Social Media for Dentists: How to Attract New Patients 2022

Are you looking for ways to keep your waiting rooms busy, your treatment rooms full, and your office phone ringing non-stop from new patients?

According to a survey by Delta Dental Plans Association, 93% of people in the U.S. plan to visit a dental clinic in 2021. This proves that there’s no shortage of patients in need of your services!

The question is, how can you reach them?

Social media for dentists is the answer!

Social Media Boosts Online Presence

Being active on social media, maintaining brand consistency, and having a strategy in place can help your dental practice stay relevant and inviting to new patients.  

But before we jump into that, let’s first discuss the five essential steps you need to do to get started on social media.  

• Identify your target patients. Who are you looking to attract?
• Understand where your audience prefers to engage and how. What social media platforms are they using? Do they prefer Reels? Lives? Humor? Create a patient profile to help you better understand who your best patients are and their preferences.  

• Decide how many patients you want to acquire in a month. Set short-term goals so you can create a social media for dentists strategy that will help you achieve that.
• Determine how much budget you can allocate for bringing in new patients.

It’s time to develop a social media strategy for dentists to attract new patients.  

1. Optimize Your Social Media Profile

Once you’ve determined which social media channels your target patients prefer to use, create an account on that platform and optimize it for better visibility.  

Remember, first impressions are everything in this digital age. People judge you by your online presence. This means your social media profile can’t be generic. It should be engaging and interactive.  

Let’s start with optimizing your profile. This will make it easier for potential patients to find you on social media, sort through the services you offer, and book an appointment. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Use your dental practice’s name as your username.  

2. Use your logo as your profile picture.  

3. Use a photo of your dentists and staff as a cover photo. You can also use the façade of your clinic if you want.

4. Make sure the images you use are in the right size.  

5. Use the same profile picture across all social media platforms to boost familiarity and recognition.  

6. Use consistent handles or your ‘@name’. It's best to use your dental practice's name. Using something complicated and not obvious will make it difficult for potential patients to search and find your profile.

7. Add your keyword in your username. For example, if the name of your practice is Radiant Smiles Dental Clinic and your target keyword is ‘Dentist for Kids,’ then turn your username into 'Radiant Smile Dental Clinic for Kids’. This way, people will know you're a pediatric dentist and you can attract the right kind of patients.

8. Use hashtags in your posts. To ensure that your content appears whenever potential patients search for your services on social media, use relevant hashtags in your posts. This is a great way to boost your visibility and categorize your content.

9. Update your bio with relevant information. Include your business name, contact information, and address. You should also write a short paragraph of who you are, what you do, and who you cater to in the description.  

10. Include a link to your dental website.  

You should also consider exploring appointments on Facebook. This feature allows potential patients to book on your Facebook page without needing to go to your website. It’s easier to capture leads and convert them into patients!

It also allows you to display your services and available time slots, manage appointment requests, and send out notifications to remind them of their appointments.

Aside from Facebook, Instagram has other features too that you need to start using to engage your followers and attract new patients!

2. Differentiate Yourself

Depending on your location, there’s a huge chance you’re not the only dental clinic in your area. This is why it’s so important to stand out and create a strong profile that speaks directly to your target patients.

Aim to differentiate yourself by identifying your unique selling proposition and communicating that to your audience. Figure out what makes your dental practice different. Is it your advanced equipment? Friendly staff? Affordable quality dental care?  

You can also dig into your specialization. For example, if your clinic specializes in veneers, make it a point to emphasize this on your profile. “Veneers specialist” could be one of your target keywords, and you can use it in your hashtags and even incorporate it in your username and description.  

Focus on creating content around your specialization, unique services, and other things that differentiate your clinic, such as your state-of-the-art dental technologies.  

People like to go to dentists who continue their education and keep up to date with technology because this impacts the kind of care and experience patients receive. So, make this prominent on your website and other marketing materials.  

Your unique selling proposition will help attract the right patients and keep existing ones loyal.  

3. Boost Your Presence Across Social Networks

Having a strong digital presence gives your practice the opportunity to build your credibility, maintain your reputation, and boost engagement with your ideal patients.  

Use social media as a way for you to communicate with potential and existing patients by answering their questions, responding to inquiries, giving expert advice on common dental health problems, and entertaining them by hopping on trends and running contests or giveaways.  

Doing all this helps humanize your practice, gain people’s trust, and become closer to the public in the process.

