TRAINING W hile your focus as a dentist should be providing qual-ity patient care, treating your practice as a business is also important. As such, dental prac-tice marketing is something you need to get right if you want a strong online presence and long-term success. Doing so means taking advantage of all oppor-tunities to improve your digital pres-ence, including dental practice social media. With that in mind, here are some tips to improve your social media strategy: way to spend your time. LinkedIn can be a resource for hiring and professional networking, but it won’t be a major source of new patients. Short-format platforms, such as X (formerly known as Twitter) and TikTok might seem trendy, but you’re less likely to connect with your actual audience. ᕢ Create and Optimize Profiles While setting up your profile will vary depending on the specific plat-form, most have a few traits in common. First, you’ll want to enter all relevant contact and location informa-tion properly. From there, most plat-forms will let you provide a brief text description. Keep this short and to the point to draw in visitors quickly. If there’s a space to enter bios, make sure they’re engaging and snappy. The graphics you include on your social media profile are of critical importance. If you don’t have a high-quality logo, consider commissioning one. Simply listing the practice name in a fancy font isn’t always the way to go, especially if you have a long name that isn’t discernible from a profile picture. You should expect to upload many images over time, but upload a handful of high-quality graphics when first starting out. This will fill up any gallery previews, and you can also set a banner or cover photo on most social media platforms. from your practice, holiday closures, and insight into your various treatment options. If you’re new to daily content publishing, develop a content posting schedule to help you stay on track. There are also some technical aspects you should try to get right to extend your reach. Like with your website and blog, search engine optimization (SEO) is impor-tant for social media. Implementing SEO best practices can boost engagement for your social posts and broaden your reach. ᕡ Select the Right Social Media Platforms When starting your dental practice social media marketing strategy, you’ll need to set up accounts on various plat-forms. The question is, which ones should you prioritize? After all, there are many options, and not all of them are created equal when reaching potential patients. Facebook is likely the first platform you should prioritize. It provides a wide reach and includes different options to leverage eye-catching visuals. When it comes to demographics, parents are among the most likely to use Facebook, and they are typically the decision-makers you want to target. Instagram is another major social media platform that can help promote your practice. This highly visual plat-form is perfect for sharing before-and-after photos, which makes it especially powerful for dentists wanting to show off the impact of their work. While not exactly a social media platform, YouTube is another platform you need to leverage. Video marketing is highly effective, and posting videos on YouTube makes it easy to integrate with social media and your dental prac-tice website. If you’re just starting with social media, stick to these few options—other platforms may not be the most efficient ᕤ Build a Follower Base Social media best practices will directly support your long-term dental practice marketing strategy. First and foremost, regularly gaining more follow-ers will continuously expand your reach. However, you need to ensure that your social media posts also get consis-tent engagement to make that a reality. There are many ways you can do this. One of the most straightforward is to offer various giveaways or prizes to those who share your content on social media. You can also ask patients to leave a review after a successful procedure to further build your online presence. But don’t forget the power of interacting with your audience—regularly replying to comments and addressing feedback will build trust with your potential clients. ᕣ Content Creation and Strategy With your profiles set up, you now need to consider how to approach content strategy for dental practices. One of the simplest ways to start provid-ing quality, engaging posts is to promote your dental website’s blog posts. This drives patients to your website while also providing practical information. However, you will especially benefit from posting on social media daily. These posts don’t have to be very long, but they should contain something interesting. Make sure to share news ᕥ Continue Building Your Online Presence Taking the right approach to social media for your dental practice can help you bring in and retain more patients. By refining your profiles and building followers over time, you can achieve excellent social media outreach. You can also expand your horizons and imple-ment new treatment options to appeal to more patients with American Orthodontic Society courses. www.orthodontics.com Winter 2024 33
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society JAOS Winter 2024: Page 33
