In the digital age, your patients live on social media. More and more families find their medical providers, including dentists, on social networking platforms.
Today, our team explains why your dental practice needs social media–especially Facebook.
Using Facebook For Your Dental Practice
Think about these statistics. Facebook boasts over 1.5 billion active daily users, and each user averages about 338 friends. Twenty-two percent of a person’s daily internet usage is on Facebook.
If you can get in front of Facebook users in your local community, you can then get in front of their friends and families who are looking for a new dentist, too.
Why Facebook Matters to You
An active, vibrant social media presence delivers these major benefits to your practice.
Show Off Your Office Culture
Build your brand awareness by creating posts that highlight your practice culture, unique services, special events and other factors that make you stand out from the competition.
Meet Multiple Patient Goals
Facebook is a platform for communicating with current and prospective patients, making it ideal for converting new patients and maintaining a thriving relationship with existing patients.
Facebook Marketing is Affordable
Even when factoring in a boost budget and money for Facebook Ads, the platform is a very affordable component of your digital marketing strategy. Boosted posts and pay-per-click ads drive conversions like website clicks, messages and office calls.
Boost and Improve Your SEO Strategy
Regularly posting on social media gives you fresh, new content which positively impacts both your SEO and search rankings on Google.
Facebook Strategy for Dentists
When building your practice presence, prioritize these three key factors in your content strategy:
- Post with purpose
- Boost high-performing posts
- Advertise on Facebook with pay-per-click advertisements
The Best Facebook Posts for Dental Practices
Keep in mind all the elements encompassed within a Facebook strategy. You can’t just make a profile to take up online real estate and never post anything yourself—you need to actively post informative content based on your audience’s interests and engage with them.
Posting on Facebook with Purpose
To post with purpose, you need to have a specific goal in mind for each update. Your average social media user is scrolling through Facebook because they want a break from work and their daily responsibilities. Reward them with real, fun, engaging content.
Questions to Consider Before Posting on Facebook
- Does this content build my practice brand?
- Will it drive both new and current patient conversions?
- Does it accurately showcase my office culture?
Facebook Posting Ideas for Dentists
- Services and procedures you offer
- Celebrations and anniversaries of you and your staff
- Dental-related tips and trends
- Patient photos (after you ask for permission to use)
- Action images of your doctors and staff
- Team activities, both in and outside of the office
What Are Boosted Facebook Posts?
A boosted post is a post to your Page timeline that you can pay to appear in front of an audience of your choice. This is the simplest way to advertise on Facebook, as it allows you to get in front of specific audiences and go beyond the average organic post reach of 5.2%.
If you have more ambitious practice goals, like promoting your low prices for tooth extractions and driving appointments for this procedure, consider adding Facebook Ads to your marketing strategy.
Benefits of Boosting Your Facebook Posts
- Affordable with a sustainable, reasonable budget
- Reach both current and prospective patients with the highly targeted demographics of boosting
- Help build your brand beyond your usual page audience
How Does Social Media Impact SEO?
As part of their crawling of your website and overall web presence, Google will index your social signals or indications that you’re actively using and posting on major social media channels.
The Impact of Facebook on Your Google Search Rankings
Your social media presence has the power to not just elevate you on Facebook, but to help other efforts of yours in the digital marketing ecosystem—like dental practice Search Engine Optimization. Here’s how.
Use a Link to Your Website in Your Facebook Post
Using a link to your website in a post gives viewers an opportunity to convert and gives you a reliable link in Google’s eyes.
Patients Share and Engage With Your Content
As patients share your post to their personal Facebook pages, like your content, comment and click on your link, Google starts to notice how much user attention you are getting.
Google Crawlers Interpret Social Media Signals
Since your content is high in shares and clicks, Google interprets this as a “signal” that your practice and information are both credible and prominent in the eyes of internet users.
Social Media Helps You Show Up in Google Search
The more “signals” your Facebook page generates for Google to read, the more likely you will show up on Google search.
Social Media and Dental Practice Marketing Success
As you refine your marketing strategy and narrow in on the patient demographics you’d like to target, use this data to influence your decisions for social media. Ultimately, an active Facebook profile will bolster your digital presence and give you even more opportunities to convert the valuable patients you want.
Need Help With Dental Practice Social Media?
At Whiteboard Marketing, our social media team creates content unique to each practice and utilizes strategic post scheduling and boosting to maximize your patient engagement. Schedule a consultation call with us to get started.
Written by Anna L. Davies, Digital Marketing Specialist at Whiteboard Marketing, with assistance from the Social Media Specialist team.