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How to Perfect Dental Social Media Marketing
Whether you're looking to gain new patients or engage with existing ones, digital marketing and social media crucial for your dental practice.
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Social media channels are where your patients spend a significant part of their time daily. That’s why effective marketing for a dental practice in the digital era involves understanding your target audience, creating compelling messaging, and consistently getting your message out across social media channels.
If you think that’s easier said than done, you are right. But with this article, we are determined to put you on the right track and equip you with the right tools to reap the benefits of dental social media marketing so you can acquire patients.
- Why dental social media marketing is an important part of digital marketing for dentists
- 8 benefits of using social media for your dental practice marketing
- What social media platforms to use as a dentist
- 15 top social media marketing strategies for dentists
Let's begin by understanding what each social media channel can offer and strategies to optimize your online presence.
8 benefits of using social media for your dental practice marketing
Unlike your profession that you received formal education to practice, social media marketing is a ‘learn it as you go’ skill that has become an integral part of digital marketing for dentists and growing a practice. Let us look at how your practice can benefit from it.
- Patient acquisition: Before making any commitments, 41% of patients today check out healthcare practices on social media. You can receive a large chunk of your patient bookings from your social media pages as it acts as another avenue to advertise your practice.
- Cost-effective: Traditional forms of marketing such as TV, newspaper, and radio ads can consume your entire marketing budget compared to content put on social media, which is free and stays on your channel forever.
- Visibility and brand reach: Since your audience spends more time on digital devices compared to any other form of media, that is where you are most likely to catch their attention. Unlike paper ads that are printed and distributed in certain areas, you can reach a much wider audience using social media.
- Awareness: By and large you are not restricted by as many rules, length and formatting restrictions, or script to advertise your practice on social media when you compare it with traditional media channels. You can talk about your services, create learning content, or share success stories to inform your audience about why they should choose your practice over your competitors.
- Engagement: Once your patients are out of your office, they have to be reminded about your exemplary care so that they keep coming back to you. By connecting with them via social media, you can foster engagement and top-of-the-mind recall with your content.
- Virtual introductions: Your social media channel acts as an online brochure to your services that your audience can browse through at any time, without having to interact with your staff, giving them an opportunity to decide for themselves.
- Longer shelf life: Social media content consumption is dictated by your audience. They can take their time to watch, listen, or read your content multiple times or even save it for later, as opposed to TV viewership which is governed by scheduled programming.
- More Impressions: Your social media handles add another avenue to building your online presence that will result in a better ranking on search engines. Interaction with your social media channels in turn boost the authority of your website.
Social media channels for dentists
Just like every dental problem has a specific treatment, every social media platform caters to a certain type of audience looking for relevant information that fills their needs. Let us understand what each platform has to offer that can help you build your content strategy.
1. Facebook
Image Credit: Grand Street Dental on Facebook
As one of the pioneers in dental social media marketing and a platform that boasts 1.84 billion daily active users, you must create a Facebook page for your practice. Advertising on Facebook has been steadily rising as businesses have successfully generated leads and built a niche following for their content.
Cost: Free | Pay to promote your content
Best for:
- Patient testimonials
- Information and sharing news about your practice
- Learning and educational posts (pictures and videos)
- Information and sharing news about your practice
- Introducing your dental team
- Professional development news
- Recommending products and DIY tutorials
- Sharing information about participation in networking events
- Holiday or seasonal wishes
2. Instagram
Primarily a visual platform, Instagram is one of the most commonly used platforms used by dental practices. With soaring engagement levels among Gen Z and Millenials (64% of Instagram users are under the age of 34), Instagram equips you with the best ingredients to create a perfect recipe for your audience to consume and walk into your office.
Cost: Free | Pay to promote your content
Best for:
- Patient testimonials
- Before and after photos
- Learning and educational posts (pictures and videos)
- Information and sharing news about your practice
- Brand films
- Introducing your dental team
- Professional development news
- Sharing information about participation in conferences, webinars, podcasts, and other networking events
- Recommending products and DIY tutorials
- Sneak peek into life outside the office like family, or other hobbies
- Connecting with other dental professionals
- Holiday or seasonal wishes
3. Twitter
Largely used by businesses, content shared on Twitter has a higher focus on the text that may or may not be supported with a photo or a video. The audience on Twitter is more mature (76.3% of users are over 25 years), with people using the platform to keep themselves updated on the brands, political, and financial news. While Twitter may not help you gain new patients, it will certainly help you strengthen your brand image and increase your online presence.
