Social Media for Dentists: Instagram Trending Features You Need to Start Using

Is your Instagram account not getting as much attention from your target patients as you’d hoped?

It’s probably because your posts aren’t as engaging as your audience expects them to be.  

Evergreen content will always be relevant to users. But when you're serving information in the same format again and again, it loses its appeal over time.  And, sooner or later, patients will begin to ignore them.  

Instead of simply posting branded content, spice up your Instagram account and boost your social media for dentist content strategy with these trending features!

Instagram Trending Features for Your Dental Practice

1. Instagram Reels

Short-form videos are incredibly popular among users right now. No wonder why Instagram Reels are getting more search interest compared to Instagram Stories, and more engagement compared to regular Insta videos.  

An increasing number of people are actively searching for Reels and want to know how to use this feature. This is a sign that you need to start using Reels to promote your practice.  

Reels is a short-form video feature that allows you to edit multiple clips together up to 60-seconds long and add visual effects, music, and captions. It’s a great way to entertain your patients on the platform and capture their attention quickly.  

If you haven’t given Reels a try yet, now is the best time to jump on the bandwagon! In an attempt to compete with TikTok, Instagram will likely reward Reel users by boosting their visibility and exposure for experimenting with the format.  

If you’re wondering what to post for your first-ever Instagram Reel, here are some ideas:

• Day in the life of a dentist.  
• Meet the dentist.
• Meet the staff.

• Debunking oral myths and misconceptions.  
• Dental tips and hacks.  
• Daily oral health reminders.
• Before and after results.
• Demonstrate products and procedures.

• Quick how-to guides.
• Feature an influencer and show how they use your product or services.

2. Reels Visual Replies  

Reels Visual Replies is a new feature that allows users to comment on Reels with another Reel.  

This feature allows you to join in on industry conversations, engage with other content creators or dental accounts, and give your patients the opportunity to interact with you by making their own video responses.  

You’ll find this video reply function in the comment section of any Reel and video replies will appear as a sticker.  

3. Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are a great way to share moments of your day and keep your patients and prospective patients updated with what’s going on in your dental clinic.  

They appear in a slideshow format and disappear within 24 hours. Other dental accounts also use this feature similar to a menu where they feature their services, customer testimonials, smile makeovers, dental tips, and many more.  

Since its launch, Instagram has made this feature even more engaging and beneficial through its interactive stickers.

Here are the different ways you can use Instagram stickers to drive engagement:

• Promote products and services, allowing followers to go directly to your product page or service page.  
• Tease your audience about an upcoming event, launch, promo, or collaboration.  

• Share a link to a blog post and drive more users to your site.  
• Have influencers or brand ambassadors directly link to the product or service they’re promoting.  

Wondering what stickers you should be using? Here are our top favorites:

• Questions sticker – This allows you to ask and gather your patients' opinions, thoughts, and recommendations for certain matters. It’s also a great way to get them to engage with you. For example, you can show them a picture of oral disease and ask them to guess what it might be.  
• Emoji Slider – Let your audience rate smile transformations to get them to engage with your practice.  

• Poll – Polls are a great way to get your target audience on a deeper level. You can gather insights to boost your social media for dentist marketing strategy.  
• Link – Use link stickers to drive traffic to your website. You can also use this link to get new and existing patients to book an appointment.  

Aside from the four stickers we mentioned above, one of the more recent interactive sticker options that are gaining a lot of attention in the community is the “Add Yours” stickers.  

The “Add Yours” sticker enables you to prompt your followers and engage them by asking them to share their own Story around a specific theme.  

Tapping on the sticker takes users to a thread or collection of photos from everyone who participated.  

Here's what it looks like:

Photo from TabThemes

4. Cross-Promote Tweets and Memes

Did you know you can now share a tweet on Instagram? If you find any viral memes or tweets that you can give a spin or fit your brand voice into it, share them in your Stories or your actual feed!  

It’s a great way to showcase your brand. Sharing a tweet from your followers is also a great way to encourage your patients to interact with you online.  

Just remember that when it comes to sharing tweets, the trend today is to use a colorful background to make your tweet more visually appealing. Here’s an example of what it should look like:

Photo from The Skimm’s Instagram account.  

5. Branded Content Partnerships

Because Instagram is commonplace for content creators, influencers, and brand ambassadors, the platform is making it easier for brands to collaborate with them.  

Thanks to Instagram’s Collabs and Branded Content ads, finding the best person to promote your practice has never been easier.  

This new feature allows creators to list brands they're interested in collaborating with and enables practice owners like you to filter and search for the best-fit creators for your dental campaigns.  

Once you’ve determined the perfect creator or influencer to promote your practice, you can reach out and communicate with them directly from the app.  

Working with creators and influencers is an effective way to share your brand message more authentically and engagingly.  

Checkout Smile Direct Club’s collaboration with content creator Kelli Erdmann to produce this fun and entertaining Reel:

Here are some ideas on how you can collaborate with creators or influencers on Instagram:

• Work with creators to produce fun and engaging posts that the two of you can share with your respective communities.  

• Create an affiliate option to motivate creators to promote your dental products and services.  

Are You Using These Trending Social Media for Dentist Instagram Features to your Advantage?

Instagram offers many different options to create and share content. By using these trending Instagram features, you can diversify your content, boost engagement, spread awareness about your practice, and attract new patients!

At Digital Resource, our team of social media marketing experts and SEO specialists will work with you to create custom content on social media for dentists that will help you attract more patients to your practice!

Want to put your dental clinic ahead of the competition? Contact us today to start getting traction online!

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