Social media for dentists. Love it or hate it, this digital marketing heavyweight is something you have to incorporate into the digital marketing strategy that supports your dental practice. Today, your prospective and existing patients expect to find you on social media.
Nearly all consumers, across every demographic, expect a company they’re interested in working with to have a Facebook Page, at minimum.1 Why? Because Facebook and other social media sites are direct sources of information about companies and organizations. And based on national averages, four out of five of your patients use Facebook.2 Audiences also like that social media platforms offer the chance to connect with brands personally.
But social media isn’t the star of your digital marketing show—SEO is. And what a lot of marketers don’t realize is that a well-executed social media campaign can make the hard work you’re already doing on SEO just a little bit easier.
The secret is that just having and maintaining a social media account won’t help your SEO—but, when executed correctly, your social media pages will have a ripple effect that impacts ranking factors like backlinks, user engagement, and expertise.
So how do these two marketing forces converge to help you increase your patient base? How can you optimize your social media accounts to increase your rank when potential patients search for your practice?
Claim and Optimize All Social Media Accounts
You won’t reap the SEO benefits of having social media accounts if you don’t set them up correctly. If you haven’t already, start with YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram since these three currently hold the largest market share. (Always keep an eye out for the next best new platform, though!) But right now, those are the social sites your potential patients are most likely to use.
And be sure to claim and complete the Google Business Profile for your dental practice. This free tool not only allows you to craft the way your practice’s information appears on Google search and on the Google map, it feeds directly into your rankings and provides a platform for your patients to leave and read reviews.
When setting up your accounts, make sure your brand name, description, contact information, photos, and logos are congruent and high quality. Users respond to consistent branding with an increase in confidence and trust.
And don’t forget, every social media account you have represents another URL that can rank on Google and another venue where patients and prospects can get to know your practice. Treat these accounts as opportunities to strengthen client relationships and grow your dental practice, too.
Be Relevant
Why are you setting up all these accounts? Because the more places your dental practice’s brand lives online, the more places clients have to interact with your practice. Interacting doesn’t always mean talking or having actual conversations. If you establish a Facebook Group or utilize the chat function, you may be in actual direct contact with patients. But usually, “talking” on social media comes down to likes, comments, mentions, and shares.
The more patients are talking about you, the more relevant your practice will be. Achieving relevance may seem like a simple task, but in the competitive world of social media marketing, it’s not.
Google responds to relevance because the search engine’s goal is to offer the most relevant possible results for each keyword search combination. So when Google perceives your social media accounts as relevant, you will rank higher.
Share Your Content
One way of achieving more relevance is by sharing your content marketing on your social media pages. When you write an interesting article for your dental blog or newsletter, don’t just let that content languish on your website. Let your audience know about the article by posting to your social media accounts! Create a content strategy that times out the sharing of that content over a period of weeks, months, and, if you regularly update your content, even years.
Sharing your content with your followers allows them to learn something new and get to know your practice better. And from an SEO perspective, content sharing also increases the chances you’ll receive a coveted backlink, increase your relevance, demonstrate your expertise, and improve user experience. These are just a few of the possible SEO ripple effects of social media.
To make the most of your social media accounts, just posting content isn’t enough. You also need to optimize your socials for SEO and have a solid digital marketing strategy for your dental practice. Dreamscape Marketing can help you review your social media accounts and make sure they’re delivering the SEO value you need.
Contact us at 888.307.7304 to schedule a strategy session and learn more about the intersection of SEO and social.
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