From blogging and podcasts to video marketing and paid social ads, practices need to leverage dental social media marketing to better attract and retain patients.

For decades, doctors and dentists have relied almost entirely on word of mouth marketing and creating a good reputation to grow their practice. But today, studies show that over 95 percent of consumers are online, and the vast majority of them use social media platforms to engage with their friends and brands.

The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Dentists

Unlike other businesses, many people visiting dentists often have to overcome some kind of anxiety that may cause them to delay treatment or skip dental appointments.

Social media platforms provide a means for dental practices to engage with their existing clients and prospects in a fun way, constantly reminding them of the benefits of professional dental care, including painless dental treatments and sedation options, so they have nothing to fear.

Dentists don’t need to convince patients to go visit them.

People already know what they need for optimal oral health. The challenge, however, is getting the people to schedule their appointments at the right time, and helping them overcome the anxiety and fear associated with dentistry.

Ultimately, what is required is for dentists to earn the patient’s trust and confidence.

Benefits of Dental Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one of the best ways for dental practices to build lasting relationships with their audience.

Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram allow you to find new patients, engage with prospects, and build your brand’s reputation.

Social media marketing can help dentists:

– Make patients feel more comfortable before visiting the office – You can create a good impression and cultivate relationships with your audience by sharing images of your office and the results of your work through client experiences and testimonials

– Showcase their authority, industry experience, and track record – Choosing a dentist is a long-term decision. Your general dentist will be responsible for the dental and oral health of your loved ones. When prospects search for a local dentist, your social media profile must make them feel that they’re in safe hands

– Eliminate some of the stigma associated with visiting the dentist – the You can make the environment fun and warm by showcasing a warm reception, friendly staff, ease of making an appointment, responding to patient feedback, and so on.

Creating Trust through Social Media

Dental social media marketing allows you to create a personality that reassures your clients and prospects, so they can trust you, remember you in case of dental emergencies, and even look forward to visiting your practice.

It is the platform that dentists need to sell confidence, trust, comfort, good health, and a great experience.

Studies show that a dental practice needs to attract at least 20 new patients every month to grow and succeed. To attract new patients, marketers need a comprehensive marketing approach that combines traditional and digital marketing practices.

The former alone is not enough to increase your clients considering the following:

– 97% of consumers search for local services online;
– 73% of dental patients use search engines to research possible treatments,
– and 72% of patients look up online reviews when choosing a new doctor or dentist.

These statistics show the importance of integrating digital marketing tactics in your dental marketing campaign. The following are some of the top dental marketing ideas to help you attract more clients to your practice:

1. Create an engaging website to attract new patients

Reports show that 48% of consumers consider a website’s design as the most important factor in deciding a brand’s credibility.

It takes them 0.05 seconds to form an opinion once the page loads.

This means that your website should be professionally designed by a company that understands aesthetics, function, and SEO.

Generally, a good dental website should have:

– Simple and user-friendly navigation
– Uncluttered design – with proper layout, headings, text, fonts, colors, graphics
– Responsive design – mobile friendly
– Reviews and testimonials
– Relevant pages – about us, services, contact us, FAQs
– Clear call to action – online scheduling, messaging capabilities
– Blog – helpful content

The website should also be optimized for SEO to make it easy for search engine algorithms to find, crawl, and index the web pages.

2. Include a Clear Incentive for Referrals

Most established dental practices rely on internal patient referrals for over 70% of their new patient growth. Yet many existing patients don’t necessarily think about helping you grow your client base.

But you can encourage them to recommend your services by providing a referral bonus, such as a discount on their next visit or a dental/oral product for any person who visits the practice following their recommendation.

3. Direct your Marketing Efforts at Women

Studies show that women make over 90% of all dental/oral treatment decisions.

They want to make informed decisions concerning the wellbeing of their families, which means that they spend more time in research to determine the quality of your service, and not just the products. So make sure your marketing efforts provide in-depth demographic targeting

4. Final Tip to attract new Patients to your Dental Practice

Lastly, to attract new Patients to your Dental Practice, make sure to get involved in your community.

Dental practices are a local business, which means that your prospects are the people around you. Consider sponsoring events or asking your employees to participate in community projects as a way to give your brand, name, or logo visibility on brochures, t-shirts, banners, and so on.