5 Ways to Use Social Media to Grow Your Dental Practice

If you’re a dentist and aren’t using social media to its fullest potential to grow your practice, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Social media is the easiest way to attract new patients and keep in touch with current patients. There are five ways you should use social media to help grow your practice.

Engage Your Patients and Future Patients in Conversation

As a dentist, it can be difficult to have conversations with your patients since their mouths are occupied when in the chair. Social media is a great way to have “conversations” with patients and potential patients. Hold a question and answer session via social media. It is a great way to share information with your patients and attract new patients. Many social media platforms like Facebook have a “live” feature where you can interact in real time with viewers. This can be a great option for any busy dentist that wants to connect with their patients but has a hard time doing so at their dental practice.

Share Insider Tips

A great way to use social media to your advantage is to share insider tips. As a dentist, you have a wealth of information that people would be interested in learning about. For example, you could create a “Tips on Tuesday” post every Tuesday to build your social media following. Make the posts engaging and share information that is not widely shared. Sharing tips with your audience will help to make you the dentist that is viewed as transparent, trustworthy, and someone that people want to make an appointment with. Share what you know and watch as your practice starts to flourish.

Consistency is Key

There is a secret sauce when it comes to social media marketing. You must be consistent. It’s not enough to throw out one great post a week. While you do not want to over-post, you absolutely do not want to under-post either. Your social media should be managed daily, and you should post consistently. Audience members will gravitate away if your posts are not consistent. Having a solid social media presence is essential to the success of any dental practice. However, make sure you are safe online. 34% of businesses that suffered a malware attack took longer than a week to get back up and running. This can really hurt a business if they have to take time to recover from an attack.

Spread The Word About Your Services

What makes your practice stand out from the rest? If you offer specialty services, post about them. 94% of Americans plan on visiting the dentist this year. This is an incredibly large market, meaning you need to use your social media to engage potential clients and show them why you stand out. If you offer special discounts and packages, post about those as well. Any potential patients that are looking for their services will be attracted to your practice.

Don’t Forget to Throw In Some Entertainment

When you are posting to your social media, remember to throw in some entertainment. You can reach about 44% of Americans on Instagram, making this a viable platform for dental content. It is important that audience members, (your social media followers) see the lighter side of being a dentist. A little humor can go a long way in attracting new patients. Occasional posts that are just pure entertainment are a good way to attract new audience members. Play into the media algorithms’ favor. Pay attention to what content performs well and utilize that information.

For many a dentist, social media is their biggest marketing tool. It should always be used as part of a strategy. However, it’s important to keep in mind that not everyone is on social media. For example, even job seekers must look beyond online platforms. About 80% of job openings are not online, which means you can stand out when you post openings.

You should make social media a part of your marketing strategy, while also optimizing your in-person practices. It can be difficult for a dentist to find time to manage social media alone. Luckily, you do have options. Find a marketing company that specializes in dental marketing to help today, or enlist the help of your staff.