Dental Social Media That Works: Insights From 7 Real Practices

We asked over 600 dental practices to us about the biggest roadblock to building their online presence and using dental social media. Can you guess the top answer? It was “It is too hard, and takes up too much time to come up with ideas and create posts.”

Maybe you’re not surprised, because this is how you feel in your own practice’s social media endeavors.

In this article, you will learn from real dental and orthodontic practices who have gone from searching the web for something to post, to easily creating personalized and unique social media content that builds their practices.

Why is social media marketing for dentists so important?

Social media marketing gives your practice the ability to stay on your patient’s minds. Almost everyone nowadays scrolls through Facebook at Instagram throughout the day. When your patients scroll through and see your posts, it helps them think about you when they otherwise wouldn’t.

This kind of awareness not only helps you stay personally connected to your patients but also reminds patients to reschedule that appointment or refer your practice to a friend. Social media brings your practice into your patient’s homes and everyday interactions.

Additionally, search engines (Like Google!) and social media platforms give superiority to content that meets people’s needs, connects with them on a personal level, and is relevant to their interests and communities.

When people come across worthwhile content, they’re far more likely to like and comment on it. That means more interaction, strengthened patient relationships, and expanded visibility for your dental practice.

The team at Erin McLendon, DDS, went from wasting precious time searching for something to post to easily creating their own unique, personalized and engaging social media content!

Becoming a true social practice requires a change in your team’s mindset. It’s a shift from just “selling treatment” to “building lifelong healthcare relationships.” It’s about becoming comfortable sharing the human side of your dental practice. It’s about looking for opportunities to continue the positive patient experience through social media, long after a patient has left their appointment.

A great example of this type of practice transformation is Erin McLendon, DDS. They went from wasting time sharing boring, generic posts to posting engaging content that attracted attention from their local audience.

We talked with the Office Manager at Erin McLendon DDS, Brittany Tadlock, about the benefits they have seen from using social media marketing.

“Our patients and community get the opportunity to know our staff and recognize them by name, not just Dr. McLendon. We’ve also seen an increase in follow up visits. If we are constantly in front of a patient on social media, it reminds them to schedule their appointments. Patients see us as more personable and not so stiff.”

Michelle Camp, patient care, and marketing coordinator at Zammitti & Gidaly Orthodontic explain which social media efforts have been most effective for growing their practice. Take something from what their team has learned to apply in your own social media strategy!

“The social media tool or tactic that has been most successful has been our “Fun Fact Friday”–where each staff member shares a little fact about themselves that our patients may not otherwise know. People love getting to know our staff and doctors through these posts. Our patients look forward to this post in particular because it is fun to see everyone’s unique answers while also thinking about what their answer would be for each week’s fun fact.”

Dental social media is about looking for opportunities to continue the positive patient experience long after a patient has left their appointment.

Contemporary Dentistry is one such team that knows how to stay connected with patients on social media! Their fun team culture, sincere care for patients, and passion for total well-being shine through in their online presence.

Because of this, patients are eager to share their content, participate in contests and giveaways, and introduce their friends and family to the practice.

Hoda Winkler, director of practice growth and development for Contemporary Dentistry, shares some insight on how social media is growing their practice and what’s been working for them.

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

“Our biggest ‘a-ha moment’ has been realizing that people just want to feel that you’re real and that they can relate to you. The more authentic we show we are as people and not just a dental practice, the more connected patients and prospective patients feel.”

“Facebook Live has been a big success for us, as well as the ‘In My Feelings Challenge’ — we got almost 15,000 views and 22 shares, and lots of engagement! Patients have asked the doctors, ‘Oh, was that you dancing while seeing that patient?’ Then they share a laugh together.”

“Patients enjoy seeing us have fun, which helps lessen the anxiety often associated with coming to the dentist office.”

Hoda Winkler shares some of their challenges as well,

“I think the HARDEST part of social media marketing is figuring out the algorithm and all of the technical details. But I know I can always call Alex, my consultant at My Social Practice. She’s pretty awesome!”

“I asked Alex for help with a social movement project I’m working on launching, and she shared my inquiry with the My Social Practice team. In less than 24 hours, she submitted a number of helpful hashtags that we could use for our project! There’s nothing like personable customer service!”

Michelle Wood, Director of Patient Experience at Gentle Dental of Siloam Springs, gives some advice to dental practice’s just started out on social media.

“Keep in touch with patients in a fun, non-clinical way on social media so that they can see your team’s personality. This forms a foundation of trust that will pay off in spades in word-of-mouth referrals.”

Looking for inspiration on how to get your team members and patients more involved in social media? Look no further than s.m.i.l.e Dental!

