Dentists in solo and group practices know all too well that finding and retaining patients isn’t easy. Fortunately, social media marketing for dentists has the ability to help you with both of these challenges.

Your social media strategy can do wonders in terms of building your dental brand. Social media is a chance to inform patients and more easily maintain relationships. It enables you to think more about dentistry and less about whether next month’s production will be where you need it to be.

Five Tips For Social Media Marketing For Dentists 

Word-of-mouth referrals are everything for dental practices. Just think of social media word-of-mouth referrals on steroids. Everything you say and every link you post reaches a large audience that continually gets larger (if you’re doing it right). Clearly, social media is an effective branding tool for your practice.

Here are five social media marketing ideas for dentists that you should consider:

1. Social Messaging Apps

Social media should obviously be part of social media marketing for dentists. However, so should social messaging apps.

Many dentists never even consider social messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat and Facebook Messenger. Keep in mind that these apps have a lot of users on them.

2. Video Content

Video has been increasing in importance for years. The pandemic certainly has speeded the process up. Your social media strategy needs to include video if it doesn’t now.

If you’re looking for Facebook post ideas, for example, video content is a natural choice. It could be as simple as you, the dentist, recording a few minutes of video on your laptop regarding a dental procedure. It could be about new precautions in place since the pandemic began. You could discuss why cosmetic dentistry is a great idea. The possibilities are endless.

Video is an excellent way to get patients to engage with your social media. People like watching videos. It’s that simple. And making use of your YouTube channel encourages people to share your videos on social media. Before you know it, your social media will have the presence you only hoped you could achieve. 

A properly optimized video can reach more people than written content. One reason for that is that there are far fewer videos competing for ranking than there is written content. Any truly successful social media marketing for dentists must include video content.

3. Live Video Content

Without question, the pandemic accelerated the use of live video content. As you look for ways to fully exploit social media, live video should be in your tool box. 

Even before the pandemic, live content was becoming more and more popular. Facebook leapt into live content big time. Keep in mind that it’s possible to have targeted ads associated with live content.

Other platforms have also taken the plunge with live video, including Snap, Twitter and Instagram. That’s no accident. Viewers want live video. Given the turmoil of the last year, it’s become obvious that more people want to see real videos of events rather than being told about them by media outlets they may not necessarily trust. Dental practices can use this to their advantage. 

Dentists can, for example, promote a new special or just use live content to connect in a way that feels very personal. Dentists with outgoing personalities are particularly well suited for something like live video.

4. LinkedIn

When we think of social media, we tend to think only of the most obvious choices like Facebook and Twitter. That would be a mistake. You should be thinking about something like LinkedIn as well. Like Twitter, their feed easily accommodates written posts, videos and photos.

Many dental practices don’t see LinkedIn as a viable outlet for communicating with patients or prospective patients. Stop thinking of LinkedIn as simply a way to see what colleagues are up to or as a way to confirm a hire’s resume. The platform has evolved far beyond that. Social media marketing for dentists should definitely include using something like LinkedIn.

5. Reviews

Reviews are a wonderful thing to promote on social media. They complement other marketing initiatives and should definitely be part of your social media strategy.

Your reputation and ability to increase patient trust are both enhanced by excellent online reviews. Such reviews can be highlighted in social media posts on various platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Successfully Leveraging Social Media Marketing for Dentists 

As we look forward to a post-COVID environment, dentists need to think right now about better ways to retain patients. Without question, social media is an obvious vehicle for making this happen. Smart social media, coupled with an effective overall SEO strategy, is how your practice can increase the number of new patients and retain existing ones.

Dreamscape Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency that has worked with hundreds of healthcare clients. We understand the unique challenges faced by dental practices. Call us today at 888.307.7304 and let’s discuss how social media marketing for dentists can take your practice to the next level of success.