Social media is our go-to source of information, communication and entertainment. We utilize this powerful tool to discover news reports, watch our favourite movies, YouTube channels, shop, and even execute dental marketing strategies using this platform.
In marketing for dentists, social media has become a great platform to promote a dental office, its services and connect with your existing and target patients.
57% of customers follow brands and service providers on social media.
They do so to know more about the brands. From this, 89% will buy from the brands they follow.
Having an outstanding social media presence can help you reach and connect with new patients, increase your brand awareness and services, and ultimately book a new patient online.
The Importance of Social Media For Your Practice?
Before, dental marketing focused on printed ads and word of mouth. Today, social media marketing is the new word of mouth. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube are some resources used when searching for new patients who want to search for new dentists within their local area.
Dentistry has a more advanced positioning than other industries because of its credibility. Clothing lines, restaurants, and software companies need to prove to consumers that what they offer is worth the investment.
Dentists have the credibility and qualifications to execute dental procedures on patient teeth. That is why investing in oral health is a must.
The challenge in dentistry is to get people into the habit of scheduling dental appointments and to remove the fear and anxiety when visiting dental offices. The aim is to build trust and earn confidence in setting dental appointments.
Even if you have years of professional experience in dentistry, there are opportunities to grow your practice through social media.
Having a profile on your social media channels for your practice or a once in a blue moon Facebook post or tweet will not be enough. Your efforts of showing up online consistently with well-thought content and strategy will set you apart from your competitors.
As the world becomes more digital, more companies from the healthcare industry will see that Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are channels where businesses discover new patients, connect with target leads and build a better brand.
That is why social media marketing is one of the best ways to connect with existing patients and get new patients.
Today, we will discuss the benefits of levelling up your social media presence. We will also provide you with tips and strategies for your dental practice.
Choosing the Right Social Media Platform
It is time to learn which social media channel you will use to launch your dental marketing campaign.
Each social media platform has the power to attract new patients.
However, different platforms attract different targets and demographics.
When choosing the right social media platform, start by knowing your audience and their location on social media. Niche down your ideal patient demographic.
It will help you customize your language and message specifically for your target needs. When you narrow your target patients, you can now identify which social media platforms they usually use. If you have a challenging time narrowing to which audience your practice should focus on, the right dental marketing agency can help you out.
There are Riches on The Niches
Do you cater to a luxury type of dental service to a high-earning demographic? Or do you offer mainly children oral healthcare? Once you identify who you serve, research where your local target resides, their work, economic status, their typical daily routine.
Once you focus on a specific niche, you can now use your social media channels to increase your credibility and showcase your personality as a practice in a fun and relatable way through your social media content. Let your target clients know that you can deliver high-quality dental service and anxiety-free dental visits on every dental appointment.
Remember that you have to focus on your target clients. That way, you can serve and connect with them better with their needs.
Adapting and analyzing your performance on each channel first is a great way to increase the chance of marketing your dental services successfully, rather than doing all the social media campaigns at once.
Let’s check out the social media networks and learn the social media strategies for each channel.
1. Facebook
Facebook has one of the largest online audiences and is one of the best platforms to promise your dental practice. 94% of businesses use this in promoting their brand. That is why you can use this platform to create social media awareness about your practice.
Using Facebook advertising, you can conduct in-depth analysis about your target avatar. Learning about Facebook algorithms is also another key to knowing more about your target audience.
Facebook Strategies
Connect with your patients online using Facebook using these tips:
- Facebook is a great place to share photos, post updates, offer chat support, create a live video q&a, or post your dental tips. Start sharing pictures of your team, the inside of your dental office, and even your happy clients’ new smiles after the session.
- Create engaging Facebook content. Balance it with knowledge and fun content. It will alter your online presence, making you more well known and respected by potential patients who may come across your page.
- Create a dental blog on your website and share it on your social media to increase your website visits.
- Create post updates about your practice.