S.m.i.l.e Dental has been able to get patients to participate through fun and consistent content. The practice manager, Dana Stavole, gave us some insight into how social media has helped them attract new patients.

“The biggest surprise about social media has been the fact that people love seeing what is happening in our office. The more we share about what we do and the silly things we post really engage our patients and helps to bring new ones to us.”

Wheeler Orthodontics has seen significant benefits to using social media marketing. Marketing Coordinator Jacquelin Wheeler explains,

“The number one benefit to our practice due to our social media marketing efforts is that search engines find us and provide our name when potential patients and current patients search for an orthodontist. We have had wonderful reviews, and I think the parents really like when we post pictures of their kids with braces just on or just off.”

“We were told that the more personal the post, the more engagement we would see. That really hit me with the first Christmas Lunch post that we did. It was just a picture of us all out to lunch together. We couldn’t believe how many people took the time to engage with that post!”

Getting over initial doubts about using social media to marketing your practice is something nearly all our clients face. Sharing your team culture online, involving your patients in social media, and asking for reviews all take you out of your comfort zone. Check out Adventure Dental and you’ll see why it’s worth it!

Adventure Dental maintains a fun and well-rounded online presence. They post valuable content to their social media pages regularly, run great practice campaigns, have prize giveaways, and include their patients whenever they can. They also really impressed us with their patient reviews! With over 400 favorable reviews across Google and Facebook, Adventure Dental has elevated their profile as the premier pediatric dental practice in their community — and parents are noticing.

We reached out to Jenny Moses, Marketing Specialist at Adventure Dental, for some understanding on how social media is growing their practice.

“Social media connects us to our patients. For example, we have a summer contest, ‘Don’t be BORED, get on BOARD.’ We had our patients send us pictures and post pictures on our social media profiles how they were not BORED this summer. We were able to see what our patients were doing this summer and comment on their posts.”

“In turn, they get to know us and what we are all about. Our mission is: Big kids taking care of little kids — one tooth, one smile, one family at a time. We want our patients and their families to know how much we love what we do at the office. Social media is how we can capture that.”

Dental social media marketing is about growing practices through increasing your reach, enhancing your local reputation, and building relationships with patients and potential patients. My Social Practice has remained laser-focused on these key objectives for over a decade as we’ve built the perfect dental social media solution.

We know social media can be difficult. Even if you have little or no digital marketing experience, there’s never been a better time to start building your dental practice’s online presence. Request a free demo of our services and we’d love to show you step-by-step how to do it!

(Some of the responses in this blog have been edited for length and clarity.)

The post Dental Social Media That Works: Insights From 7 Real Practices appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.

Pay Attention To These Dental Social Media Marketing Trends

Whether you are an orthodontist, dentist, endodontist, or periodontist, it is vital that you stay up-to-date on the latest dental marketing trends of 2020 in order to grow your practice. In the dental marketing world, there has been a shift to almost exclusively digital marketing. You don’t want your practice to get left behind.

With dental patient expectations and online marketing trends evolving at a rapid speed, dental practices that are not focused on the future of dental marketing are already falling behind. Now is the time to be pro-active about your dental marketing plan.

Dental marketing tactics are shifting from complicated to simple.

Although dental marketing trends are changing quickly, the good news is that marketing tactics are shifting from complicated to simple. Gone are the days of polished and scripted videos and long detailed posts about your dental practice. Now, it is impressive to share genuine and spontaneous content. Your patients want quick and engaging content that resembles content their friends post online.

Do you want to show up before competing practices in a Google search? Are you striving to provide the best comprehensive care and educate your patients? Are you set on having the best practice culture and patient experience of any practice in your area? Your dental practice will outshine the competition and build trust with patients when you incorporate these dental marketing tips into your marketing strategy.

This blog will walk you through current dental marketing trends that are gaining momentum, and how you can easily implement them to grow your dental practice:

Live Video For Dental Social Media

Here at My Social Practice, we follow the growth and improvement of our clients’ dental marketing efforts. We’ve found that it’s not uncommon for live video posts to get up to ten times the amount of Likes as standard images. It is no secret that video content is more interesting. Additionally, dental video content helps patients and prospective patients connect with your team on a human level.

Livestreaming takes the pressure and complexity out of producing dental video content. When your patients tune in to a live stream, they don’t expect anything to be scripted or edited, they just want to see your authenticity and possibly say hello to you in the comments! Live video is a great way to give your patients and fans a behind-the-scenes look at your practice and promote a connection with your team.

Creative Dental Marketing Campaigns

It can feel impossible to come up with a catchy dental marketing campaign. A memorable and clever dental marketing strategy does wonder for setting your practice apart from your competition. Think about the kind of dental patient that you want to attract.

Are you targeting parents of pediatric patients? Or, are you looking to get senior patients through the door? Tailor your creativity to harmonize with your target demographic.