Cost: Free | Pay to promote your content
Best for:
- Brand film
- Professional development news
- Share links to your website blog or publication in prominent online publications
- Sharing articles on new research and information on dental health
- Holiday or seasonal wishes
4. YouTube
Image Credit: Innovative Dental on YouTube
As a dental practice, you can find a number of opportunities to shoot videos that are not limited by time to reinforce your brand image and give your patients a preview of your services. On average, businesses publish 18 videos a month across industries, so if you haven’t jumped on the YouTube bandwagon yet, get on before it is too late!
Cost: Free | Pay to promote your content
Best for:
- Brand film
- Patient testimonials
- Dental office tour
- Participation in webinars, interviews, podcasts, and other networking events
- Learning and educational content for patients
- Details about a procedure
5. TikTok
Image Credit: dentistmatt on TikTok
Tiktok appeals to a younger audience compared to other social platforms, as they tend to enjoy consuming short-form, entertaining content. There are a variety of content ideas that you can play with that speak to that audience while getting your brand name out there. You can find plenty of great content to begin your Tiktok journey.
Cost: Free | Pay to promote your content
Best for:
- Learning and educational content
- Before and after photos
- Fun and entertaining videos
- Produce recommendations or demos
- Short patient testimonials
- Dental office tour
- Holiday and seasonal video wishes
6. LinkedIn
Image Credit: S. Donovan Essen on LinkedIn
Along with connecting with other dental professionals on LinkedIn, you can also create a page for your practice to improve your online presence. The purpose of getting yourself on LinkedIn is not to acquire new patients but to showcase how your education and background have shaped your ideals as a dental professional that reflect in your practice culture. Building your personal brand to emerge as a thought leader will very quickly magnify your audience’s trust in your practice.
Cost: Free | Pay to promote your content
Best for:
- Joining Dentistry discussion forums
- Connecting with other dental professionals
- Sharing professional development news
- Sharing participation in conferences, interviews, podcasts, webinars, and other networking events
- Sharing milestones about your practice
- Share links to your website blog or publication in prominent online publications
- Writing posts about your practice
7. Pinterest
Image Credit: DentaGama on Pinterest
Pinterest is a visual library for your practice to find dental social media marketing ideas to create engaging content. Since your profession is such that images speak louder than words, Pinterest serves as the ideal medium that not only allows you to share your photos, but is another medium to take your patients to your website. If you are just getting started on putting together a marketing plan for your dental practice, you can certainly jot down some easily executable ideas from Pinterest that can contribute to your other social media channels.
Cost: Free
Best for:
- Ideas to create content for dental marketing
- Social media marketing strategies for dentists
- Recycling content to share on your social media
- Building your online presence
15 top dental social media marketing strategies
Being methodical and keeping yourself abreast with the latest trends is the best way to execute a dental social media marketing strategy for your practice. Here’s our action plan that will help you drive traffic to your dental page.
1. Consistency is key
Creating content for your social media is not your primary job, but it is essential for the growth of your practice. Your audience doesn’t expect you to share content every day, but building a following and expecting engagement on your posts will only happen when you regularly show up on their newsfeed. If you drop the ball and disappear for a long period of time, you will be replaced by another page.
2. Create a content calendar
Just like having a calendar allows you to stay organized and on top of your appointments, a schedule for your social media posts will ensure that you don’t slip up and keep the content flowing. By setting small and achievable goals like sharing 1-2 posts a week, you can ride the momentum to slowly ramp up to 3 posts a week. By choosing the right days and times when you want to schedule your post, you can ensure maximum views that allow for great engagement rates.
