You’re a dentist, not a social media influencer. However, you know you need to get into social media marketing to help attract new patients online.
Unfortunately, as a dentist (not the next Kardashian), you’re too busy running your practice to manage your social media marketing strategy.
Or maybe you’ve already set up social media pages for your dental practice, but you do not see any notable results from all your hard social media work. It feels like a complete waste of time.
Well, we’re here to tell you that dental social media marketing is certainly not a waste of time, and there are ways you can master this essential digital channel to get more patients booking appointments with you.
All you need is a little guidance, and we’re here to give it to you with our complete step-by-step guide to social media marketing for dentists (plus some handy post ideas!) Let’s go!
Why dentists need social media marketing
If you’re new to social media marketing for your dental practice, you might wonder if there’s any point to it when you’re already running Google ads and engaging in SEO practices. Spoiler alert: there is. Read below to find out why social media marketing is vital for dentists.
Increases online visibility
Almost 60% of people use social media around the world for an average of 2.5 hours per day. By these figures, most of your patients are active on social media every day.
So if you don’t have a presence on popular social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok, you’re missing out on ample opportunities to gain visibility with your target patients online.
Drives website traffic
By creating consistent social media content that engages your audience, you can increase the traffic your dental practice website receives.
If they come across your posts online and like what they see, they’re highly likely to head over to your website to learn more and maybe even book an appointment!
Creates patient trust
Social media is a fantastic place to show off all the best things about your dental practice. Here you can share company news, show some behind-the-scenes of your dental practice, and highlight patient testimonials – all building a sense of credibility and trust with your target patients online.
Builds patient loyalty
Dentist social media channels open up opportunities for two-way engagement with your audience.
You can answer common patient questions, manage patient inquiries, and reply to comments on your posts, all helping you build a stronger relationship with current and potential patients.
Dental social media marketing in 10 easy steps
Now that you understand why posting on social media is so important for dentists, let’s explore how you actually go about doing it, some dentist social post ideas, and what key things you need to keep in mind when creating your social media marketing strategy.
Step 1: Choose your channels
Do some research to see where your patients “hang out” online and pick the most popular social media channels to build your presence on.
Choosing one or two channels (rather than all) will help you focus on creating quality content that patients will engage with rather than diluting your efforts across multiple social media platforms.
Step 2: Create patient personas
At this stage, you should already know who your target patients are. Create patient personas based on your target patients to help you develop social media content ideas that resonate with them.
Include their age ranges, gender, hobbies, location, and anything else you know about them so you can tailor content to match their interests.
Step 3: Research your competitors
Create a list of the top dental competitors in your area and a list of dental social media pages that inspire you. Map out the type of content they post online, and note what gets the most engagement.
This information will give you plenty of inspiration and help you fill any “gaps” you think they have (does your competitor post only stock photos, for example?)
Step 4: Create a content calendar
Feeling inspired? Great, it’s time to get creative! Develop a content calendar with at least two posts per week (you can use Hubspot’s free content calendar template for this).
Include each post’s text, hashtags, imagery, links, and the scheduled “go live” date in your content calendar. Aim for at least a month’s worth of content (or more if you want to get a big head start!)
Step 5: Create graphic templates
Now you’ve done most of the hard work creating your posts for the month ahead, it’s time to design your post graphics.
Using a free graphic design website, like Canva, you can choose from hundreds of social media templates (or create your own) to give your social media content a consistent, branded look and feel.
Step 6: Create video content
67% of marketers say sharing marketing videos on social media has the biggest ROI, so don’t neglect them!
Use the video-making tools Tik Tok and Instagram have to your advantage, put your Spielberg hat on, and start creating! Don’t forget to add captions for people watching without the sound/who are hard of hearing.
Dentist marketing video ideas
- Explainers of how treatments work
- A tour of your dental practice
- Dental care tutorials (flossing correctly, etc.)
- Patient smile before and afters
- Patient testimonials & experiences
- Answering dental health FAQs
- Dental staff offering top tips
- How to keep teeth white at home
- Common causes of dental issues
- Tips for nervous dental patients
Step 7: Schedule content
Post scheduling only takes a few minutes but can save you a lot of time uploading each post manually throughout the month. You can use a scheduling tool like Hootsuite or Later or your dental practice Facebook page for scheduling FB and Instagram posts.
Dentist social post ideas
- Competitions & discounts
- Promote community events
- Repost patient’s posts
- Patient loyalty schemes
- Dental staff bios/fun facts
- Smile journeys & before/afters
- Dental health tips & tricks
- Foods/drinks to avoid for X
- Patient testimonials
- Awards & practice news
Step 8: Post to “stories”
Don’t forget to post to your “stories” on Instagram and Facebook. Your stories function is a fantastic tool for creating more engagement with your target patients.
You can use your stories to post short videos related to your dental practice/treatments, answer patient questions, and much more.
Dentist “story” post ideas
- Dental-related polls
- Questions & answers
- Dentist-related memes
- Sped up treatment videos
- Competitions & announcements
- Time-limited discounts
- Interesting dental facts
- Interesting dental statistics
Step 9: Engage with patients
If patients go out of their way to engage with you – don’t forget to engage back! Many dental practices use social media channels to broadcast about themselves rather than engage in conversation and connect with their patients.
Boost interaction and engagement by responding promptly to direct messages, story replies, and comments and reposting your patient’s posts about your practice.
Step 10: Monitor and improve
Monitor the results of your social media marketing efforts every month to see what kinds of posts patients engage with and track your follower count, so you can understand what’s working and what isn’t. You can find analytics tools on the social media channels themselves to help you monitor and improve engagement.
Feel more confident about social media marketing now?
We sure hope so! With our step-by-step guide, you have everything you need to start making a name for your dental practice on social media today, so get posting! Don’t forget to be patient.
Social media channels can take a long time to gain traction – but if you stay consistent and choose quality over quantity, you’ll soon see more and more patients coming to you from social media.
Want to stop wasting time on social media marketing campaigns that don’t work? Wish there was a way to automate the entire process, so you can attract more patients while you sleep?
Introducing Mission Control: your all-in-one sales and marketing tool that takes the pain away from social media marketing, email marketing, and more!
From a single portal, Mission Control lets you manage and automate your entire patient journey from their first contact to their first appointment, so you and your team can get back to making patients smile. Learn more about Mission Control and book a free demo today!