Post meaningful content like fun pictures, contests, games, giveaways, and even dental tips and tricks. This kind of content marketing will attract a new flow of potential patients. My Social Practice has an entire creative team built to create dental marketing campaigns and ship off the ideas and props right to your door. Get dental social media ideas shipped right to your door and never ask “What should I post?” again.

Consider Working With An Influencer

An influencer is a person who has built a large following on social media. The worlds leading brands are using influencers to reach more of their target marketing than ever before. You have the potential to attract and convert dental patients through local influencers and opinion leaders who already have your potential patient’s attention and trust. An influencer doesn’t need to be famous to have authority.

One of your very own patients could be a well-known influencer on social media! It is a huge advantage to market your dental practice by incorporating an influencer in your strategy. Working with an influencer will allow you to reach locals who may not normally see your practice’s social media pages.

Mobile-Friendly Dental Website Design

Your dental website is the core of your online presence. Your potential patients will look you up online before calling or making an appointment. A majority of today’s patients are using their mobile devices to discover new dentists and request an appointment.

Many dentists still own outdated, clunky dental websites that are not mobile responsive. There is nothing that will deter a potential patient faster than a slow website that is difficult to use.

A new dental website shouldn’t break the bank.

Ensure that your dental website is polished and has a seamless design for both desktop and mobile users. A new dental website doesn’t need to break the bank. My Social Practice designs beautiful, blazing-fast, dental websites to show your potential patients everything they want to know—and why your practice should be their choice.

Use Google’s Mobile-friendly Test to find out if your website is up to snuff. If your site isn’t up to standard, reach out to us to find out how we can fix that. Download our free dental website ebook to see if you have all 7 website essentials!

“Storified” Dental Social Media Content

Facebook and Instagram stories provide some unique dental marketing possibilities for social media reach and growth. Stories are essentially slideshows of videos or photos that stay on your social media page for just 24 hours. Stories from people and brands you follow appear at the top of your feed, making it easy to quickly see what your friends are up to.

The format of Instagram Stories, including the 24-hour limitation, can actually help you create more engaging content. Here are a few reasons why:

• Be more spontaneous. Do you have an idea for a dental social media post but you’re not sure if it will work? An Instagram story is a perfect way to experiment. If it’s a hit with fans, you can continue adding to the story, and if not, it won’t stick around long.
• Take patients along for the ride. Instagram Stories offer a unique way to make day-to-day events interesting. Running practice errands or unboxing a new piece of equipment? Share an interesting snapshot from each step of the process, resulting in an easy-to-follow montage of moments.
• Never worry about over-posting. Stories are completely separated from regular Instagram and Facebook feeds. You can post as much as you want to a story and never annoy your followers or clog their feeds.
• Less polished = more authentic. Traditionally, Instagram has been seen as where people share their best, most-composed photography. It is not so with Instagram Stories. In the context of a story, a less-curated, more fun look at your practice is a better approach—and requires less effort on your part!

Stories are skyrocketing in popularity.

The stories format is likely to become the primary way users interact with social media platforms, replacing the role of the News Feed. Smartphones and shorter attention spans will continue to fuel the prominence of short-lived content in 2021.

Successful social media marketing trends for dentists change all the time. Yet, the core goal of your dental marketing strategy doesn’t change. You’ll always want your patients to feel comfortable and confident coming back to your practice. Above all, it will always be important to provide the best possible dental care and promote dental health for both patients and non-patients.

The dental field is very competitive. You want your patients to stay loyal to your dental office and even recommend you to their friends and family.

Reading blogs like this will pay off big time for your practice. Dental marketing can be overwhelming and there are many dental marketing companies claiming they can solve the problem. My Social Practice is the first dental-focused agency to create the easiest and more effective dental social media solution out there. Let us do the heavy lifting with unique marketing strategies for your practice, website content, social media ideas, online reviews, and you’re own personal social media consultant.

Book an appointment to talk to us and find the best-customized solution for your practice!

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Ideas and Tips For Orthodontic Health Month

The month of October is National Orthodontic Health Month! For dentists and orthodontists, this means celebrating healthy smiles and talking about the benefits and importance of orthodontic treatment.

Many things have changed this year. However, your goal to provide the very best patient experience and orthodontic care remain very much the same.

National Orthodontic Month gives orthodontists a unique opportunity to kick-start their final quarter. Posting engaging and valuable social media content regarding the importance of good orthodontic care helps you reach more potential patients.

Here are several ideas and tips to support you and your team in celebrating National Orthodontic Health Month:

Highlight several testimonials and reviews

Throughout the month, share a few of your best online reviews and any testimonials that your practice has received on your social media pages. Encourage your patients to leave reviews on your Facebook and Google pages. Make sure to thank your patients for being willing to share their experiences!

