89% of businesses agree that companies still not investing in social media marketing will be left behind. Read this article to learn why social media is critical for dentists to grow & stay ahead of the curve.
The global dental industry is estimated to reach $138.8 billion in 2021. Surely that’s too many teeth for the tooth fairy! But if you want to enjoy a piece of this revenue, it’s important to create and implement a foolproof social media marketing plan for your dental practice!
These statistics are compelling a growing number of businesses and industry professionals, including dentists, to leverage the power of social media.
Even though some people may be afraid of dental visits, they still care about their appearance and oral health. And the first spot they turn to for information is social media. By maintaining a strong online presence, your dental practice can be the source of information patients turn to. This will additionally help you create long-term relationships with your patients, and make your practice grow.
Why Do Dentists Need Social Media Marketing?
People are more proactive about their oral health now more than ever, which implies that there are more patients and opportunities for dental practices, but also more competition.
The first question most dentists ask themselves is, “Do I need social media?” The answer is an absolute yes!
Successful social media marketing for dentists means engaging with your patients where they are most active — social media. But merely creating social profiles for your dental clinic won’t bring you any desired success. You need to follow additional steps to grab the attention of your target audience and to make the most out of your dental social media strategy.
Have you just entered the social media realm in order to grow your dental practice, or are you struggling to convert followers into patients? Here are six proven tips to help your practice succeed on social media.
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6 Successful Social Media Marketing Tips for Dentists
Around 40% of consumers use customer reviews and testimonials on social media for health information.
Social media provides dentists with a platform to share personalized information about their practice, such as geographic location, products and services, and more. This increases the chance of prospective patients in your area finding and reaching you when they need dental care. Follow these tips to learn how you can best establish your brand on social media and gain more business.
Tip #1: A Professional and Cohesive Brand Experience is a Must
Branding your dental clinic is important because it helps distinguish you from competitors. Effective branding gives personality to your practice and helps patients recognize your practice. Reinforce your brand regularly, especially on social media. Why? Because repeated exposure to your brand helps people recognize it easily, increasing the likelihood of them considering your dental practice the next time they need dental work.
According to a survey, 67% of dentists have a Facebook profile page.
Despite that, the majority of dental social accounts lack engaging content, which ultimately does not bring them any benefit.
Wondering how to improve engagement? Choose specific brand colors and imagery, then use them throughout all of your social media posts, so that your content is easily linked to your dental practice.
Here are a few more additional tips to help:
- Be consistent
- Use branded hashtags
- Create your graphics
- Emphasize your brand colors
Want to achieve all of this without spending too much time or money? Consider using an intelligent social media marketing tool for dentists such as Practina. The tool creates customized posts utilizing your brand logo, theme, colors, fonts, and any other preferences in mind!
Tip #2: Build Trust and Credibility Among Your Audience
When used right, social media marketing can be a powerful tool to boost brand awareness and influence the decisions of your target audience.
71% of people make a purchase influenced by social media referrals. 78% of them agree that the brand’s social media posts directly affected their purchase decisions.
It’s time to create healthy relationships with your audience. Consider sharing patient spotlights, testimonials, patient experiences, friendly office images, success stories, and most importantly, the results of your work. For example, responding to a question on your social account about dental care shows your effort, care, and knowledge. Show people you’re always there to help them, and they will remember you whenever they need dental care.
Tip #3: Share Original Content
90% of dental and healthcare professionals are social media users, yet only 1% of them produce any content.
Give your dental practice a winning opportunity by creating and posting relevant, engaging, and accurate content.
Does your marketing goal include becoming a leading figure in the dental industry? Do you want to be known for the latest dental technologies, practices, and trends? Maintain consistent posting on all your social accounts to achieve these objectives. It will help you build trust and credibility among patients and get acknowledgment from industry peers, who will support your efforts via engagement.
Be sure to have a consistent flow of content on all your social channels. Here are some ideas that can help your brand do so:
- Create content on the latest dentistry technologies.
- Reshare educational content by industry experts.
- Showcase how your new technology or treatments are helping patients.
- Share pictures of your staff along with patients.
- Post patient stories.
- Publish educational content (tips, DOs and DON’Ts, self-care).
Be consistent in scheduling posts on your social media channels and focus on content that reflects your brand and the interests of your followers. The payoffs here are better reach, higher engagement, eventually leading to more conversions (new patients and bookings).
Tip #4: Be Personal, Not Clinical or Over-Promotional
You need to gain the trust of your patients in order to have them make appointments. Keep your posts and efforts personalized, and always aimed at patients. A bit of advice – don’t talk AT them, but talk WITH them by posting resonating content and encouraging interaction in the form of shares, reactions, and comments. Respond to questions, feedback, and messages from your audience on time. Maintain brand consistency and voice across all social platforms. Consider using your dental practice logo, team photo, or an image of your practice as your profile picture or avatar.
Have a dramatic before and after to show off? Do it! Be sure to abide by HIPAA rules and get all necessary permission before sharing any personal patient information online.
Being overly promotional on every post can hinder your efforts. How? Because although we’re talking about social media marketing for dentists, in the social space, you need to maintain a balance between sharing to sell and sharing to engage.
Keep your social media overly promotional and see patients tuning it out or unfollowing you altogether. Keep it interesting, useful, and fun (based on your patient base) and get more response, engagement, and business!
Tip #5:Consider Paid Ad Campaigns
Use ads with geographic and demographic targeting to get your practice in front of the people who might be interested in you in your local area. Paid ads will help kick-start your social media campaign and get maximum likes.
You can run ad campaigns to reach patients cost-effectively, across major platforms – Google, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Not sure where to begin? Try Practina Smart Ads that empower dental marketers to utilize targeted advertising and get more leads.
The tool will:
- Target your ideal patients based on key demographics.
- Run ad campaigns in just a few clicks.
- Connect with the patients looking for you.
- Give valuable customer insights as soon as they show interest in your ads.
- Send instant notifications for quick contact.
- Create customized content for your business, industry, and personal preferences.
- Offer AI-powered posting across social media.
- Share personalized insights and recommendations for your dental practice.
Tip #6: Add Videos and Images to Your Campaign
Videos are the most popular form of media content on the internet. While YouTube is the #1 platform for videos, consider also posting them directly to Facebook for more engagement. You can post videos such as a short video tour of your dental practice, a treatment in action, or even a message from the founder.
For images, keep the concept relevant, engaging, and high quality. Photos that reflect comfort and ambience in your dental clinic go a long way. Post before and after photos of patients as a great dental social media marketing tool to show what kind of results potential patients can expect from you.
Make the Most of Social Media Marketing for Dentists
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to succeed in the social media space as a dental practice. Consider the importance of building long-term relationships with your audience through social channels and focus on creating a brand that’s credible, trustworthy, and appealing for today’s informed patients.
All you need to do is effectively craft your social media marketing strategy to raise awareness for your brand and show your following they can trust you with their oral health, and then contact them and schedule appointments accordingly.
Need help with managing social media marketing for your dental practice? Consider creating a free account with Practina to make marketing hassle-free!
