7 Reasons Your Dental Practice Should Engage In Social Media

In its early days, social media was primarily a platform dedicated to connecting people wherever they may be in the world. Social media is still that today, as it continues to provide its users a quick and easy way to communicate with friends and family.

However, it has become so much more. Social media is now a powerful business tool that entrepreneurs can use to market their brand. Just about any business—your dental practice included—can engage in social media marketing and benefit from it. Here are seven reasons your dental practice should establish a presence on social media.

1. Increasing Brand Awareness

Social media platforms have billions of users. Facebook alone is used by nearly three billion people. Instagram is also a member of the billion-user club. Once you put your business on social media, you’re getting the opportunity to make your brand more visible to as many people as possible. With your posts on social media, more people will be aware of your brand and will likely remember it when the time to undergo a dental procedure comes.

2. Attracting New Patients

When you’re on social media, use it to post regularly about topics your target audience would want you to cover, namely, oral health and dentistry procedures.

Tips about the best type of toothpaste to use or reassuring people that dental procedures are safe will help you earn their trust, and they will likely keep your dental office in mind for their next dental visit. Your social media account is also an excellent place for you to post about promotional offers, from free consultations to discounts on selected services, all of which can draw in more people to your dental office.

3. Engaging With People

Social media platforms allow audiences to communicate directly with the owners of accounts, either via direct messaging or through the comments section. Your posts on social media are bound to get the attention of your audience. You can expect them to have questions related to the topic at hand, express their agreement with you, or even start an argument in some cases.

As much as possible, engage with your social media audience. Answer their queries, clarify things, or present counter arguments, and remember to be cordial and professional at all times.

4. Boosting Your Credibility

Your social media account is a good place to flex your dentistry muscles. With your posts related to dentistry and oral health in general, you can position yourself as an expert in the field. When your posts and comments accurately answer your audience›s questions, your reputation as a dentist will rise, and more people will likely consider visiting your dental office to avail of your expert services.

5. Making Your Practice More Relatable To Your Audience

Your audience already knows about your expertise through your posts, but do they really know you or the members of your team enough to trust you with their dental health? Social media can be crucial to making your dental practice more familiar and relatable to the people who follow you.Posts featuring photos and videos of your dental office would be a good start. Images of your dental office staff in action will also go a long way in getting people to know your practice better.

If you can host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, then go ahead. Just be ready to answer more than just dentistry-related questions, as AMAs tend to gravitate toward the personal side of things.

6. Trackable Results

Unlike traditional marketing, social media marketing results are much easier to monitor, thanks to the treasure trove of free and paid tracking tools out there. With such tools in your hand, you can easily measure social media metrics such as volume, reach, engagement, and influence, all of which help provide a clear picture of how your social media campaigns are doing. 

With the data you get from these tools, you will know if you’re doing things right or if you need to make adjustments to your approach to maximize results.

7. Keeping Up With Competitors

Do you know who your competitors are? If you do, then search for them on any given social media platform, and the chances that they’re already there are great. When your competitors are on social media, and you aren’t, you’re already missing out on what Facebook et al. can do for your business.

If your competitors don’t have a social media presence, then create one for your dental practice and get a leg up on everybody else.

Considering the power of social media, it’s already safe to say that it’s no longer optional for entrepreneurs, dentists included. These days, a social media presence is already a must to have a much better shot at success. 

You can do your social media activities yourself, but keep in mind that it takes a lot of work and patience.

If you want to engage in social media, but you barely have the time for it, you can always let a digital marketing agency take care of your social media campaigns for you. Their social media expertise has already helped countless businesses achieve their goals, and they can do the same for your dental practice.