Discuss braces-friendly food

Use your social media platforms to share what kind of candy to avoid this season! Give your patients a few ideas on what treats and snacks are friendly for their braces.

Speak about good dental hygiene with braces

Shoot a short video explaining how to best care for teeth with braces, permanent retainers, and how to keep clear aligners in good condition. Share the video on your social media platforms as well as your Google business profile and orthodontic website.

Share before and after photos

This is another idea you can do throughout October! Feature your patients before and after photos. Include before and afters for braces, Invisalign, and any other orthodontic service your practice provides.

Talk about your practice specials

Whether you want to run a practice special in October or you just want to speak on your current pricing specials, use this month as an opportunity to show potential patients that your practice caters to the patient. Advertise your specials along with a message about how significant orthodontic care is to a healthy smile.

Answer frequently asked questions

Record a couple of short videos of team members and doctors answering some of the most-asked questions about orthodontic care. Answer questions about how to get started and talk about what it’s like to have braces. Make sure to also talk about the experience that patients have in your unique practice.

If you like these orthodontic awareness month tips, you’re a perfect fit for My Social Practice.

DOWNLOAD Orthodontic Health Month social media signs

My Social Practice provides all the tools, resources and training you need to shine online. Talk to a marketing expert about your orthodontic practice by filling out the form below!

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

 

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5 Dental Video Marketing Ideas Every Practice Should Try

Experts say that 82% of all consumer internet traffic will come from video by 2022. Video content is growing quickly. Video consumption on mobile devices rises by 100% every single year! Dental practices that utilize dental video marketing will attract and retain more patients while outshining their competition.

Do you have a strategy to capitalize on the unique ways video can build relationships and grow your dental practice? When done right the way, dental video content will bring greater responses than any other content type. ‘Done right’ is the key factor in leveraging dental marketing video. Every video you make should focus on communicating your values and culture to your audience.

Quick facts about dental marketing videos:

1. Video Drives Engagement

Videos are compelling and highly shareable. Video content gets the most engagement on Instagram, a social platform will rapidly growing opportunities for dental practices. As a result, patients share your social media content. They ultimately become advocates for your practice, introducing you to family and friends that trust their recommendations.

2. Facebook and Instagram Favor Video

Facebook and Instagram are currently the premier social media platforms for dental marketing. These platforms are the best place to start building your dental social media presence, support relationships with existing patients, and reach the people likely to become new patients. Along with that, native video uploads on Facebook and Instagram have more reach than a share YouTube link or still image. Pro tip: when paired with a small boost, they can do wonders for expanding your audience.

3. Video Content Affects Purchasing Decisions

 Especially or dentists, video content presents an incredible opportunity to familiarize potential patients with your practice before they come in for an appointment. People presented with a video accompanying a product or service pitch are 80 percent more likely to convert. Illustrating your team culture and patient experience through video is the beginning of a strong and lifelong dentist/patient relationship.

5 Awesome Brand-Boosting Dental Video Ideas

1. Getting To Know The Doctor(s)

Strong relationships with your patients develop through numerous small interactions. Videos can be a part of those interactions. Write down six or seven questions and have your doctor answer the questions on the video to help patients get to know him or her better.

Here are a few question ideas:

• “What do you like about being a dentist?”
• “What things do you you do when you aren’t fixing teeth?”
• “Which school did you go to?”
• “Tell us your favorite color/food/TV show/movie/vacation spot etc.?'”

Go the extra mile and create videos with each of your team members for a “weekly team member spotlight” post!

2. Patient Testimonial or Patient Smile Reveal

Telling your new and potential patients how great your dental practice doesn’t come close to the impact that a recommendation has. In today’s market, recommendations don’t just come from patient friends and family members. Your prospective dental patients trust the experiences they see other patients having with your practice online.

Think of a patient that you have an exceptional relationship with, and ask if they would consider providing a testimonial video for your dental practice. If you are revealing a new smile after braces, veneers, implants, etc. ask your patients if you can film their reaction to the care that you are your team gave them.

Testimonial videos are a powerful way to charm new patients and give them a taste of what their experience will be in your practice. Don’t forget to get a signed consent form (download free HIPAA consent form here!) if a patient appears in a dental office video.

It’s important to recognize that your patients, fans, and team members are your practice’s greatest marketing assets. Dental practice video marketing does not need to be professionally done or even scripted. Capturing genuine moments like a smile reveal shows your potential patients what you’re all about: your patients. That is your greatest marketing power.

3. Take A Practice Tour

Take your fans on a tour of your dental practice! A video tour can help prompt new patients to choose you over the competition in your area. The more familiar your followers become with various aspects of your practice, the more likely they are to call for an appointment.

