Social media has become much more than just a way to stay connected with friends. Your social media presence is one of the marketing essentials for keeping your dental practice relevant. And a great way to reach new patients organically. 

But what is your true goal for social media? Do you have an established social media strategy? If so, is it working for you the way you want it to? Let’s take a look at how and why social media can help you attract new dental patients.

While you’re focused on keeping teeth, and your business straight, SmileShop Marketing is focused on building brands for the dental practices we love. Get in touch with our team if you’d like to learn more about the ways social media can put new patients in the dentist’s chair.

What is Organic Social Media?

In today’s world, social media is an essential marketing tool for dental practices. If you’re not making social media an important part of your digital presence, it’s a lost opportunity.

The truth is that social media is no longer used just to connect with friends and family. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other platforms have become research portals that people explore before making purchasing decisions. 74% of people use social media as part of their purchasing journey, especially for intimate services like a dentist.

Social Media Marketing: Cost-Effective Reach

Organic social media is a long-term, cost-effective strategy to build brand awareness. Users and viewers can find your business by engaging with social media naturally. This type of organic traffic to your brand comes without the type of costs associated with advertising and other brand-building techniques.

While there certainly are paid advertisements on social media, such as Facebook display ads, being active on these platforms with an interested audience provides natural exposure that doesn’t require direct funding.

Organic social media is somewhat of another website for your practice, and because of that, it contributes to earning new dental patients. Let’s go through all the methods of using social media to showcase your practice.

Create Buzz About Your Practice with Social Media

Social media gives you an organic ability to create buzz for your dental practice. So…what exactly is buzz?

Buzz is any type of content that creates excitement, engagement, and activity. For your dental practice, this means producing content that gets people interested in clean teeth, healthy smiles, and going to see the dentist regularly!

The nuance of viral buzz or trending content is a little bit different for every industry, but some ways to build interest in your practice include:

• Sharing client experiences and friendly office images.
• Showcasing the services you offer and the benefits of these services.
• Introducing cool new technologies and less-invasive procedures.
• Sharing some aesthetic successes from your practice.
• Posting about your practice candidly. This creates relatability and may help mitigate fears of going to the dentist.

Encourage New Patient Engagement

Promoting a call-to-action (CTA) in your content is always good for user conversions, be it through social media, your website, or online advertising. But social media gives you the chance to place more CTAs in front of people who are already interested in your services.

Your CTAs across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms can engage different behaviours that capture your followers at different stages of their customer cycle.

Being active on social media allows you to:

• Send reminders to followers to book their bi-annual visit.
• Offer “BOOK NOW” CTAs for people to visit your practice for the first time.
• Call out consultations for new dental services.
• Capture new patients in their moment of interest with easy access to booking destinations.

Reach New Users With Hashtags

Proper hashtag use can affect your practice’s reach and exposure to people interested in all things dentistry. In fact, hashtags can revolutionize your social media strategy and draw attention to your practice. For the greatest relevant exposure, use hashtags:

• Related to the dental industry.
• Specific to your practice and services.
• Connected to your target demographics.
• That people are interested in.

You can see the general volume of a hashtag just by typing it into Instagram. Use local hashtags to target more relevant patients who may actually visit your clinic.

For instance:

• #teethwhitening on Instagram has 3.3 million posts across the globe.
• #teethwhiteningchicago on Instagram has 1000+ posts

The Chicago hashtag has a lot fewer posts. But the people viewing this hashtag are more likely to engage and explore your social media profile if your business is in Chicago. You can check out our Dental Hashtag eGuide to get started with your hashtag strategy today.

Share Your Practice Personality!

Build relationships with current and future clients by being personable and engaging with them when they aren’t in the dentist’s chair. Prove to prospective patients that you’re more than just an office space with drills and fluoride.

When crafting your social media content, ask yourself, “why do patients choose us?” For some practices, it may be advanced tech, for others, a great reputation in root canal procedures. And for some dentists, it’s unworldly patient relations that make people excited to walk into your lobby.

The point is: let your practice personality shine through in your social media.

Your practice personality can extend to a personal level too! Organic social media allows you to engage with new patients on a direct level. You can use personal messages and intriguing content in your stories and posts to intrigue patient prospects. 

Prove You’re a Thought Leader

Becoming a dentist is not easy and building a successful dental practice is even harder! Social media is an outlet to share your expertise and let people in your region know that you’re a thought leader in dentistry.

Online consumers seek businesses they trust. One of the most effective ways to build trust is by being recognized as an expert in dental knowledge. Informative content should always be just that. Informing new patients is the priority with this type of material. Not every post needs to be a sales pitch and not every piece of content needs a CTA.

Some great ways to build trust with prospective patients through social media include:

• Educating the public about dental health.
• Helpful tips and interesting facts.
• Sharing relevant news and developments about dentistry.
• Sharing important milestones and achievements.
• Posting staff photos and practice developments.

See More Smiles With Social Media

Can effective social media put more patients in your dental chairs? 💯

Make sure to create content that is unique and exciting. Ensure new patients can easily contact your business and book their first visit with strategic CTAs. And use relevant hashtags to associate your dental practice with interested people.

At SmileShop, we create the most effective organic social media strategies that help you reach your target market best, and drive higher engagement rates. Contact our team to see the opportunity your practice has with organic social media today. 

We love seeing new smiles walk through your door with an intelligent social media strategy!