The statistics in the following video from Erik Qualman should be frightening to those who have yet to embrace social media as a communication tool for their business. Social media as a tactic to connect with new and ideal patients has become a necessity in today’s world. Your existing and potential patients have chosen this as their preferred method to gather information and to conduct research. People still use search engines like Google, but more and more we all look to our family and friends on social channels to help us decide on the products and services that we will use.

**Bonus! – I’ve included an Infographic below the video to help you understand how much time and money small businesses (read: your peers and competitors) are spending on social media.

13.5 million people search the Internet each month to find a dentist. 4 million of these are searching from a mobile device. Tens of millions are keeping in touch with their dentist using social media channels. How well is your web presence serving you? Contact us if you’d like for us to help you make sense of how you can better leverage today’s Internet to help grow your practice. We’d even be happy to help you gain more insight by conducting a free website analysis if you request it.

The statistics that are highlighted in this video are not arbitrary in the least. These are the factual numbers that clearly represent how the world has taken to social media as a means of communication. Here are several key takeaways from the video. You’ll probably have to watch the video a few times to take it all in. Enjoy!

90% of people trust online recommendations from people they know
53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their Tweets
93% of marketers use social media for business
Each day 20% of Google searches have never been searched before
If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest and 2x the size of the U.S. population
More members join LinkedIn per day than the entire enrollment of all the IVY League Schools
New Yorkers received tweets about an east coast earthquake 30 seconds before they felt it

This infographic is based on a recent survey of almost 500 small businesses, most with 100 empoyees or less.