In the year 2005, only 5% of American adults had a social media account as per Pew Research Center. However, by 2018, over 69% of Americans had made their social media profiles. Considering the country’s population, 252.3 million Americans, including 174.7 million adults, had a social media account.
Social media marketing is the cheapest yet most effective source to promote any business. Hence, making social media for dentists is a must in the current scenario. But only having a social media presence isn’t all that can help you attract customers. You need to implement additional strategies to stand out among all competitors. Let’s look at some ideas that can help you take your dental marketing to the next level.
Build a Cohesive and Professional Brand Experience
Having a brand improves your presence and patients find it easy to recognize you the moment your dental practice’s name is heard. Branding your practice is important as it helps in building a distinguished identity making you stand out from the other local service providers. Besides giving your practice a personality, it helps patients in remembering your brand instantly. So, what can you do to improve your brand’s identity?
Consistency
Being consistent is important for which you need to ensure that you are using the same profile and cover photos on your social media profiles. In addition, make sure that your biography is also the same everywhere.
Use Branded Hashtags
Creating and using branded hashtags improves your presence for some popular searches. For example, if your dental clinic’s name is Healthy Smiles, you can use hashtags like #PatientHealthySmiles or #PracticeGrowth.
Create Customized and Original Graphics
Refrain from using graphics created by other brands for your business. Instead, customize your brand’s graphics using the same fonts and colors every time that is used in your logo, website, or other promotional materials.
Pay Emphasis To Your Brand’s Colors
Emphasizing a brand’s color is something that influencers are often good at. You will also need to integrate your brand’s colors in every place that you promote.
Share Original Content
PM360 estimates that despite 90% of healthcare and dental professionals being social media consumers only 1% among them are content producers. Hence, there is an enormous opportunity that you can tap by creating and sharing original content. Sharing snippets of research summaries that you may have published recently can engage more users. Similarly, publishing and sharing blogs on your website and social media profiles that answers frequently asked questions by patients can attract more discussions.
You may even share videos and photos of your office space and operations to attract patients. Lastly, you may even share media articles where you have been quoted even if those articles aren’t original.
Engage Only When Appropriate
Estimates suggest only 9% of dental or healthcare professionals engage with one another on social media platforms. They indulge in posting comments on posts, or by participating in online chats or group discussions. It’s important to use social media as a communication tool rather than a broadcasting tool. Doing so eventually helps extend your online reach, build reputation, improve dental marketing, and serve your patients effectively.
Extending your online reach is possible by following relevant profiles, commenting on content published, tagging or mentioning profiles while sharing their content, etc. Similarly, if you answer queries posted by people or assist them through social media platforms, you will be able to serve your patients far better. In addition, simple steps like thanking people for sharing your content or leaving positive feedback about your dental practice can boost your reputation.
Share Limited-Time Content
Publishing live content or something only available for a specific period can create a sense of urgency. People won’t like to miss out on content that you are sharing and is important to them. Such content may include Facebook or Instagram stories that disappear after 24 hours. You might be surprised that over 500 million accounts share stories each day, and 1/3 among them are businesses.
Broadcasting live videos from platforms like Facebook live can engage viewers to react or comment in real-time. You may publish your Facebook Live videos on your profile after the broadcast ends. As a dentist, you can live stream procedures such as Whitening or teeth cleanings.
Publish Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is essentially an ad that appears like organic content. They appear in news feeds and users can comment or react like they usually do with organic content. Over the years, sponsored content has become necessary for the success of dental social media businesses. Sponsored content allows you to reach people who do not follow your practice. You have the flexibility to target specific audiences based on interest, location, or patients.
Spreading brand awareness is possible with sponsored content as patients who aren’t likely to use your services at present might recall it when they need care. An estimate related to Facebook Ads reveals that an ad appearing once each week has the potential to enhance brand presence by 80%.
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