3. Find and define your brand voice
Establishing credibility and building a reputation online is the same as it is offline. If you want to be known as the best pediatric dentist in your city or want to be known as a dentist who practices mindfulness and yoga, then your content must reflect the same. Since social media gives you the opportunity to build a relationship with your audience even before meeting them, you want to be consistent with the kind of posts that you share and the messaging that goes with it.
4. Weave a story
When a first-time visitor comes to your page, you only have 60 seconds to capture their attention and keep them interested. They want to see a short trailer that tells them a story about your practice and engaging content that they feel will add value to their social media browsing time. Captioning your photos with a captivating narrative that shows your practice’s role and brings the image to life is the kind of storytelling that your audience will love.
5. CTA in your bio
Image Credit: Grand Street Dental on Instagram
Your social media page is just a medium for discovery for your patients to learn about your services and to decide whether they want to buy into it or not. Whichever platform you choose, your website or appointment booking link must always be clearly visible, giving them the option to schedule their visit from their device without having to call up your office.
6. Pause and reflect
As your dental social media marketing efforts are underway, you must keep checking engagement rates from time to time. Identifying factors that may be contributing to poor performance or even viral popularity can give you insights into what your audience is enjoying, helping you steer your content creation in the right direction.
7. Use stories
Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn have a Stories feature, giving you another avenue to promote your content so your audience doesn’t miss it. Stories also allow them to send quick emoji reactions, motivate your audience to visit your page, and give you an opportunity to engage with your audience without having to write elaborate content. You can host a question-and-answer session or a poll to let your audience know that you are listening.
8. Send timely responses
Comments to posts on social media have a very short shelf life (24 hours). By responding to comments posted by your audience within that window of opportunity, before it loses its relevance, you can ensure that you still have their attention, their problem or query has been addressed, and your future posts keep showing up on their newsfeed.
9. Engage with relevant pages
Along with creating content for your page, find - and engage with - pages that match your interests and speak to your profession to offer your unique take on a subject. By doing this you are introducing yourself to another page’s audience, which can result in bringing in more page visits or followers who may want to buy into your dental services.
10. Create timeless content
The content that you create for your social media stays on your profile forever, unless you delete it. Posts like patient testimonials, dental education, and DIY tips are examples of content whose value doesn’t depreciate with time. In fact the longer they stay on your profile, your future profile visitors will have the opportunity to consume it and book your services.
11. Create videos for higher engagement
When drawing out your content calendar for your social media, be sure to include videos because your audience loves watching them. Because of the appeal and the story that videos attempt to tell, your audience is more likely to pause and watch it as compared to a photo that is open to interpretation that they might swipe up and move forward to something more interesting on their newsfeed.
12. Encourage your patients to follow you on social media
When building a following on social media, start by talking to your existing patients about your social media channels and the value that they’ll get by consuming your content. Along with building patient loyalty and engaging with them outside the office, you are also giving them another touchpoint to connect with you and even share with their network who may be in the market for a new dentist. Using your email and text marketing campaigns, you can promote your social links in the footer of your email or at the end of your text message.
13. Build a 360-degree marketing plan
When you are drawing out a marketing plan for your dental practice, think about catering to all your social media channels. Begin by creating a handle name that is the same for all platforms so that your audience doesn’t have trouble finding you. By using the ‘Share to’ option on Instagram, your content gets automatically posted to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, allowing you to maintain consistent messaging across platforms.
14. Equip your staff with social media knowledge
Instead of hiring expensive marketing agencies or gurus who can overwhelm you with information, start by training yourself and your staff to learn the basics of social media for dentists and front office staff. There is plenty of free learning content out there to help you get set up before you reach out for professional help.
15. Be patient
Popularity on social media doesn’t happen overnight, you have to be in it for the long run. It takes time to build a following, get discovered, understand what your audience enjoys, and put out content that can give you the traction you want to see.
Digital marketing for dentists with NexHealth
For your dental practice social media marketing to work and make sure nothing falls through the cracks, you’ll need to have the right tools to measure success, track patient flow, and stay on top of patient communication. With NexHealth, you can turn your prospects into patients without busting your marketing budget. Check out everything you need to perfect your digital marketing as a dentist.
Schedule a demo with NexHealth today and open your doors to new patients who want the exemplary dental services you promised on social media!