Some of the most successful dental marketing videos have been simple office tours. Make sure to show off any unique features of your practice in your dental marketing video. If you show potential patients that the experience in your practice is different than any other dental practice, they will be more interested in your practice.

4. Have fun with patients and your team

“If you’re having fun creating and sharing content, 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 show your lighthearted side.” – How to Create Social Media Content That Grows Your Dental Practice Ebook.

Undoubtedly, having fun with your patients not only strengthens the relationship with that patient but allows you to show potential patients that you care about people, not teeth.

5. Highlight a service

Highlight your dental services! Keep your patients and followers informed about the services that you provide in your practice. People like to go to expert dentists that know what they are doing. Your social media platforms are a perfect place to show off that expertise and build credibility with new patients.

Stand out from the crowd and talk about how your office stays up-to-date on the latest technologies to give your patients the best possible treatment and experience.

 

Dental marketing videos matter.

Any kind of dental marketing video you do does not need to be professionally done or be ultra-scripted. Patients want to see the real, human side of your practice. Dental office marketing videos make it possible to give a personal touch to potential patients checking out your practice.

My Social Practice takes the guesswork out of dental social media marketing. Everything we do is designed to make dental practices shine online while they focus their time and attention on dental patients. We believe that your marketing efforts should always focus on the patient first, which is why we do the heavy lifting for you.

Stop stressing about your digital marketing strategy and let the experts at My Social Practice help. Fill out the form below to learn more.

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

 

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What Smart Practices Know About Dental Social Media Marketing in 2020

Here’s something you probably hear a lot these days: “You need to be using dental social media marketing in your practice.” But what does that mean?

Discover what it takes to truly be a social practice in 2020, and how it will grow your business. Plus, get a FREE EBOOK with great post examples from real dental practices that found social media success!

In 2020, your dental practice’s online presence is critical to attracting and retaining patients, and will only become more important as time goes on. So if you’re not sure about the role dental social media marketing will play in your practice this year, listen up, because it’s more important than ever.

My Social Practice has been proud to provide the dental industry’s #1 social media marketing solution to thousands of practices. We have helped them transform and grow through remarkable digital marketing. As consumer expectations have evolved, so has our solution to help you exceed the expectations of your current and potential patients. While the approach to social media might be a little different in orthodontic marketing or for other specialty practices, the following principles remain true no matter what your dental field.

So what is effective dental social media? It’s using social media tools to grow your practice by attracting AND retaining patients.

Every element of My Social Practice’s marketing solution is tuned towards this goal. Growing your practice through social media is accomplished through what we like to call the three R’s of dental marketing:

Social media for dental practices has become slightly more complex. With content algorithms and clutter making it harder than ever to get through to potential new patients online, you need strategies to cut through the noise with both organic and paid reach.

My Social Practice makes it easy to post social media content that is optimized for shareability, and then boost that content to more of your ideal potential patients. Facebook marketing for dentists requires high-quality content that connects and engaging patients and fans.

With everything that you have to think about as a dental professional, it can be nearly impossible to come up with the right kind of dental marketing ideas you’ll need to get the attention of new patients. Word of mouth marketing is happening online, which is where My Social Practice steps in.

Many of our practices use giveaways as a quick and easy way to reach more people in their community, and you’ll see some great examples of giveaways in the ebook at the end of this post. Nothing catches people’s attention like a chance to win a prize! And with a little thoughtfulness, you can turn a quick promotion into an opportunity to connect with patients and fans, expand your audience and boost your practice’s visibility.

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

In 2020, consumers don’t care just about great products and services—they want personal connections to the companies they choose. Patients who have an emotional connection to your practice become loyal advocates. These patients returning regularly, keep appointments and recommend you to family and friends. Social media is the perfect way to spark and strengthen these key relationships on an ongoing basis. My Social Practice will show you the best ways to do it by not only showcasing clinical expertise, but the thoughtful, personal side of your practice.

With My Social Practice’s Engagement Box, you’ll never have to waste valuable time coming up with content that showcases your practice culture. Social media marketing for dental clinics is about showing the friendly, humans side of your practice to your potential patients. Remember, people do business with people they like and trust. Through dental Facebook marketing, practices are able to build connections of trust and foster lifelong relationships.

With so many years in marketing, we know what works to grow your practice.

One way that helps dental practices stay on top of things is to have a dental social media calendar. Dental practices that have a solid social media plan don’t sacrifice their social media page activity when things get busy in the practice.

When it comes to running a dental social media campaign, you’ll need the right tools and strategies for a successful campaign. It helps to have a consultant that knows the ins and outs of social media for practices to guide your campaign.

