Social Media Clown Instead of Healthcare Professional – IC063
Is social media killing professionalism in dentistry?
Are young dentists really “clowns” online—or is lightheartedness perfectly fine?
Is social media a disease? Where’s the line between humor, banter, and outright disrespect?
In this episode, Jaz is joined by Joseph Lucido from the States to tackle these tough questions head-on. Sparked by a fiery Facebook rant, they dive into whether social media is harming our profession, how dentists should present themselves online, and if there’s still room for fun without crossing the line.
Whether you love or hate dental content on social media, this conversation will make you rethink how we represent our profession to the world.
Shout-out to two US doctors creating excellent, entertaining content on social media
Dr Brady Smith
Dr. Nicholas J Ciardiello
Check out the 3-Step Modern Dental Marketing Plan from Clear to Launch Dental — designed to help you simplify your marketing and grow your practice without the overwhelm.
https://youtu.be/W7Uh-ML9dZg
Watch IC063 on YouTube
Need to Read it? Check out the Full Episode Transcript below!
Takeaways
Social media etiquette is crucial for healthcare professionals.
Avoid controversial topics to maintain professionalism.
A social media presence is essential for modern dental practices.
Patients often check social media to verify a practice's credibility.
Content should reflect the personality of the dentist and practice.
Highlight satisfied patients to build social proof.
Consistency in posting is key to maintaining engagement.
Separate personal and professional social media accounts.
Batch content creation to save time and effort.
Engaging content can lead to more patient inquiries.
Highlights of this episode:
00:00 Teaser
00:31 Intro
01:47 Introducing Joseph Lucido: Social Media Expert
03:21 Social Media Etiquette for Dentists
06:14 The Importance of Social Media Presence
12:04 Balancing Professionalism and Humor Online
17:39 Authenticity in Social Media
19:51 Balancing Personal and Professional Content
21:51 Effective Social Media Strategies
25:27 Time Management for Social Media
27:26 Do's and Don'ts of Social Media
29:43 The Power of Social Proof
30:49 Conclusion and Resources
32:47 Outro
Love this episode? Don’t miss Best Practices in Social Media for Dentists – How to Stay Out of Trouble Yet Be Impactful (IC035)
#InterferenceCast #Communication #BreadandButterDentistry
This episode is not eligible for CPD/CE points, but never fear, there are hundreds of hours of CPD waiting for you on the Ultimate Education Plan, including Premium clinical walkthroughs and Masterclasses.
Click below for full episode transcript:
Teaser: What is the correct etiquette in 2025 and beyond for social media for dentists?
Teaser:The biggest shortcut a lot of social media questions get would be, we tell a lot of docs, this is social media, it's social in nature, so your job is not to directly sell 24/7. The most extreme version of yourself is gonna get the most attention. So you might get, oh, look, I'm getting a lot of views. But going back to what I said earlier, it's, well, what are people thinking when they see this?
Jaz's Introduction: I saw a rant on Facebook. Obviously it was on Facebook. Where else do rants belong, right? It was saying, what has happened to our profession? What has happened to our beloved dentistry? The kind of crap we're seeing on social media.
This dentist, who's basically vexing about the way that he thinks young dentists are portraying themselves on social media, this anonymous poster of course, was saying we're being clowns, we are disrespecting patients, we're doing all sorts of unsavory things to get views and likes.
So Protruserati, is this the death of professionalism in dentistry? Is social media a disease? Is there a proper way to conduct yourself on social media, or is a bit of humor and banter and a bit of lightheartedness acceptable?
I'm a bit of an idiot on social media sometimes, but I know someone who does know. Today we've got our guest, Joseph Lucido from the States, and I asked him all these tough questions. He knows a thing or two about social media. So in this episode, you'll find out what is the proper way to conduct yourself and whether Joseph thinks there is a space for idiots like me.
Hello, Protruserati. I'm Jaz Gulati and welcome back to your favorite dental podcast. This is an interference cast. This is a nonclinical arm of the podcast. Hope you enjoy the main interview and I'll catch you in the outro.
