Most dentists aren’t social media influencers. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try attracting new patients online through social media marketing. But, as a dental specialist, it’s likely you’re too busy with the daily tasks of running your dental practice to even think about managing a social media marketing campaign.
Perhaps you do have a social media page set up for your practice, but you aren’t seeing any notable results from the efforts you’re putting in. It may even feel like a total waste of time. This may lead you to wonder if social media can even drive relevant traffic to your dental practice. A reputable marketing firm will reassure you that social media marketing is definitely not a hopeless cause, and there are ways you can get more patients to book dental appointments with you through this vital digital channel.
Why Dental Specialists Require Social Media Marketing
If you’re a dental practice already engaging in SEO practices and running Google ads but you’re new to social media marketing, you may be wondering why you should add social into your digital strategy. Here are a few positives to keep in mind:
1. Social Media Increases Your Online Visibility
Nearly 60% of individuals use social media worldwide for approximately 2.5 hours per day. Looking at these figures, you can assume that many of your patients have an active social media account that they use daily.
Therefore, if you aren’t active on popular social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, you’re missing out on a number of opportunities to increase your visibility and attract patients online.
2. Social Media Drives Website Traffic
You can increase your dental practice website traffic by consistently creating and posting engaging social media content. If individuals in need of your services come across your social media posts and they’re interested, chances are they’ll make their way over to your website to check out what you have to offer and potentially even book an appointment.
3. Social Media Creates Patient Trust
Social media is an excellent place to boast about all the good things about your practice. You can highlight patient testimonials, give a tour of your dental practice and what goes on behind the scenes, and share company news. This all builds a sense of trust and credibility with potential patients online.
4. Social Media Builds Patient Loyalty
Having a social media channel for your dental practice opens up the opportunity to engage with your audience and build loyalty. You can reply to comments on your posts and answer common questions patients tend to have. This helps you build a strong relationship with potential and current patients.
Dental Practice Social Media Marketing Strategies
Some ways to drive relevant traffic to your dental website and business include:
1. Optimize Your Profiles on Social Media
Your social media profiles should show concise and clear information about your website and business. You’ll want to use keywords relevant to your dental practice so your profiles are optimized for the search engines. Use logos, high-quality images, and branding components that are consistent across all your platforms. This will help create a cohesive and professional brand image.
2. Create Compelling Visuals
Visuals are essential when social media marketing is involved. Posts that have images get 650% higher engagement than posts with text only. Individuals are 80% more likely to read and engage with content and posts with colorful visuals. To increase viewer engagement, create colorful visuals for your profile on social media, such as:
- Before-and-after pictures
- Oral care infographics
- Animations
- Illustrations
Also, post original, high-quality images instead of using stock photos. This will help increase visibility and encourage a more personal connection with your followers.
3. Engage With Your Followers
Engagement is a critical part of social media use for driving relevant traffic to your dental website. Respond to messages and comments quickly, and engage with your audience by running polls, asking questions, and hosting Q&A sessions. This will allow you to start building strong relationships with your audience and prompt them to go to your dental website for more information.
4. Use Paid Ads
Paid ads are an effective way to get in front of a wide audience efficiently and quickly. Platforms like Facebook Ads and Google Ads enable you to use tailored ads to target your ideal patient. You can also partner with dental influencers through sponsored content and leverage their following to get your dental practice in front of a bigger audience.
5. Promote Patient Testimonials
Stay on top of and manage positive online patient reviews. Post them on your social media channels to build your reputation. Social proof is an important component of attracting prospective patients through social media.
6. Post Educational Content
Dental education content is beneficial and useful to patients’ well-being. An easy way to provide this is by putting educational content on your dental website and/or blog and then linking to the content on your social media channels with a few short lines of click-worthy content.
Post links to articles, blog posts, and other website content to your social platforms to help drive more relevant traffic to your dental website. You can also schedule posts in advance by using social media scheduling tools to ensure you’re sharing content consistently.
7. Track, Measure, and Monitor Your Performance
Be sure to measure failures and successes. You must track your performance and measure it to determine the effectiveness of your social media campaigns. Make use of analytics tools like Twitter Analytics or Facebook Insights to gain insights on the engagement levels and the demographics of your followers. Monitor metrics like impressions, shares, comments, conversions, reach, and likes to get a better understanding of the performance of your content.
Drive More Relevant Social Media Traffic to Your Dental Practice
Don’t try to tackle your social media marketing by yourself – let the professionals handle it for you. Market My Market can help build and manage your dental brand’s online presence. Attempting to do it all on your own may result in decreasing sales or your online reputation being damaged. It’s essential you put your dental practice marketing campaigns into the right hands so that you’ll get the best ROI possible on your social media marketing.
Contact Market My Market today at (866) 270-2250 or fill out our online form to discuss how we can help you increase patients and revenue through social media and other marketing strategies.