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How to Beat Your Competitors with Facebook Ads for Dentists

Social Media Marketing

At Digital Resource, we believe that Facebook ads are the fuel that can propel your practice to new heights. Today, we're here to show you how.  

What Exactly Are Facebook Ads?

Before we address why you should use Facebook ads for dentists, we must first define what Facebook Ads are.  

There are millions of Facebook users. With Facebook Ads, you can promote your dental services to all those individuals who have access to Facebook's extensive targeting tools.  

You will be able to showcase what your dental clinic has to offer and target consumers based on their location, age, sex, and other information. This capability enables your clinic to contact the right people.  

Now that you’re totally familiar with what Facebook Ads are and how they work, let's look at why your dental clinic should use them.  

Why Use Facebook Ads?

With so many advertising alternatives accessible to your dental practice, it's vital to understand what Facebook brings to the table. Here are seven incredible benefits dental Facebook ads can bring to your dental practice:

1. Accurate Ad Targeting

The most valuable asset of Facebook is its precision targeting possibilities. This social media platform outranks others on the market due to its capacity to carefully target consumers based on demographic and behavioral information entered.  

In Facebook Ads Manager, you can build ad campaigns for your dental office that enable you to target Facebook users based on the parameters you choose.  

2. Ability to Reach New Audiences

Your dental office may also use Facebook ads to target people who are likely to be interested in your services. You can do this by using the lookalike audiences, which target previously specified groups and locating potential patients who share similar characteristics.  

If you specialize in a particular field, such as pediatric, orthodontic, or cosmetic dentistry, you will be able to reach a more significant number of people who are looking for your type of clinic or the dental services you offer.  

3. Low-Cost Advertising

Compared to traditional forms of advertising strategies like newspapers or radio, marketing your dental clinic on Facebook is incredibly inexpensive.  

According to a recent a survey by WordStream, the average cost per click (CPC) in Facebook advertisements across all industries is $1.72. However, the cost of Facebook advertising may vary significantly based on the sector, ad placement, target demographic, and other criteria.  

An ad copy will typically cost between $0.50 and $2.00 per click.  

Because there are so many people on Facebook and smart targeting allows you to hit your prospective customers, Facebook ads have become one of the most cost-effective advertising tactics available.  

4. Retargeting Capabilities

It’s important to remember that one touchpoint isn’t enough. People will need to encounter your brand anywhere from three to seven times before they finally decide to take action.

This is where retargeting comes in.  

Retargeting is another way to reach your target audience. When you use this method, you allow your past website visitors to see your Facebook ad. This could mean increasing your chances of converting them. The more frequently they come across you, the higher the possibility.

5. A Customized Call-to-Action (CTA) Button

Calls-to-action play an essential role in boosting conversions and revenue. Without a doubt, you should incorporate them into your Facebook advertising strategy.

Most digital marketing ads today include a CTA button that will direct their target audience to the desired location, such as your business website. When done right, CTAs have the power to draw a user in and drive them to take your desired action. Yes, you can absolutely get them to schedule an appointment

In fact, many dentists have seen their conversion rates rising after they made CTAs a priority in their dental Facebook ads. Aside from taking your custom audiences to your site, you can also pick other options. Facebook currently offers these call-to-action buttons: Book Now, Contact Us, Download, Learn More, Apply Now, and Sign Up.

6. More Exposure for Your Content

Think your dental website has engaging content that resonates with your target audience? Want to build awareness on it so that more people will consider your dental practice? Of course, you do!

With dentists Facebook ads, you can definitely make it happen.

Running ad campaigns on Facebook can help amplify your content reach. You could end up attracting more people who could potentially turn into patients. Once you have a Facebook ad that can convert really well, you can put more and more money into in it until it’s no longer that effective.  

What’s more, you can create duplicate ads and target other segments. The fact of the matter is, great things can happen when you invest in Facebook dental ads. You’ll be amazed.

7. Robust Analytics

Finally, the Facebook advertising platform offers analytics unlike any other. It has no limits when it comes the analytics and reports of your ads’ performance. You’ll gain insights on important things like your post engagement, page like, weekly reach, clicks, conversions, and even sales.  

In other words, you’ll exactly know what’s working and what needs improvement. Those results will make it easier for you to determine your next step.  

5 Steps to Run Your Facebook Ad Campaign

We've covered a lot of ground on what Facebook advertising is and what it can do. Now, it's time to learn how to set it up and attract those new patients.  

Step 1: Set Up Your Account

Facebook For Business homepage

You must first establish all your accounts before you can make your first ad for your clinic.

A Facebook business page for your dental clinic is one of the first things you should do. A company page is required for placing advertisements, but it is also an excellent platform for engaging with your followers and informing them about the intricacies of your profession. All of this is also completely free.

To create a Facebook business page, you can follow this Meta Business Help Center guide.

Step 2: Make a Landing Page

Sample dental clinic website

Another thing you should do is create a landing page to which consumers will be taken if they click on one of your adverts. Even though this is one of the most significant aspects of advertising, it is also critical to do it correctly. This is because your landing page influences a user's decision to schedule an appointment.

Here are some things you need to consider when creating landing pages:

  • It should be easy to follow and relevant to the ad clicked on.
  • The message and the substance should be clear and simple.
  • It should have a straightforward call-to-action (CTA) button.

If you want to learn more about dental landing pages, check out this article: How to Create Dental Landing Pages That Convert.

Step 3: Create a Facebook Manager Account

FB Ads manager home page

The next step is to create your Facebook Manager Account. This is the place where you can register your dental practice.

Then you may begin configuring your Ad Manager account. Everything occurs in your Ad Manager, from setting up a Facebook ad campaign to targeting and designing your advertisements.

After you've created both these accounts, you can now start promoting and sharing information about your dental clinic.

