How to Create Dental Facebook Posts That Boost Your Dental Marketing Power

A good list of “dental Facebook post ideas” may give your practice’s page enough content for a week. But learning the principles behind effective dental marketing will allow you to create great posts that are all your own!

For too many dental practices, this is the daily process of posting to their Facebook page:

1. Randomly choose a topic to post about.
2. Spend 20 minutes searching Pinterest or Google for an image to use.
3. Post it, check back later and wonder why it isn’t getting any engagement.

If this sounds like your practice’s situation, don’t sweat it! You’re already doing better than most because you recognize the importance of posting daily.

But without first understanding the purpose of dental Facebook posts, and how they fit into your dental marketing strategy, it can be difficult to stay motivated when you’re not seeing results.

The “Why” of Social Media

As part of your marketing strategy, social media allows you to grow your practice by attracting new patients and retaining the ones you have. The primary way it accomplishes this is by providing unique opportunities to build relationships and turn patients into advocates for your practice.

When you focus on the “why” of social media, generating effective post ideas is easy. Every one of your Facebook posts can strengthen your dental practice’s most important relationships, build credibility, and lead patients to introduce your business to family and friends in their trusted social networks.

Start by studying these five fundamental principles of effective social media content, and share them with your team. Then, brainstorm post ideas together! You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can come up with a list of shareable, fun, and engaging posts that will help you grow your online presence — and in turn, your practice.

Five Fundamentals of Effective Dental Facebook Posts

1. Provide Value

First and foremost, the best way to build a social media following that will benefit your business is to simply provide content that is worth people’s time. While brainstorming post ideas, ask yourself “What can I share that would improve patients’ lives?” Then, think about the best way to present it.

For example, you might make a short video reviewing the correct way to brush, or share an article about a new whitening product along with your thoughts about if it’s right for your patients. This isn’t to say that everything you post needs to be educational — you can also provide value by giving fans a chance to win a prize, or just posting something to make them smile!

2. Make It Personal

One of the greatest strengths social media offers as part of your dental marketing is its ability to build a sense of community. Focus on the needs, interests, and personalities of your patients and team members. By doing so, you create connections not as a business and its customers, but as friends.

Our client practices consistently report that one of the best ways to kickstart social media engagement is by sharing photos of team members. When patients become familiar with your team and are engaged on a personal level in return, you strengthen the relationships that allow your practice to thrive.

3. Invite Interaction

Fan participation — such as comments, Likes and shares — amplifies the reach and effectiveness of dental Facebook posts. But getting people to interact isn’t as simple as tacking “please Like this” to the end of all your posts. In addition to encouraging spontaneous interaction by providing high-quality content, occasionally design elements in your posts that give fans a good reason to leave a Like or comment.

You might tell fans that they can enter to win a pair of movie tickets by commenting with their favorite character from the series. Or announce that if a post reaches a certain number of Likes, a hygienist will dress up as the tooth fairy for a day. Asking for feedback about your practice is also a great way to spark a conversation.

4. Use Interesting Visuals

Incorporating images, infographics, photos, and videos is essential for an effective social media mix. Studies report that social media content with relevant visuals receives 94 percent more views than content without. Not only do images and videos make your posts more attractive, they are highly shareable and favored by social media algorithms — meaning they will appear on more news feeds.

There are many resources you can use to obtain visuals for your posts. Take photos or videos with your phone, or share links that have featured images attached. My Social Practice clients also have access to the largest library of shareable dental-themed images and illustrations.

5. Have Fun Together

If you’re having fun creating and sharing posts, you can bet your fans are also having fun following and interacting with you on social media! The growth difference between practices enthusiastically participating in social media together and those who aren’t is like night and day.

Involve your whole team, especially those who think they’re “too old for this.” Get creative. Don’t be afraid to let your dental marketing show your lighthearted side. Our star clients strike a balance between fun and professional posts that showcases their team culture, builds unity, and invites potential patients to become a part of their practice family.

Try New Things, Find What Works

While these guidelines give you direction on how to create effective dental Facebook posts, what you create is up to you. Strive to provide a variety of content — team photos, articles, polls, practice updates, etc. — and measure interaction to see what resonates most with your follower base.

You know your patients. Share content that meets their needs and encourages them to get to know your team better. As you build relationships in-office and online, they will be more willing to introduce your practice to family and friends, helping you find new patients and grow your business.

Need some help finding great content to pair with these principles? Becoming a My Social Practice client gives you access to the largest library of dental social media content, and one-on-one training on how to use it effectively. Don’t spend another minute struggling to find just “something to post.” Download our free ebook below for ideas to try on your social media pages, and contact us for a free demo of our services!

The post How to Create Dental Facebook Posts That Boost Your Dental Marketing Power appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.

Our February Practice of the Month — Hernas Dental!

Congratulations to our February Practice of the Month — Hernas Dental!

Looking for inspiration on how to get your team members and patients more involved in social media? Look no further than Hernas Dental!

They use Social Signs, props, giveaways, and campaigns to create a fun practice environment that gets people involved and sharing. And when patients post, their friends and family see the great experience they had, introducing more new people to the practice!

But the most important thing they do to get patients to participate is this: they just ask! You may not fully believe it yet, but patients who love your practice want to help your business thrive! Two of the best ways they can do that are:

1. Snapping a photo at your practice and sharing it to their own social media accounts
2. Writing a review on Google, Facebook or Healthgrades

Because over 80 percent of adults are on Facebook, you should never assume someone doesn’t want to participate because they don’t seem like “the social media type.” You might be surprised by the patients who turn out to be your practice’s best advocates. But in order for them to spread the word, you have to present them with the opportunity to do so!

We reached out to Dr. Knute Hernas, owner of the practice, for some insight on which social media tools have been most effective in helping them build relationships and attract new patients. Take something to apply in your own practice!

Q&A With Dr. Knute Hernas

(Responses edited for length and clarity.)

What has been the biggest surprise of social media marketing for you?

“We were surprised when My Social Practice featured our Boomerang video on your Facebook page! That inspired us to be more creative and do more videos in the practice. If we had to give one piece of advice to practices starting out on social media, we’d say share lots of photos and videos! Having fun props and signs to take photos with also helps get patients participating.”

How have your social media efforts benefited your practice the most?

“The number one benefit to our practice comes when patients share their experience at our practice through social media. This way, social media marketing gets our name out in a positive way to as many people as possible. Happy patients post something on Facebook from our practice, and all their friends and family see. This brings in new patients.”

What do you regularly do in the office to move your marketing efforts forward?

“Other than taking pictures and videos, we have had success with contests and giveaways, and asking patients to write us a review.”

What kind of feedback about your social media have you gotten from patients?

“Patients of all ages have fun snapping and sharing photos, and they love the signs and props that we get from My Social Practice. Our social media efforts help make the patient experience fun from beginning to end. Patients don’t see participating in our social media as advertising. They see it as having fun with friends.”

Leslie also mentioned that the hardest part of social media is finding the time to post something every day. “Our office is really busy when we have multiple doctors here,” she told us. “We get so caught up in staying on time and keeping our patients happy that it can be hard to focus on taking pics and videos to post.”

It’s true that it can be difficult to find the time to post something daily. But our easy-to-use Publisher app makes it simple! My Social Practice clients have access to the world’s largest library of dental-related social media content, with images and pre-written captions you can customize to fit your audience. Plus, you can schedule posts in advance to go out to your accounts when you choose! Get a free demo of the Publisher today!

The post Our February Practice of the Month — Hernas Dental! appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.