How Dentists Can Use Social Media Marketing for Sweet Results

Social media isn’t just for sharing photos of all those sweet treats and Instagram-worthy coffees, dentists can also use it to market their services. And, no, this doesn’t involve commenting on photos of sugar-loaded snacks to induce a state of guilt along with that sugar rush.

Instead, it’s about using social media to connect with your potential patients. Scare tactics will likely just have the opposite effect.

With the right social media marketing strategy, you can show off your credentials as well as your compassionate side. Your time is best spent using the different social channels to emphasize the importance of oral health. It’s this type of positive approach that will encourage proactive behavior and get people to make appointment bookings.

From a free Facebook page to paid social media ads, here’s a drill down into the key elements of social media marketing for dentists.

How Dentists Can Use Social Media Marketing for Sweet Results:

Benefits of Using Social Media to Market a Dental Practice

There are two main advantages that stand out: lead generation and engagement. Here’s why social media makes sense for dentists.

Effective lead generation

Here’s the rub about working in healthcare – your goal is to keep your patients healthy, but, at the same time, much of your business success is built upon your current patients needing you.

Younger patients will typically only need to go to the dentist once a year for an annual checkup, aside from the infrequent dental emergency. It’s not like eCommerce marketing where consumers can make multiple purchases without needing a pressing reason.

As such, lead generation is crucial for a dental practice. Social media, in particular paid ads, can be very effective for reaching new patients. What makes it so useful is that you can use factors like demographics to target ideal patients, making it easier to reach local patients.

Better interaction

Using social media, you can engage with both previous patients as well as potential ones. You can do that by means of sharing various types of content like a link to a long-form blog post, a short social media post sharing helpful oral health tips, or a bite-sized video giving a sneak peek of your facilities.

Planning Your Dental Social Media Content

Each social media channel has its own set of best practices which you’ll need to keep in mind when you create content. Also, you’ll probably won’t need to create an account for every single platform. The channels you’ll find most useful for dental marketing will probably be Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

With this in mind, here are some practical guidelines for how you can go about creating relevant social media content for these channels.

1. Know your target market and platforms

If you focus on general dentistry, you’ll find that your target audience is much broader. In this case, you’ll need to create a variety of types of posts exploring multiple topics. Though, if you specialize in a specific field of dentistry, you’ll need to spend more time on getting to know your ideal patient.

For example, if dentures is your field, your content will need to resonate with older patients. On the other hand, if your area of expertise is braces, your target market will be much younger. While your patients will mostly be teens, you’ll also need to appeal to their parents. After all, they’ll be the ones suggesting the treatment and paying for it.

To help you get to know your target patients better, it’s a good idea to take the time to create personas. This will help you to create content with high engagement rates which will in return make it easier to gain followers.

You’ll also need to know which social media platforms are more popular among which prospective patients. For example, Facebook is very popular among female adults. Instagram attracts more or less a similar crowd, but you might have more luck finding a younger audience here.

LinkedIn, on the other hand, is more popular among businesses and professionals. If you offer specialized services, being active on LinkedIn can help you to land referrals.

Not only are certain social platforms more suited for specific segments, but also geared better for certain post ideas. For example, Instagram is more visual than Facebook. As such, you’ll find better results when you use it for sharing videos than photos.

Here’s an example of how you’ll adjust your content:

Let’s say you want to market cosmetic dentistry. You’ll have better results if you share a short post with a link to a blog post discussing the different options on Facebook. Then, on Instagram, you can share a quick video that possibly features micro influencers who’ve tried a related service.

2. Plan around the marketing funnel

While you’re not selling a product, you also need to consider the marketing funnel when creating social media content. Sure, some patients will have a dental emergency in which case they’ll need little convincing. However, for cosmetic procedures like bleaching, you’ll need to guide them through the different stages.

Basically, not all patients are ready to book an appointment and, as such, not all your social media posts should focus on self-promotion. Some patients will first need more information about a procedure and the benefits.