Small things like responding to Facebook comments, expressing gratitude on social media, and asking for feedback goes a long way. It strengthens relationships and making patients feel valued and listened to. Everybody likes to be heard. Traditional marketing is a one-way conversation. Social media marketing opens up two-way communication with the people that will help your practice thrive.

These days, dental patients are savvy, they do their research. They don’t believe what you say about your dental practice online—but they do believe their community. With My Social Practice, you’ll be able to easily grow a rock-solid reputation organically, backed up by reviews and social proof from your current patients.

There’s no doubt that in 2020, online reviews take a prominent role in how new patients find your dental practice:

• 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses
• 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
• Nearly 7 out of 10 consumers will write a review of a local business if asked

What does this mean for your practice’s reputation-building efforts? Now more than ever, your dental practice needs recent, positive reviews — and a simple practice reviews plan to obtain them. The majority of your patients would be willing to write you a review if asked in the right way.

Get Inspired With Real Examples of Great Social Practices

For over a decade, My Social Practice has empowered thousands of dental professionals to grow their practices through social media. Social media marketing for dentist offices is more powerful now than it has ever been. Click the link below to download a free ebook! This ebook showcases how practices just like yours found success with us in 2019.

Marketing your dental practice on social media today is a different game than it was just a few years ago. The old techniques don’t work anymore. Social media for dentists is more than posting generic content. Your potential patients in 2020 are looking for authenticity, a personal connection, and a solid reputation backed by social proof. Patients want to get a good idea of who you are before they give you a call.

Let us show you how easy it is to build an attractive, vibrant online presence for your dental practice. We help dental practices attract and retain patients, and turn them into advocates. Visit mysocialpractice.com to chat with one of our experts who will help you find the perfect solution for your practice.

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

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How To Get More Dental Social Media Engagement Than Ever

Whether your dental social media content is just scraping by, or you are on top of things and posting quality content that gets engagement (i.e. likes, comments, shares.) there is most definitely still room for growth!

Your patients’ perception of you and your office is directly influenced by what you post on social media. And, with more dental patients online than we have ever seen using social media to find a provider, (thank you, quarantine.) you’ve got to have a presence that makes your practice look fantastic.

Patients are looking for a practice that provides useful and entertaining information. Dental patients are more than willing to engage with their dental practice online. You’ve just got to give them a good reason to!

In this article, we will talk about how to boost your social media game and just how powerful it is when you do. We’ll also share some of our secrets about how to get your followers to engage with you. This article will help you understand how to outshine your competition with our best social media ideas for dentists. Click here for another simple tip to get more Facebook likes, comments, and shares.

There are countless reasons why dental social media should be a part of your overall marketing strategy. Social media for dentists can do many things to help your practice. The top three are:

• It helps you attract more potential patients in your area.
• It builds strong relationships and loyalty among current patients.
• It solidifies the reputation you have in your community.

Although one of the main goals of dental social media marketing is to attract new patients, we all know it costs your practice more to get a new dental patient than to retain your current patients. That’s why we like to focus on marketing strategies that show your current patients that you care about them. Dental practices who show their patients that they care have more loyal patients and a higher retention rate. The purpose of dental social media is to show patients that you care about people, not just teeth.

There are many dental social media ideas out there. The truth is, many of them won’t attract attention and engagement. You don’t want to waste your time on social media content that doesn’t work.

“Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.” -Andrew David, best-selling author, and keynote speaker.

So, you know that you need content that attracts new patients and fosters relationships with current patients. But, what does that content look like? How does your dental team find time to post content like that? That’s where the dental marketing experts step in.

Want to see your engagement skyrocket? With the My Social Practice’s High Engagement Pack, you’ll get 10 awesome dental post ideas designed to do just that. You’ll be surprised how much your dental social media can do for your practice with the right kind of content. Download it now below!

My Social Practice has been in the social media dental marketing industry for over 10 years. Trust us, we know how frustrating dental marketing can be. We’ve created a photo idea box that is specifically designed to build relationships with current patients, reach new patients, and create a great reputation for your practice. Steal our dental social media post ideas.

By posting fun and engaging content online, you boost retention and keep top-of-mind awareness. Our clients report increases of up to 30% in their new patient intake since starting to utilize social media. The materials we send you are specifically designed to celebrate your patients, introduce your team, showcase your practice culture, and ultimately bring in new dental patients. Everything that comes in your box is directed toward building trust and relationships with current and potential patients online.

The ideas in this download are just the beginning! We encourage you to talk to a dental social media expert to create a personalized marketing strategy for your practice.

Posting on social media is no longer optional for dentists. It is necessary for growth.

Dentists have found it so easy to work with My Social Practice because unlike traditional marketing agencies, we concentrate on the dental industry and the dental industry only.

