Social Media: Creating Content That Works

Social media has become an invaluable tool for the marketing of small businesses, and that includes dental practices. Facebook is the most popular one on the planet, with 2.9 billion active users and YouTube and Instagram aren’t far behind.

According to RAMP’s Social Media Playbook for Dental Practices, there are five key reasons to include it in your marketing strategy:

• Patient acquisition
• Brand awareness
• Increasing traffic
• Audience engagement
• Affordability

Before creating a social media plan, it’s important to identify and understand your ideal patient demographic so you can tailor your content to their needs. Develop a strategy that defines your brand and messaging, then set goals for your campaigns. Those may include acquiring new patients or promoting a new service or product. Then create a content calendar and schedule posts when they best make sense for your audience.

Effective Social Media Content

Not sure what to post? Depending on your practice, there can be a number of directions to take that will engage social media users and catch the eyes of prospective new patients. Here are 15 quick ideas that have proven popular and successful for dental professionals.

1. Educational content such as “how to brush correctly videos” or “the benefits of sedation dentistry.”
2. Take patients through specific dental procedures or treatments to help reduce the fear.
3. Meet the team! Introduce staff members and share team-building events.
4. Encouraging team members to share and like office posts can lead to more referrals.
5. Sharing positive reviews and patient testimonials will go a long way to convincing those still on the fence.
6. Before-and-after patient transformation photos are always exciting.
7. Contests and giveaways such as trivia or new products can be great interactive content.
8. Sponsor local youth sports teams and post about their wins.
9. Cross-promote with other local business so you can benefit each other.
10. Participate in community events and share on social media.
11. Create fun videos for TikTok trends, especially if your target audience skews young.
12. Post a virtual tour of your office of dental facilities.
13. Partnering with social media influencers or celebrities in the area can benefit both parties.
14. Celebrate! Provide relevant content for holidays, successes, awards, and more.
15. Giving is receiving. Promote charities and philanthropic causes with a personal connection.

This is just a little inspiration for creating a social media presence that educates and engages your current and potential patients. You can improve impressions and encourage interactions with quality video, interesting captions, relevant hashtags, location tools, and more.

Social Media Best Practices

As health professionals, it’s critical to stay aware of HIPAA compliance when posting social media that involves patients. For testimonials or case studies, always acquire written permission before sharing any patient information online.

Besides being good business, responding to comments and reviews on the different platforms can improve reach, impressions, and those tricky algorithms. It can also be to your advantage to create paid ads with select posts on Meta and other sites for more traction. Promote across the different platforms where possible as well.

As with any marketing strategy, be sure to monitor analytics and adjust where necessary. Determine a baseline for engagement metrics (shares, likes, views) and change things up if the performance isn’t meeting expectations. Learn to adapt because the world of social media is constantly in motion.

By posting consistently and with forethought, social media can greatly enhance your other marketing tools like website retargeting and review generation. If you’re interested in creating content that works for your dental practice, schedule a free strategy session with RAMP today.