So, how exactly can you boost your presence on social media? Below are the things you need to do to strengthen your online presence:

• Engage with your followers and audience. You can do this by asking them a question on Facebook, running a This or That poll on Instagram Stories, encouraging them to comment, like, or share your video, posting a meme or a funny video, replying to comments, and reposting user-generated content.
• Post at the right time and consistently. To strengthen your presence on social, it’s important to post consistently and during a time that your followers are most active. This helps ensure that your posts get maximum visibility.

• Share your blog posts on Facebook. This is a great way to generate traffic to your site and showcase your practice’s expertise.  
• Always include branded visuals. Nobody likes reading a block of text. People are more likely to skim through your post if it has an image that piques their interest and gives context to what you’re trying to tell them. Visuals can be in the form of photos, infographics, and GIFs.  
• Use hashtags in every post: both branded and relevant hashtags. It will boost the visibility of your content and organize your posts, making it easier for prospects to find what they’re looking for in your profile.  
• Pin your most important content at the top of your page. Doing this prevents an important post from getting “lost” in a sea of content. You can pin special announcements, a link to a blog post that received a lot of engagement, or a photo that captures the essence of your dental practice.  
• Share your patients’ posts about your practice, whether it’s a selfie showing off their new smile or thanking your clinic for a job well done.  

4. Focus on Getting Stellar Reviews Online

What many dental clinics don’t realize is that positive reviews play a crucial role in getting new dental patients to choose their dental practice over others.

Before deciding which dentist they’re going to trust, 87% of Americans read online reviews and consider them as a trusted source of recommendation for dentists. This proves that nobody is going to choose a dental clinic that doesn’t have any reviews online over a dentist with many positive reviews.  

Reviews are a critical part of your online presence and reputation. Aim to get more positive reviews to convince potential patients to visit your clinic instead of your competitors.  

5 Social Media Marketing Tips for Dentists

Now that you know how to optimize your social media profiles, differentiate your practice, and boost your visibility across social media platforms, it’s time to give you some social media for dentist ideas on how to market your practice and attract new patients.  

Turn Your Staff into Advocates

Social media marketing is all about building close relationships with your patients. Since your staff is who they interact with the most, it just makes sense to turn them into advocates.  

Your employees live in the same community as your patients and prospective patients. By asking them to share your social media posts on their profile, you can reach a wider audience and give your practice a human touch that patients love!

Answer Your Patients’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Create content around your target patients’ interests, pain points, and problems. However, make sure not to be too technical with your terms or clinical. This can bore people. Instead, use terms they can easily understand and make it direct to the point.  

Some people like reading long-form blog posts, while others prefer to watch videos. Provide your target audience with a variety of content to keep them engaged and give them what they want.  

If you’re going to make a video, keep your discussion short and add captions for a better experience. TikTok is a popular platform among millennials and Gen Z.  

It’s the perfect channel if your clinic wants to reach a younger audience. You can even go live to do a Q&A with your patients and prospective patients!

Providing your potential patients with useful and accurate information to answer their questions or address their pain points is an effective way to earn their confidence and loyalty.  

Feature Before and After Photos

Aside from reviews and ratings, patient testimonials help convince new patients to opt for your dental practice over others. It’s also a great way to add a personal touch to your social presence.  

Highlight your patients’ stories and tell your audience how their new smile has changed their lives. Just remember to follow the HIPAA guidelines and ask permission from your patients before posting.  

Stories can be inspiring and motivate others to undergo the same procedure or treatment in your clinic.  

Run Social Media Giveaways or Contest

One of the most effective ways to grow your following on social media and boost brand awareness is to run contests and giveaways.  

It's free advertising for your practice and you can get immediate results. You can set up guidelines that encourage users to follow you, like your post, share it, and tag friends!

What’s even more amazing about running contests or giveaways on social media is that you can increase your visibility almost instantly, up your engagement, increase your sales, and gather information about potential patients!

Collaborate with Social Media Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers don’t have a huge fan base compared to celebrity-level influencers, but they tend to have more influence over their community.  

These people trust their recommendations and will gladly spend money if they say something is worth it.  

Tap into micro-influencers’ potential by partnering with them! They can help showcase your services, feature your facilities, and encourage their followers to check out your clinic too!

Social Media for Dentists Can Take Your Practice to The Next Level

Social media for dentists can be a powerful tool to build your reputation, establish credibility, and attract the right patients to your practice!

Use this blog to guide you in developing a social media marketing strategy that generates new patients and keeps existing ones loyal!

At Digital Resource, our dental social media specialists will work with you to create a custom social content plan that will put your dental clinic ahead of your competitors.  

Need help acquiring new dental patients for your practice? We can help! Contact us today for a FREE consultation.

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