Main Episode:Joseph Lucido, welcome to the Protrusive Dental Podcast. For those who are listening right now, Joseph has sat in this wonderful, you've got this wonderful background, that common look of the books behind you, so it makes you look like you've got so much authority. And he totally looks badass. But I had to ask him, is this real or is it fake? And actually he reached out, man, this is a very beautiful library behind you. Joseph, welcome to the show, my friend. How are you doing?
[Joseph] I'm doing great. Happy to be here.
[Jaz] Tell us about yourself. You're not a dentist, but tell me how you are connected to dentistry. What makes you an authority? Talk about social media for dentists today, which I'm really excited to get into.
[Joseph] Sure. Probably starting around eight years old, I wanted to be a dentist. Just being in the dental office, I always loved getting my teeth cleaned. I had a few uncles that were dentists. It was just exciting for me.
And then just through my education, formally marketing degree, and then half of the books behind you are on marketing or psychology. And then it comes down to just different reps over and over and over on different platforms with docs, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't work. I guess that gives me, I don't know about the authority, but it gives me a pretty sharp edge on what works and what doesn't.
[Jaz] Well, I think that does give you authority. The fact that they have skin in the game, the fact that you work with people on this, so you totally have the authority.
Interesting title we've opted for, right? Social media clown or healthcare professional. I really like this. When I first read it, I thought, oh crap, he's onto me. He's seen my videos. Because sometimes I'm a bit of a clown, and sometimes I'm very professional. I'm really looking for what your thoughts are on this.
So I guess the first place to start is, what is the correct etiquette in 2025 and beyond for social media for dentists? It's a big topic and we can break it down and go anywhere you like.
[Joseph] Yeah, there's gonna be a bunch of nuance to it, but the biggest shortcut a lot of social media questions get would be, what is the potential patient, the person viewing this, the followers, what are they gonna think after seeing whatever I post?
That should just be your starting point for everything social media related. Before you post, you want to be intentional in thinking. Now it becomes intuitive after a while to do it the right way, second nature. But from an etiquette standpoint, we wanna be thinking, I don't wanna post anything that's too controversial or too polarizing.
Now I'm talking specifically through the lens of a healthcare professional. If you're trying to get attention some other way, that's fine. But if we're talking about being a professional in healthcare, we don't want to talk about politics or religion. Avoiding these topics can alienate 50% or more of your audience, and it also kind of speaks to your self-awareness. You probably shouldn't be posting this from a business perspective.
Arguing online, never a good look. Taking a combative stance, anyone who sees that, even if you're defending yourself, even if you're 100% in the right, that's not what you wanna do from an etiquette standpoint.
We tell a lot of docs, this is social media, it's social in nature, so your job is not to directly sell 24/7. Everyone's seen the doc that posts and all they're doing is selling, and you're not gonna follow them.
[Jaz] So what you mean by that is, "Come in for our new patient Invisalign offer," and just banging on about it every single day, and that's it, it's like repeat.
[Joseph] Even the other post is too much. And what we'd even argue is, the way that we operate it is we have the docs say, you do nothing from an office level organically. You should be fun, entertaining, posting like that, and then we'll take care of the direct selling, because that's what our team has experience in.
You don't have experience in, how do I sell something, specifically the language that needs to be used, the call to actions, where the buttons go. That is so outside of your purview. But what's inside of you, you're an expert on you and your office. That's what you should be posting about.
[Jaz] I think one thing that perhaps I should have asked, and I will now, is taking a step back. I think I went too deep too soon. I'm trying to understand what you are trying to say and what we can learn.
Like I said, building on that correct etiquette and top mistakes we make. Now we are at a stage where virtually every dental practice has a website, I would imagine. But not all dentists have a social media presence. But those that do, a significant majority of those would probably post on 4th of July and then post on Halloween and then completely abandon it.
So let's tackle that for a second. Do we need a social media presence in this day and age to be a thriving clinic? Because in the past it was, word of mouth is the best and patients refer other patients of the similar kind of caliber and likeness, which works well for clinics. What do you think about that question of the need of social media for every practice?
[Joseph] So I think practices still, word of mouth,
