Twiiter is quicky becomming a requied online destination for big name brands as well as mom and pop shops. I was speaking with a dentist last week in Orlando and he stated that after he learned to use the system for more than just blasting press releases and news and actually got his office engaged and listening, he was able to find an ROI on the service as well as provide value to the community.

One day last week, he was telling me, he had 2 cancelations and wanted to fill them. He posted a message on Twitter with something to the effect of come in for a cleaning and I'll buy lunch.

He filled both spots within minutes, got their teeth cleaned and bought a healthy lunch that was good for their teeth.

The dentist spent $30 on lunch and less than 5 minutes on Twitter to get 2 patients into his office. Talk about ROI.

So how can you utilize the service for your doctor's office or small healthcare business?

Listen. You need to know what is going on in the community. Filter keywords and set up alerts to be notified when someone is talking about a subject that interests your business.

Provide value. No one likes to read news and press releases all day long, but they like to be informed and entertained. Did you come across an odd story in the local paper, did one of your patients just do something really cool, did one of your team members win an award or did you find out information about an insurance carrier that would impact people. Share that information. Talk to people and have a good time.

Specials and contests. Most healthcare professionals do not think of this as an angle, but look at the example of the dentist. How can you do something similar? Can you have a kids checkup day or sponsor an event with free blood pressure checks? These things spread like wildfire on Twitter but again it needs to provide value.

Participate. The worst thing you can do is get all excited and then fade away. Be consistent, reply to people and engage in conversations.

Your time is important, so use it wisely. Set up automated feeds that notify you of topics or keywords, pre-schedule Tweets for specials or releases and have your interns, admins and other workers get in on the action.

Who knows, maybe you can be the next to fill the chopping room with patients...

If you liked this article, check out the Orlando Job Spot for more tips to use the Internet to recruit, find a job and utilize new media to make it all happen.