3. Prioritize consistency

You should be consistent in both your frequency and tone.

The more often you can post, the better. That said, it shouldn’t be at the expense of quality and relevancy.

Also, if this means that you post every single day of the week only for there to be no posts the following week, rather spread out your posts evenly. Basically, your followers should know more or less when they can expect new content.

If you struggle with posting frequency, you can use a social media schedulers. This way, you can add those “extra” posts to a queue and the tool will automatically post them according to your schedule. You can even set a specific time, helping you to leverage the optimal post timing for the different channels.

As for consistency in terms of content, whatever you post should fit in with your branding. It can be a good idea to create a template using a tool like Canva. This way, you’ll have the color palette and font ready. The only thing that you’ll need to change is the wording and visuals.

Top 3 Tips for Reaching More Dental Patients

1. Encourage employees to share content

Depending on the size of the dental practice, it can also be a good idea to ask employees to share social media posts on their accounts. This way, your dental practice can reach a bigger audience. Not only will it help you to attract more patients, but also the right employees, should you need to expand your team.

In fact, according to employee advocacy statistics, employees with higher education levels are more likely to participate in employee advocacy. Nearly a quarter of employees with a doctorate degree contribute to employee advocacy on a daily basis, making it an excellent avenue for dental practices to explore.

One way that you can encourage employees to share posts is by featuring them in the content. 

Smaller practices with only a few employees can, for instance, create short videos in which each team member gets a turn to share tips.

Bigger practices can create a monthly employee spotlight post, for example. This post can include a few fun facts about the employee and introduce the face behind that mask. Aside from the marketing benefits, it can also reduce dental phobia among patients. If they’ve been delaying going to the dentist because of a fear of needles, this type of authentic content might be the reassurance they need.

2. Set up a Facebook Business Page

Your social media marketing strategy should also include a plan for gathering social proof. A Facebook Business Page can be a great marketing tool for attracting online reviews.

Here, you’ll also be able to share important details about your practice such as business address, contact number, and opening hours. You’ll also need it if you want to use Facebook Ads — the next tip.

3. Leverage paid social

Employee advocacy is effective for reaching people within your organic network. Though, to help you reach potential patients that fall outside of these networks, you’ll need to consider going the social media ads route.

Sure, you’ll have to pay for this exposure, but it features great targeting. This way, you can refine your target marketing using criteria like demographics, making it easier to reach qualified leads.

Best Social Media Marketing Agencies for Dentists

While patients can pull out a decaying tooth on their own, it’s a painful experience. Also, there could be bigger problems lurking below the surface.

Basically, the same applies to going the DIY route for social media marketing. Sure, you can do it, but your expertise is to find holes in patients’ teeth and not gaps in your marketing strategy.

Here are five of the best dental marketing agencies that help you fill gaps in your content calendar:

Measuring the Success of Your Dental Posts

In addition to creating content, you’ll also want to set time aside to monitor and analyze metrics. The success of a social media marketing campaign isn’t only measured in terms of the number of users it has reached. Reach is important, but so too is engagement.

When you measure engagement rates, look at how many reactions, comments, and shares a specific post has received. Needless to say, you want your posts to receive only positive reactions such as a like, love, or wow. If a post received many angry emojis, best not to post that type of content again.

Does video content generally get shared more often than links to educational posts? In that case, you’ll want to create more videos and share fewer blog posts.

You get the idea. Basically, you want to identify what works and create more of that.

If you’re outsourcing your social media marketing efforts to an agency, you’ll most likely get regular reports that will break down these different metrics. This is just one more reason why working with a dental marketing agency can be more cost-effective.

About the Author

Writer

Koba Molenaar brings nearly a decade of rich experience in content writing, specializing in digital marketing, branding, SaaS, and eCommerce. Her passion for helping brands, from solopreneurs to established companies, connect with their audiences shines through her work. As a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, Koba’s commitment to excellence is evident in her work, showcasing her as a relatable and knowledgeable voice in the industry.