A casual look at Instagram, and you’ll find all kinds of pictures of beautiful people at the beach, marvels of human construction, breathtaking landscapes, and other picturesque phenomena. This might lead you to the conclusion that Instagram and other social media sites aren’t the place for your dental clinic.
Nothing could be further from the case.
You want more patients? You need to get on social media. These platforms aren’t just being used to keep track of friends anymore; they’re used to get updates from businesses you care about. As emphasized by LeoBoost, these eight marketing ideas will help you get more followers, increase their engagement, and grow your business. We’ll start with some basics, and then get into dentistry-specific details:
Schedule Your Posts
Posting every day is a good idea. Posting at around the same time every day is a great idea. Posting across all of your social media platforms around the same time every day is even better. Analytical tools will allow you to determine when people most actively engage with your posts; Facebook and Instagram provide these tools for free for businesses. You can use apps like IFTTT to automatically post to all of your social media pages simultaneously. Don’t be too rigid about when you post, or it might start to look robotic. Don’t post too often, or you’ll flood people’s feeds and they may stop following you. In other words, let your posting be organic, but let it be informed by analytical data. You should rarely go a day without posting.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are absolutely key to growing your audience. You don’t want to overuse hashtags that are too broad, like #health. You also don’t want to overuse hashtags that are too specific, like #hyperdontia. Instead, opt to use hashtags like #dentalclinic or #cavities. You can use a number of hashtags in every post; try to aim for a little under 10, and vary them so you can feed more information to your analytics.
Tag and Be Tagged
When you’re shouting into the void, it becomes much more difficult to grow your base of followers. You can ask patients to tag you when they take photos of their beautiful new smile. In the same vein, you can (with their permission) tag them and share pictures you or they have taken. When their followers see the incredible work you’ve done, you might find yourself with new clients.
Post Pictures of Your Work
Now we come to the portion of the article in which we describe the type of content you might benefit from posting, instead of the meta conversation about how you post that content. One of the best content types for dentists is pictures, especially pictures of excellent work you’ve done. A beautiful smile after a teeth whitening, a before and after of orthodontic work (for those clinics who have orthodontists) – whatever you think looks good, and with your patient’s permission, post away.
Post Staff Videos
You and your staff don’t just work hard. You might also enjoy all kinds of extracurriculars together, volunteer as a team, or do other, not explicitly dentistry-related activities. Posting these helps add a human touch to your social media profile; you might even decide to do a viral dance and post it to TikTok. If this is the case, you could even buy TikTok likes to help get you started!
Write Content
People want to learn about everything. Dentistry is no exception; curious people will want to know about whether or not oral health trends are trustworthy, what the best way to floss is, and whether or not they should drink fluoridated water. Updating your blog on a regular basis keeps your patients engaged and helps you answer their questions before they even come to your office. An informed patient is a great patient. Check the blog at WestSide Dental Group for some great examples. Answer questions like how often should you go to the dentist and what a dental cleaning consists of. Post links to your blog on appropriate social media pages.
Celebrate Success
When you’ve hit some kind of milestone, be it an expansion, a new member of your team, a number of patients served, or anything else that’s a cause for celebration, post about it. Take pictures of your celebrations, make short movies – whatever you’re in the mood for.
Throw a Contest
Want new social media followers? Create a contest for people who follow, comment, and share your page with their friends. All kinds of dentistry-related products can be tied in, from a free care package to a discount on services.
Keep in mind that you should be very mindful of regional stipulations surrounding contests, social media posting, and any of the other points discussed here. If you’re unsure whether or not something is above board, talk to your regional Dental Association.
This post has been sponsored by First Rank
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