Social media has come a long way since its advent near the turn of the century. In the beginning, it was more of a way to pass the time than a potent business tool.
Now, social media has become not only a primary means of communication but an indispensable tool for doing business online as well. Indeed, after a little over two decades of existence, social media has already revolutionized the way we interact and do business with each other.
Those in the dental profession know how essential word-of-mouth referrals are to establishing a successful dental practice. As things stand today, social media is proving to be an incredible way of jumpstarting that process.
Social media allows dental practices—or any other business for that matter—to create digital content and avail of advertising platforms that will help them make more people aware of their existence, which would most definitely translate to more people coming through their doors for their dental services. With social media marketing, dental practices stand a much better chance of succeeding in an industry that seems to be becoming more competitive with each passing day.
If you’re determined to give your dental practice a leg up on the competition, here are five social media marketing ideas that might help you out.
1. Post useful, relevant, and engaging content.
Your social media profile is an opportunity for you to post content that will help your followers take better care of their dental health. You can post original content on how to take care of teeth and prevent oral diseases. You can also use social media to share news about dentistry breakthroughs, or any type of content from authority sources that is relevant to the field of dental health.
Then again, your social media doesn’t have to be filled with serious dentistry stuff. You can post funny and appropriate jokes, memes, and other dentistry-related things that show you actually have a sense of humor.
When your social media page has useful, relevant, and engaging content, the more likely it is that they will be shared by your followers.
2. Be a friendly neighborhood dentist.
Sure, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms are a great way to promote your practice, but merely posting stuff about your practice isn’t enough to get you the traction you need.
The said platforms are not called social media for nothing. Your social media page is the best way for you to interact with your patients and potential patients in the comments. That way, they will know that you actually care. Answer questions and reply to comments without delay. By engaging your followers, you are, in a way, building trust among them.
3. Optimize your social media pages.
Most people look for dental services online via a Google search, but such a search can also be performed right there on social media platforms.
That said, it then pays to optimize your social pages too, because doing so would make it easier for potential patients to come across your dental practice on social media. Facebook business pages, for example, can be optimized by filling in important information there, including your physical address, phone number, website, and other links relevant to your business.
With your optimized social media page, your chances of getting contacted by potential patients will undoubtedly increase.
4. Launch campaigns and contests every so often.
Social media is a great platform for launching campaigns and contests to attract potential clients. Think of any fun contest or campaign that your followers can participate in, and put up prizes that will make joining worth their while. Dental service discounts would make for great prizes. Giving away gift cards to patients who bring someone to the office also sounds awesome.
5. Post engaging videos.
Posting and sharing a well-written article about the proper way to take care of your gums is fine, but a 2-minute video that shows how to do it would be even better. Videos are so popular right now that their number can only increase exponentially over the next few years.
It’s not surprising why videos are so popular. Watching a few minutes of video is certainly preferred by more people over reading a 3,000-word article on the same topic. They also tend to be more engaging and so much easier to digest.
Aside from being quite effective at engaging audiences, videos—especially live ones—are also proving to be great for promoting brand awareness, building trust with potential clients, and establishing yourself as an authority in the industry.
These are just some of the digital dental marketing ideas that can help your dental practice become more visible. Try engaging on social media more, and see for yourself what Facebook et al. can do to help you reach the goals you have set for your dental practice.
