Boost Your Practice With Social Media

Social media done right can offer significant benefits to dental practices, from increasing patient compliance to growing your patient base. Social media done wrong, however, can have disasterous, long-lasting results.

So how do you harness the benefits of social media marketing without the pitfalls? Following are our best tips for a successful social media strategy.

1. Invest in Professional Help

Unfamiliar with TikTok, Instagram, X, and Facebook? According to Exploding Topics, Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world with more than 3 billion users. YouTube comes in second with 2.7 billion users. WhatsApp, with 2.4 billion participants, is third; Instagram is fourth with 2.35 billion; and TikTok takes the fifth spot with more than 1.6 billion users.¹ And new social media platforms are always on the horizon with Instagram Threads, Lemon8, Kick, Bluesky, Damus, and Gowalla as the newest entries into the market.

Gaining a key understanding of how these platforms work is a challenge and takes time away from what you do best: patient care. Thus, hiring an expert in social media marketing is a smart step. Be sure to understand what a digital marketing company offers before signing the dotted line. You may also want personalized website content, reputation management, and SEO maximization. Make sure the firm you choose can fulfill all of your needs before making a committment.

2. Embrace Social Media as an Effective Communication Tool

Gone are the days of phone books, letters in the mail, and maybe even telephone calls. Patients are accustomed to getting their news, keeping their calendars, and receiving reminders through internet-based communication, including social media platforms. Dentists can harness this strength to effectively reach out to potential new patients.

Ensuring your practice’s website looks up to date and appealing while also providing key information is critical to encouraging new patients. Now is not the time to be shy. Your bio should include all accolades so when patients are looking for a new dentist, they will be impressed with your credentials. For instance, do you provide pro bono care at a public health clinic? Make sure you post on your social media platforms. Patients want to use providers who align with their values. Demonstrating your altruistic efforts or your office’s newest technology or highlighting a new certification you have earned are all ways to get prospective patients interested in your practice. A 2023 study by Freire et al² found that more than 41% of patients looking for a new dental practice interacted with prospective office’s social media platforms. You need to be where they are looking.

3. Analyze Your Results

The goal is not just to create an online presence, but rather to maximize those efforts and turn them into results. The only way to accomplish this is to evaluate the data. You need to measure your results via three metrics: reach, engagement, and conversion rates.³ By understanding how well your social media efforts are performing, you can make educated decisions on how best to proceed.

References

1. Howarth J. Top 35 Media Platforms. Available at explodingtopics.com/blog/top-social-media-platforms. Accessed January 16, 2024.
2. Freire Y, Sanchez MG, Suarez A, Joves G, Garcia VDF. Influence of the use of social media on patients changing dental practice: a web-based questionnaire study. Influence of the use of social media on patients changing dental practice: a web-based questionnaire study. BMC Oral Health. 2023;23:365.
3. Ukoha. How health care organizations approach social media measurement: qualitative study. JMIR Form Res. 2020;4:18518.

From Decisions in Dentistry. January/February 2025;11(1):46.