- Have a patient of the month to engage existing and potential patients
- Run a campaign for discounted dental service
- Run Facebook Live Q&A Dental sessions as a lead magnet.
- Create chat support to answer customer questions.
Managing and marketing your Facebook page is indeed full-time work. Since your practice is a full-time commitment, you can ask for social media management services from a dental marketing company you trust.
2. Instagram
After fixing your patient’s teeth, Instagram is a go-to app where your patients post their pictures with their new smiles. Instagram is a great platform to showcase the visual part of your dental practice, especially if your niche is cosmetic dentistry.
This platform has over 120 million Instagram users in the United States alone. It is one of the best platforms to market your dental practice.
When you create your Instagram account, you create a digital space for your patient to tag your practice with photos of their teeth after their appointments. It increases your patients’ interaction and proves your high-quality dental service to new audiences and target patients.
Instagram Strategies
Aside from not using too much filter on your photos, here are some strategies to build your practice authentically and professionally.
- Create and post relevant infographics to reach your audience using creative visuals to raise attention.
- Share your patient testimonials on your post. It will help your followers see the real faces and success stories from your existing patients to show your expertise in dentistry. It will help you connect and build trust with your potential patients.
- Post before and after images of your patient after their dental treatment. Ask permission first to your existing clients before posting anything.
- Share your community events and post the mechanics to participate in the description post.
- Create a contest for #TheBestSmile for your existing patients.
- Include brand hashtags in your Instagram post to increase your brand awareness and online presence.
Managing an Instagram account might be challenging since it requires content consistency. However, some dental marketing agencies offer Instagram social media management.
3. YouTube
On Youtube, 62% of the users access this video platform daily. It is why this platform is a great way to reach your online audience, express your knowledge about oral health and connect with potential patients.
Building your own Youtube channel for your practice is an easy and cost-effective way to showcase your practice and educate potential patients about the benefits of bringing their dental needs to you.
Companies that invested in creating their videos get 41% more website traffic than those who never have branded videos.
Youtube Strategies
Dentists usually rely on the visual effect of their work to attract their patients. That is why platforms like this focus on images and videos are a great way to spread awareness about your practice.
You can expand your oral content on Youtube by using these strategies:
- Create and post oral care tips videos. Optimize your video description and use branded and optimized hashtags to make your video more searchable.
- Post your patient testimonial videos (with their consent) to build more credibility about your practice.
- Create office tours videos to show a sneak peek of your office and facilities.
- Create Q&A interactive or team interviews videos and post them on your Youtube channel to inform your potential patients about your practice to build trust from patients.
- Create dental procedures video demonstrations and post them to show transparency on how your procedures get done.
Youtube content creation and optimization takes a lot of planning.
It takes time to produce high-quality video content and, optimizing it needs to have a strategy to rank your video higher on search engines. The good news is dental marketing companies are catering to this type of dental marketing service.
4. Twitter
Twitter is another social media platform for dentists as it appeals to mass-generated customers. Twitter is all about client engagement and attracting attention by using branded hashtags.
Twitter Strategies
You can expand your oral content on Twitter by using these strategies:
- Use hashtags related to dentistry to increase draw attention like #TeethWhitening
- Share relevant dental content and synchronize them from your Instagram.
- Have a live-tweet activity when you create an online dental conference.
- When a patient raises concerns on Twitter, respond to their questions and concerns to make them know that you can handle customer service questions.
Are You Ready To Rise?
We have discussed the importance of social media to your dental practice. We also talked about the different social media platforms that you can use to maximize your social media presence. We also covered the effective social media strategies for each channel.
However, every strategy needs the flexibility to adapt. Social media trends change over time. Each plan needs to be flexible and consistent in adapting. You will see the progress on your social media page once you execute necessary changes and be consistent in connecting with your patient in the most authentic way.
In Rise DDS, we offer social media audit and marketing strategies fit for your dental practice. If you want to level up your dental marketing game, avail of our 30-minute free discovery call today.
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