not to reduce it. Registrants may now feel motivated to contact the GDC to express their views on this issue.
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