You’ve seen it while scrolling through your social media feed –– business after business vying for your attention and patronage.
You may have even tried your hand at marketing your dental practice on social media but couldn’t wrap your head around how to position your business among the sea of products and services that inundate social media users every day.
The key is understanding the differences in social media marketing for dentists versus other industries.
Continue reading this guide to social media marketing for dentists to learn:
- Why dental clinic social media marketing is important
- The benefits of using social media marketing for your dental clinic
- The marketing challenges dentists face
- How social media marketing for dentists can help
Why Is Dental Clinic Social Media Marketing Important?
Dentists have traditionally relied on word of mouth to bring in new patients.
With over 60% of Americans suffering from dental fear and anxiety, it’s understandable why most choose their dental provider based on the experience of people in their circle.
Today 72% of people have dramatically expanded their circle, thanks to the use of the internet and social media.
That’s a significantly larger network than the days pre Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Inspire and Engage
At Pretty-Impressive, each client is unique. Which is why we create strategies tailored to the needs of each company. Reach out and we’ll help you get your brand exactly where it needs to be — ahead of the rest.
Top 3 Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Dental Clinics
1. Create Positive Relationships With Patients
Social media is all about cultivating and maintaining relationships.
What better way to calm nervous patients before they even step foot into your office than by creating positive, personal relationships?
That starts with taking care to reply to questions on posts, comments, and direct messages.
Shares, re-tweets, and likes on patients’ posts also establish support and builds community
When it comes to your posts …
- Happy customer testimonials
- Positive patient experiences
- Friendly office images; and
- Successful results of your work
… will help position your practice as a welcoming local business that cares about the overall well-being of its patients and staff.
2. Draw In New Clients
In a survey, 15% of people said their number one reason for not visiting a dentist was due to trouble finding an office.
That’s 15% of people who could be looking for you.
Thanks to social media and hyper-targeted marketing, you can hone in on tailored audiences like never before.
Draw in potential new patients who are looking to find a practice within a 7-mile radius from their home or job. Or find new families who are looking to unify their dental needs all in one practice.
3. Lead The Way In The Industry
Dentists across cities big and small are utilizing advertising to grow their business.
However digital marketing has grown by more than 14% in the last year and continues to outpace traditional advertising spending.
Lead the way in the dental industry by tapping into the promise of social media marketing.
What better way to showcase your knowledge and build trust with your audience than by posting thoughtful industry content like:
- Articles
- Videos; and
- Infographics
How Do Dental Clinics Do Social Media Marketing?
Not all dental clinics get it right when it comes to social media marketing. We suggest focusing on consistent, quality, targeted marketing to slowly grow your network rather than firing full speed across all channels at the same time.
Remember, slow and steady wins the race.
Some social media platforms like …
- Youtube
- Instagram; and
… lend themselves better to dental marketing than others.
These outlets make it easy to create and share educationally rich content like …
- Videos
- Infographics
- Blog posts; and
- News articles
… to build your network.
Does managing your dental practice’s social media feel like pulling teeth?
Let the social media marketing Tooth Fairies at Pretty-Impressive extract that painful task.
At Pretty-Impressive, our experts regularly tailor social media marketing and other marketing strategies based on your dental clinic’s unique needs to help grow your business.
Find out how Pretty-Impressive can unleash a digital marketing and sales team that does the work for you.
Inspire and Engage
At Pretty-Impressive, each client is unique. Which is why we create strategies tailored to the needs of each company. Reach out and we’ll help you get your brand exactly where it needs to be — ahead of the rest.
3 Marketing Challenges Dentists Face and How Social Media Marketing for Dentists Can Help
Dentists face specific marketing challenges that can get in the way of reaping the rewards of social media marketing.
Some challenges require a strategic social media marketing approach for different patient circumstances like:
- Dental emergencies: Most people aren’t searching for a dentist until they really need one. When they have a problem, there’s a short window of opportunity to find that patient and get them in for an appointment.
- Language barriers: America is a melting pot of different cultures and languages. Everyone needs dental care, but not all communities can be captured with a blanket marketing strategy.
- Insured versus uninsured: Not every prospective patient has dental insurance. The needs of the insured can be different than the uninsured.
Keep reading to learn what tailored social media marketing strategies can be utilized to overcome these challenges.
1. Traditional Digital Marketing
Trying to attract a potential patient in their short window of needs can be an impossible task.
Doing so affordably is especially difficult if you’re buying pay-per-click advertising.
To combat this, the key is to add traditional digital marketing strategies to build brand awareness before a patient discovers a problem.
The immediate goal is to make impressions, not to win new customers.
Over the long term, when a potential patient needs your services and encounters your pay-per-click advertisement, your practice is already a familiar face.
Some examples of brand awareness digital marketing tactics include:
- Running low-cost educational info campaigns
- Generating landing pages that give your practice personality
- Creating content that is entertaining, informative, and builds a relationship with your visitors
2. Generating Marketing For Specific Segments Of The Population
No two patients are the same.
That’s why trying to reach potential patients of different backgrounds with the same social media marketing strategy is a big mistake.
Generating targeted marketing for specific segments of your community will help otherwise ignored potential customers feel seen and build a relationship with your practice.
For example: If a part of your market is Spanish-speaking, create content in Spanish or address things specific to that community.
Don’t forget to optimize and tailor your website by creating parallel pages in Spanish to cater to this segment of your audience.
3. Using Insurance As Leverage
Let’s face it, dental insurance is a luxury not everyone has access to.
Those who don’t have insurance are most concerned with how a dental practice works with uninsured or cash patients.
Empowering potential customers with that knowledge before they walk in could be the extra push they need to choose your practice over the next.
Not to mention, most dentists don’t segment marketing for people who already have insurance.
A sophisticated digital strategy utilizing social media analytics can identify and target segments of people:
- On specific insurance plans
- During open enrollment; or
- Who may be switching providers due to life changes
Don’t Let Your Dental Clinic’s Social Media Marketing Bog You Down — Get Help From the Pros at Pretty-Impressive
Would you rather have a root canal than manage your clinic’s social media marketing campaign?
Much like a root canal, when it comes to acquiring new patients it must be done correctly.
The experts at Pretty-Impressive utilize a multi-pronged approach to create …
- Cutting-edge campaigns
- Diverse digital ecosystems; and
- Out-of-the-box solutions
… that ensure your dental practice is polished to attract the thousands of people looking for your business.
Don’t waste any more time or money on marketing campaigns that don’t get you the results you’re looking for.
Schedule a free, no-obligation, 30-minute strategy session today.
