Creating and updating a social media page for your practice may sound daunting, especially if you have no professional experience curating this kind of digital marketing.
Don’t worry. Throughout this process, remind yourself that this is easily one of the best tools for growing a business. Also, being able to interact and engage with patients in-between visits makes social media invaluable.
When researching different dental practices, a potential new patient will search the internet for any available information about dentists themselves or their place of work.
This is why it is vital for you to maintain up-to-date social media platforms where you post about your business and showcase your happy, active online community.
The following 11 social media tips for dentists describe the general rules to follow when setting up and running your own pages.
1. Keep your Brand Consistent
Make sure that the brand of your practice is consistent and easily recognizable. This means using the same logo, fonts, color schemes, and profile photos across all social media platforms that you utilize.
For example, take a look at the Instagram feed of Smile & Co.
Their Instagram feed seems consistent with quotes, customers, and dentist pictures in action. There is some inspiration you can take from this.
Hiring a professional to create a cohesive brand logo is a worthwhile first step. This brand strategy should also be cohesive with the media shown on your practice’s website.
2. Include Links to Your Website, Other Social Media Pages, and Professional Directories
Your social media pages should feature links that allow patients to directly contact you, learn more about your practice, and schedule appointments.
All of these features should be located on your website, so be sure to list that in a primary spot on your social media pages.
In addition to your website, include links to your other social media pages and to relevant, trusted online directories.
Make it straightforward for potential new patients to research your practice online and easily find all of your content and information.
3. Create and Share Relevant Content
Create content that is relevant to your audience, and share it on your social media pages. Examples of this kind of content are infographics, images, short text posts, blog posts, and videos.
By creating these resources yourself, your patients and followers will know that they are getting the correct information from a trusted source.
Often, this type of content is educational with recommendations for further reading on the subject included.
Cultivate a blog on your practice’s website to ensure that you can provide helpful and accurate information to your patients in an accessible way.
Once you are satisfied with your writing, you can share your blog post on all of your social media profiles.
This resource will be appreciated by your patients and also help you to gain exposure as your followers also comment and share.
4. Keep your practice accessible
You can also use your social media pages to make your practice personable. To do this, ask your staff to introduce themselves or share a piece of information for one of your posts.
For instance, you can ask a hygienist to record a short video discussing the importance of making regular checkup appointments or describing the tools used in a standard appointment.
This type of video will allow your followers to meet a staff member and feel more comfortable when they do come in for an appointment.
Similarly, you can share a video or image to your audience in the form of an office tour, narrating where patients will be directed to for certain types of appointments and procedures.
It is important to foster familiarity with your practice on your social media pages so that your new patients will feel even more comfortable with the staff and the way your practice runs.
5. Stay active with your online community
On your posts, you should always make an effort to somehow engage with your followers. You can “like” their comments, reply, or even ask them to message you privately if there is a productive reason to.
This allows you to connect with your patients on a more personal level so that they feel rewarded for their participation.
Once you have enough of your followers respond to your content, you will begin to form your online community of happy patients.
These enthusiastic patients can vouch for your services and encourage others to become involved with your practice.
6. Associate Your Practice with Esteemed Professionals and Businesses
Additionally, you can use your social media to engage with other professionals or local businesses that you have connections with.
You can comment-on or share posts by other respected professionals that add to your credibility and are helpful resources for your patients.
Also, you can partner with local businesses or organizations to promote each other’s services and show that you are an active member of your community.
Just be sure that the accounts you are promoting are respected, updated frequently, and are the official accounts for the organizations.
7. Showcase and praise your patients
It can be rewarding to share images or testimonials of happy patients (with their permission, of course). This is an easy way to show that you are grateful for your patients and for your community. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
Take the below Instagram post, for instance, dentists are encouraging their patient and the patient looks happy in the picture. This kind of post reaffirms the faith in people seeking a dentist for their troubles.
For example, you can simply post a photo of a patient celebrating that they are cavity-free, and write a courteous caption thanking them for spending time at your practice.
Also, you can run promotions for patient appreciation incentives. Reward your patients who engage with your practice on social media that help to give your practice great reviews.
People love to feel appreciated and valued, so this type of content is an efficient way to remind your patients of your generosity and thoughtfulness.
8. Post About Amusing Topics to Keep Your Audience Engaged
If you are finding it difficult to find reasons to use on your social media, you can also find simple, non-dental reasons to continue posting regularly.
A very simple strategy is to research national holidays or awareness months that you can use as a fun way to engage with your followers.
For example, you can find out the date of “national ice cream day”, and post about it with a reminder to brush your teeth after eating desserts.
You can even ask your followers to comment on their favorite ice cream flavor. Simple posts like these can generate high engagement statistics and allow your patients to have some fun with your social media.
8. Post About Amusing Topics to Keep Your Audience Engaged
If you are finding it difficult to find reasons to use on your social media, you can also find simple, non-dental reasons to continue posting regularly.
A very simple strategy is to research national holidays or awareness months that you can use as a fun way to engage with your followers.
For example, you can find out the date of “national ice cream day”, and post about it with a reminder to brush your teeth after eating desserts.
You can even ask your followers to comment on their favorite ice cream flavor. Simple posts like these can generate high engagement statistics and allow your patients to have some fun with your social media.
9. Include Relevant Hashtags on Your Posts
Whenever you publish content to your social media pages, be sure to include relevant hashtags somewhere on your posts.
These hashtags can be local or more general. The hashtags that you choose should accurately represent your brand and bring in new followers who are looking for the type of content that you post.
10. Determine the Most Effective Time to Post
Be sure to research which times and days of the week are the most active for your followers.
This can initially be based on the trial-and-error method by analyzing the statistics of each of your posts to determine when would be the best time to upload your content.
You can also find many marketing resources that recommend general guidelines for your posts to have the highest engagement numbers. Ultimately, this can fluctuate, so be sure to continuously monitor your social media analytics and update your approach as needed.
11. Use Your Social Media to Advertise
Lastly, you should strongly consider your advertising options on different social media platforms.
You can set a post to be promoted as sponsored content that you pay to have displayed by the platform to accounts that may have an interest in your services. This is often the most natural way for you to advertise to potential new patients.
Common guidelines are to promote your content locally and be sure that your ad includes information for specific services or sales. To create a digital advertising strategy with a broader reach, you can use Google AdWords for dental practices to promote your practice.
Recap
As you begin posting on your practice’s social media accounts, the strategies that work best for your business will become clear.
Continue to respond to your followers, post relevant content that is useful to them, and showcase your successful work to build up your credibility.
Your page can be used as a free billboard to display the benefits of your practice and can draw in new patients.
As a basic rule when starting out with social media, it is critically important to post frequently and consistently to show that you are able to be reached for any questions and are an active voice in your digital community.
These 11 social media tips for dentists are just the basic guidelines when crafting a thriving online presence. Ultimately, it is important to find a way to make this kind of marketing enjoyable for you and your staff so that it can be seamlessly incorporated into your everyday outreach and customer service strategies
Kunjal Chawhan founder of Decode Digital Market, a Digital Marketer by profession, and a Digital Marketing Niche Blogger by passion, here to share my knowledge