3 Simple Steps to Growing Your Dental Practice With Social Media—For Beginners!

Your dental practice’s social media presence is an integral part of how new and potential patients get to know you, and if you can immediately spark a connection with them online, there’s a good chance they’ll be calling you later for an appointment! Plus, find a free download below to help you get started!

With everything that goes into running a successful practice, it’s a wonder that dental team members even have time to breathe. And with so much to do, it’s easy to delay things that you might see as ancillary to patient care, such as obtaining patient reviews and posting to social media. But, although a practice is built on clinical expertise and effective management, a practice thrives with smart marketing strategies and a strong online presence.

Getting started with dental digital marketing is easier than you think, and it doesn’t require a large time investment. In fact, most of our clients using our marketing tools report that they spend just a few minutes a day on it.

If you just don’t know where to begin, start with these 3 most essential things you can start doing TODAY to build your online presence and help new patients find you. With just a small, consistent effort, you’ll get a taste of the different ways digital marketing can help you grow your practice.

Obtain Patient Reviews

• Make it Easy for People to Read and Write Reviews Where They Want. Start by creating profiles on the three most prominent online reviews services: Google My Business, Facebook and Healthgrades. Add your profile picture, address, hours, and other information that will make it easy for a patient to find you and leave a review, or for a potential patient to learn more and contact you.
• Focus on the Patients Most Likely to Give You a Great Review. Set your team up for success by pulling up the day’s schedule and reviewing who is coming in. Identify one or two of your patients who love your practice and you suspect would be happy to leave you a review. Make specific assignments on which team member will ask them for a review and have them report back on how it went.
• Just Ask — and Be Transparent. You know how crucial honest feedback and reviews are for building your practice. Let patients know how much you rely on reviews to improve your service and find more great patients like them. Remember, if you’re not asking for reviews, chances are you’ll only get one when a patient is unhappy!

My Social Practice’s reviews software makes it easy to obtain great reviews from your dental patients during their appointments. See a free demo:

Ready for a quick demo of our reviews service? Fill out the form below.

 

Create Engaging Social Media Posts

• 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. 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!
• 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.
• Invite Interaction. Fan participation — such as comments, Likes and shares — amplifies the reach and effectiveness of dental Facebook posts. 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.

Get Your Team Involved

• Bring Up Social Media With Patients. Mention something fun your practice has done on social media recently. Example: “Did you see the Shark Week video we did on Facebook last week?”
• Tell the Patient What’s in it for Them for Participating. Example: “If you take the 30-Day Flossing Challenge by sharing a photo today, you’ll be entered to win a pair of movie tickets!”
• Express Your Appreciation for the Patient. Example: “We’re so grateful to have awesome patients like you, and when you write a review it helps more people find us!”
• Encourage Team Members to Like and Share. Encourage your team members to check your practice’s pages often to stay up-to-date on giveaways, campaigns, and other fun things that patients would want to know about. By simply Liking your posts, or better yet, leaving short comments such as “I love working with this team!” or “We’re always happy to see our awesome patients!”, your team members can increase the reach and visibility of your practice’s posts.

These three key areas form the foundation of a solid dental digital marketing plan, but we’ve only just scratched the surface! Click below to download a FREE checklist and tip sheet that will help you set and track social media goals, and provide you with even more simple, actionable advice!

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