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

The post How To Get More Dental Social Media Engagement Than Ever appeared first on My Social Practice - Social Media Marketing for Dental & Dental Specialty Practices.

5 Things Your Dental Website MUST Have

Your dental website is an integral part of your online presence and dental marketing efforts. Here’s how you can ensure it makes the right impression.

For businesses today,  including your dental practice, a homepage is just as important to your dental marketing efforts (if not more so) than an actual physical storefront. With just a momentary glance, today’s consumers assume volumes about your practice, your team, and even the quality of your treatment.

If your dental website is outdated, difficult to navigate, or has poor design direction (or no direction at all), potential patients will also see your practice as outdated and inconvenient.

If it’s cleanly designed, content-rich and mobile-friendly, your practice website can begin to build relationships of trust with potential patients before they even give you a call. It’s a central part of your online presence and digital marketing efforts and can be one of your best tools to attract, educate, and retain the people who will most help your practice thrive.

My Social Practice understands how crucial it is for you to have a fast, modern, user-friendly dental website which is why we are offering free dental websites for clients who bundle with our award-winning social media service.

Here are five essential things you need in your dental website to make it a truly effective dental marketing tool:

5 Dental Marketing Essentials for Your Practice Website

1. Intuitive, Mobile-Friendly Design

People will use search engines to find your dental website and will use a variety of devices, from phones and tablets to laptops and widescreen desktops. And, with over half of all internet searches coming from mobile devices, you need to make sure that however potential patients interact with your professional dental website, it’s easy to navigate and allows them to quickly find what they need. Site design is essential to professional and trustworthy marketing.

Of all of the elements mentioned in this post, this is where it’s most worth hiring some professional help. Unless you’re both a dentist AND a web design expert, don’t waste your time trying to hammer a free website template into something you can use. Don’t trust this essential part of your online presence to your nephew who “knows some code.”

Make the investment in a custom-designed professional dental website that showcases your practice and enhances your dental marketing efforts. Your dental website design is a large part of your overall marketing strategy.

2. Emphasis on the Human Side of Your Practice

Think nobody’s going to look at your “About Us” page? Think again! The About page is typically one of the most-visited parts of a dental website. Take advantage of this valuable dental marketing opportunity to build trust and share your practice’s story.

Your About page is a great way to introduce potential patients to your team and practice culture. Having an individual photo and short bio for each team member creates connections with potential patients — before they ever call or visit your practice! Update these bios periodically or as team members join and leave.

The bottom line is people like to do business with people they know. In dentistry, where relationships are especially important, a strategic personal online presence offers doctors and their team’s opportunities to connect with patients and prospective patients on a meaningful level. This is an essential part of great dental websites.

3. Consistent New Content

What do we mean by “consistency” in your online presence? Primarily, it’s making regular attempts to connect authentically with your audience by posting high-quality content, such as blog posts, and responding to readers’ interaction.

There a degree of transference that takes place in patients’ minds when practices consistently provide new content. Therefore, if you’re consistent and reliable in providing honest human content through your online presence, people make an assumption about you. That assumption is that you are likely to provide the same consistency and leading-edge standards in everything you do. This includes your dental materials and procedures and the patient benefit-driven technologies you ascribe to. This also includes the way you respond and treat people, the CE you attend, etc.

My Social Practice has great dental marketing ideas. We make it easy by providing subscribers a new, professionally written dental blog post every week.

4. Highly Visible Social Proof

What others are saying about your practice online has an enormous influence. What others say about you solidifies trust in existing patients and inspires trust in prospective new patients. Which is why the best dental websites in 2020 provide plenty of social proof on their pages. In the case of your dental practice, building this “social proof” is one of the best things you can do to attract new patients and retain the ones you have.

One of the easiest ways to provide social proof is to feature your dental patient reviews on your website. Because of their popularity, we suggest highlighting positive reviews from platforms such as Facebook and Google.

With a dental website from My Social Practice, it’s simple to feature positive patient reviews where people will see them. In addition, any negative reviews are immediately passed on to you so you can follow up with the patient.

5. Calls to Action

Ask yourself what you want people to do when they visit each page of your dental website. Then give your website visitors a clear path to do it that is immediately visible. For instance, upon reaching your homepage, do you want people to make an appointment? If this is your goal, make sure there is a button in the top section of your homepage that says “Request an Appointment.”

Place a button that asks users to “Schedule Free Consultation” on your pages regarding dental care or smile makeovers. We suggest placing this button in the middle and at the end of the page. Everything about your site should direct users to take action regarding their dental care.

The more easily you someone can progress from learning to taking action, the more effective your dental marketing will be. The best dental websites turn website visitors into patients with strong calls to action.