But, there's one more thing you should do...

Step 4: Install Facebook Pixel (And Google Analytics)

When it comes to advertising, you want your efforts to be data-driven. This is where Facebook Pixel comes in. By enabling it, you will be able to take your ad campaigns to the next level. All you have to do is provide all the vital information to help you with budgeting, targeting, retargeting, and ad development.

The Facebook Pixel can be found in your Events Manager under the "Data Sources" page. Go to Ads Manager, then select the top left menu button, then pick "Manage Business" and then "Events Manager."

Facebook events manager page
Photo from Charlie Lawrence

Select Connect Data Sources. You will then be given three options for data sources to create: web, app, or offline.

"Connect Data Source" interface on Facebook events manager
Photo from Charlie Lawrence

Choose Web and then press the Get Started button.

Setting up web events on Connect Data Sources page
Photo from Charlie Lawrence

You'll then have to select a connection method in the next steps.

If you want to see an in-depth instruction on how to install Facebook Pixel to increase your Facebook advertisements, check out Charlie Lawrence's blog article on How To Setup And Install The New Facebook Pixel (Updated 2020).

In addition, it's also a good idea to install Google Analytics in addition to Pixel. You can make informed judgments about your marketing approach using both data sources.

If you're having difficulties getting started, check out this guide on Configuring Google Analytics from Hootsuite.

Your dental clinic is now ready to start advertising once you have set up all of your accounts. To get started on your campaigns, you must first grasp the structure of your campaign and how it affects the creation of your advertising.

Step 5: Establish A Campaign Structure

Creating a campaign on FB

Campaign structure serves as the foundation for your Facebook adverts. It determines where your advertising will appear, when it will appear, how it will appear, and how much it will cost.

Your structure will be divided into three sections: campaign, ad set, and ad level.

Campaign Level

The first level is the Campaign level, where you can use any type of ad you want. This decision will influence how your advertisements are presented, as well as your pay price.

Here are the three primary categories you can choose from:

  • Awareness: Designed to generate interest in your practice and/or service.
  • Consideration: Designed to entice the audience to learn more about what your dental practice offers.
  • Conversion: Designed to persuade people interested in your company to take action (inquire about your services or book an appointment).

After choosing a category, you can also select the following subcategories:

  • Brand Awareness: Designed to share your brand with people interested in dentistry. This raises your dental clinic's brand recognition.
  • Local Awareness: Designed to target users in your clinic's vicinity.
  • Traffic: Designed to increase the number of visitors to your website.
  • Video Views: Designed to help you promote your videos.
  • Lead Generation: Designed to collect information from your audience via a form similar to newsletter sign-ups.
  • Conversions: Designed to persuade visitors to take a specific action on your website.
  • Store Traffic: Designed to direct nearby users to your local dental practice.

The category and subcategory you choose at the campaign level depend significantly on what you want your ad to do. Here's an example:

To improve foot traffic to your dental clinic, you can choose "Conversions" and the subcategory "Store traffic."

Ad Set Level

After choosing your primary category and subcategory at the campaign level, it's time to proceed to the ad set level. At this stage, you'll be able to specify five things: your budget, schedule, audience, placement, and delivery.

Budget

In this section, you can choose the type of budget you want to use. You have two options: a daily budget or a lifetime budget. Keep in mind that you will never go above your budget. When your adverts have exhausted their budget, they will end.

Schedule

In this section, you can choose whether you want your advertising to run continuously or for a certain period. This allows you to generate advertising when you have a seasonal special that you only want to run for a limited time. Keep in mind that if you set a continuous schedule, you may stop and resume it whenever you wish.

Audience

In this section, you can choose your target demographic. You can select three groups of audiences: 

  • Saved Audience: Users may be included or excluded depending on various parameters such as demographics, geography, and interests.
  • Custom Audience: Target people based on a patient list or prior contact with your clinic's website or Facebook content.
  • Lookalike Audience: Create an audience with similar characteristics to your current customer database and market to them.
Placement

Now that you're done choosing your ad's budget, schedule, and target audience, you must decide where your advertisements will be shown. You have the option of having your ad placed automatically, but you also have the option of specifying where you want your ad to be placed.

Here are a few of the placement options:

  • Device Type: Mobile, Desktop, or Both
  • Facebook Placement: Feed, Instant Articles, In-Stream video, My Day, Marketplace, etc.
  • Messenger Placement: Inbox, Sponsored Messages, My Day, etc.
  • Instagram Placement: Feeds, Stories

Ad Level

The last part of your campaign structure is the ad level. In this section, you will be able to format your ad text at the ad level. This is where you will add text to your ad's picture or video.

Depending on your goal, your ad will be structured differently. It's good to test multiple versions of the same ad to see which combination of image (or video), text, headline, and call-to-action work best.

Facebook Ads for Dentists Are Effective

After reading this guide, we hope you understand how powerful Facebook ads when practices implemented correctly. This tutorial should serve as a starting point for you, but it is not something that can be mastered in a single day.  

We'd love to talk if you have any queries or want us to check through your ad campaigns.  

Make the Most Out of Facebook Ads for Dentists

Your dental practice’s marketing plan should include Facebook advertisements. However, Facebook Ads should not be your exclusive emphasis.  

It might be challenging to find enough hours in the day to perform everything in a dental business. This is where a dental marketing company can assist.  

At Digital Resource, we have a long history of success working with dental offices across the country. We have the tools and skills to help you with your internet marketing strategy. Running Facebook ads is something our talented social media team specializes in. You can count on them to help you advertise strategically so you can attract new patients with complete ease.

See what our clients from the dental industry are saying about us here.  

Schedule a free consultation with us today to learn how we can help you get started with your dentist Facebook ads!

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