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10 Effective Social Media Marketing Ideas Tailored for Dental Practices

August 8, 2021
January 26, 2024
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people use their phones to text and interact on social media

It’s no secret that social media plays a huge role in the way we live our lives. Today, people are more connected than ever before, and they spend an average of four hours on their devices every day.

This is great news for dentists who want to use social media marketing to reach potential new patients. This blog post will explore how dental practices can take advantage of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more to reach potential clients.

1. Create a Consistent Brand Experience

A brand helps distinguish your healthcare practice from others, it gives personality to what you do and who you are, and a strong branding strategy can help patients remember everything about their experience with your office down to how they felt when walking out the door after experiencing dental care for themselves first hand.

Be consistent: Use the same bio and cover photos across all social media platforms.

Create your own graphics: You should leverage every opportunity to create your own graphics. For example, on Instagram, you can edit the cover photos of your story highlights.

Emphasize your brand colors: Emphasizing your brand colors will help create an aesthetic feel to your social media profile and posts. Aim at incorporating your brand color wherever possible.

2. Run a Contest or Giveaway

dental giveaway promotion ideas
Source: Hulsey Dentistry via Facebook

It’s important to think creatively when posting on social media. One way is by giving away free things like gift cards and prizes, which gets people talking about your business!

Tell guests what the giveaway or contest entails with a short description for them to participate in it. This can be done either through words or via images, so they know exactly what needs doing. Ensure that everyone has fun and you secure one secret edge over other brands out there looking for attention.

3. Share Testimonials

The most common mistake seen with dentists sharing testimonials is unsightly before and after pictures.

You want the audience to know what great work you do for fixing teeth, but few react well to these images, so they don’t get engaged like other posts would have. Instead, ask patients who leave reviews at your office or on social media to give screenshots instead of writing them out themselves, as this will make sure no one sees an uncomfortable photo first thing from a review.

4. Share Live or Limited-time Content

People are more likely to share your content if they fear missing out. FOMO or Fear of Missing Out is a real thing—people don’t want to miss whatever it is that you’re sharing because they don’t want to feel like the only person who didn’t take part.

This type of content is broadcasted live, and viewers can engage by reacting or commenting in real-time. Both Facebook and Instagram push the Live videos to your profile after the broadcast ends.

5. Tag and Be Tagged

You can ask patients to tag your brand when they take pictures of their new smile after getting dental implants or other procedures done by an oral surgeon like yourself. In addition, if people who come across these images want more information about what’s going on with this person’s mouth (like how it affects general health and appearance), then you might be able to get some business from those inquiring minds.

Surely many people would love a brand new set of teeth just like your patients’.

6. Use Sponsored Content

facebook marketing for dentists
Source: Bliss Orthodontics via Facebook

Sponsored content is a type of ad that looks like organic content. It appears in the news feed, and users can react or comment just like they can with their own posts!

With sponsored ads, you’ll be able to reach people who don’t already follow your dental practice—increasing your chances for visibility among prospective patients in our social media-heavy society.

7. Add Interactive Content

dental promotion ideas for social media
Source: singingdentist via Instagram

Interactive content such as videos, quizzes, and surveys add variety to your social posts.

Audiences today are engaging differently with social media than they used to. Rather than simply reading text all day long on their screens, users want more interactive experiences that get them involved. Another advantage of such material is its ability to offer personalized responses based on what participants answer.

8. Engage Where Appropriate

dental social media marketing ideas
Source: Dentacoin via Facebook

Only a few healthcare or dental professionals take advantage of social media for conversation. Using social media to engage with others can help you better serve patients and manage your reputation, as well as extend your online reach.

Your positive reputation is essential to attracting new dental patients, so you must engage where appropriate. The same goes for negative feedback: if someone takes the time out of their busy schedule to complain about something in detail instead of just saying “bad experience,” then they deserve an answer as well!

9. Celebrate Success

Celebrate any kind of milestone, big or small, and post about it. Whether you’ve just expanded your practices and want the world to know all about it or if something else smaller has happened, like being able to offer more services with additional members on staff—be proud!

Celebrate what’s happening by posting pictures and videos so that others can do the same for their own milestones.

10. Post Real Pictures

social media marketing for dentists
Source: smileteam_orthodontics via Instagram

You aren’t just in the office all day long; don’t forget about the time spent outside too!

Show off that team spirit by sharing photos from extracurriculars like volunteering as a group or doing other activities together not related specifically to being dental professionals. It will help add some humanity behind what can sometimes be an unapproachable profession on social media profiles while also providing potential patients with more of a sense of your personal lives outside the office.

The Bottom Line

Improve your visibility and awareness by connecting with patients on social media. With many of your potential patients searching to connect with you on their favorite networks, it’s vital to have an active presence on social media channels. Doing so will help improve your own visibility and awareness, attracting more customers to your practice!

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