Get a Gorgeous, Blazing-Fast Website for Your Dental Practice

Whether you don’t yet have a  website or you’re looking to upgrade, My Social Practice has a solution. My Social practice provides a turnkey dental website solution and marketing services that will make your practice look fantastic. Plus, you get a free dental website (a $4,000 value!) when you bundle with My Social Practice’s social media service. Learn more and request a demo to see how a gorgeous, blazing-fast dentist website will help turn your online presence into your best tool for attracting and retaining ideal patients.

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New Dental Instagram Feature: Instagram Reels

Instagram has launched a new short-form video format, it’s comparable to the short-form video app TikTok. This new feature called Instagram Reels, allows you to record and edit short videos with audio and music soundtrack options to play over the video.

Here is what we know about Instagram Reels and how dental and orthodontic practices can utilize them for their social media marketing efforts.

How do I create an Instagram Reels video?

Instagram Reels exists inside Instagram stories! You can access and create stories by tapping the camera icon at the top-left of your screen.

There is a carousel of options on the bottom of your screen with “Live” “Story” and “Reels” options. Once you tap on “Reels” you’ll be able to take a video and use the edit options on the left side of your screen to add music, clips, and effects!

Take some time to play around with Instagram Reels to become familiar with taking and editing videos. You can create test videos without sharing them and don’t worry, if you unintentionally do share a video you can delete your Reels anytime!

How do I know which posts on Instagram are Reels?

When scrolling through your feed or searching the explore page, you’ll be able to easily tell which Instagram posts are Reels videos by the clapperboard icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the video.

What do Reels videos look like on Instagram?

Viewing Reels is similar to viewing Posts and Live videos on Instagram. You can like or comment on Reels videos, and click through to see what audio track was used in any particular video.

Where can I find my Reels?

A new tab has been added to every Instagram users’ profile to showcase their Reels in one place. This new tab is located beside the tabs that allow you to see recent posts, view IGTV videos or videos a user was tagged in.

There are many reasons your dental marketing strategy requires the use of video marketing! We have seen hundreds of practices increase their reach, build their reputation, and get new dental patients through their door by utilizing video in their dental marketing plan.

Schedule a quick demo of My Social Practice services to find out what custom dental marketing strategy will boost your practice into a super successful year.

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

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5 Orthodontic Marketing Ideas You Can Do This Month

If your practice is not utilizing social media in your orthodontic marketing, you are missing out on significant growth opportunities. Traditional orthodontic marketing just isn’t cutting it in today’s digital world.

Almost 80% percent of patients research a practice online before calling to make an appointment. So, what does that mean for your orthodontic practice? It means that social media orthodontic marketing provides a powerful way to grow your orthodontic practice without breaking the bank.

Orthodontic digital marketing allows you to leverage the unique parts of your practice to build a solid reputation in your community. Marketing your orthodontic practice using social media means building trust before a patient even walks through your door. 

Your social media pages are a place to display your team culture and show off the relationships you have with your patients. Every one of an orthodontist’s social media posts can build relationships and credibility, as well as lead patients to introduce their practice to family and friends, you just need a solid strategy.

You may think your followers don’t want to see posts about braces on social media, but trust us, this is not the case. We have heard from countless orthodontists about how surprised they are to get many likes, shares, and comments on their posts.

Patients and fans are happy to engage with orthodontic practices that share relevant, useful, fun, and personal posts! Your social strategy should focus on providing meaningful content to your followers. Encourage them to participate and be a part of your practice family.

Your followers will want to share their experiences with their friends and family when your practice makes it easy.

Kick-start your social media efforts with 5 orthodontic marketing ideas for a month’s worth of content!

1. Recognize Patients

Teddy Roosevelt’s quote, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” is more relevant than ever when it comes to acknowledging your orthodontic patients online. When you give a shoutout and write a congratulatory post about your patients, prospective patients get an idea of how they will be treated when they come to your practice.

2. Ask a Question!

There is no better way to get engagement from your followers than to ask a question in one your posts and ask for answers in the comment section!

3. Talk About a Piece of Practice Equipment

A big part of digital marketing in orthodontic offices is educating potential patients on the cutting edge technology your practice uses for the best treatment possible.

4. Snap and Share a Team Photo

Show off your team! Including the team in your posts keeps your practice on the top of your patient’s minds, and shows prospective patients the friendly faces of your office!

5. Shout Out Team Member

Build a postive team culture by dedicating an individual post for each of your team members. Tell your fans fun facts about them and express how grateful you are to have them on your team.

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

Need some help? Coming up with consistent orthodontic marketing ideas is challenging. As an orthodontic marketing company, My Social Practice client gives specific one-on-one training on how to use social media effectively.

Let us do all the heavy lifting. Don’t spend another minute struggling to find just “something to post.” Schedule a free demo of our services!

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

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