Marketing for dental offices is a topic of increasing interest because, today more than ever, the dialogue between professional and potential client is made explicit on social platforms.
Today therefore being present on social networks is an essential necessity for any medical or dental office, because this is where the future clients of the office reside, whose contact must be the main objective of the marketing strategy. In this article, we explain the key points on which an effective social strategy should be based
Why is it essential to be on social media today for a dental professional?
The premises of a social media marketing strategy, which are valid in the dental field, but in general for any activity, are:
On social networks it is possible to build lasting relationships and work on reputation, but this can only be done by providing useful and interesting content for the target
A dialogue is built on social media . This is the element that distinguishes this from any other form of digital communication (and not) is the type of relationship that is not one-way but must be two-way and interactive
What can social media be used as part of a marketing strategy for a dental practice?
Social media are fundamental tools to connect your professional reality with a gigantic number of people (maybe they are really looking for it!) Facilitating the interaction with them. However, this requires strategy, time and a lot of preparatory work.
The return on this investment for a dental practice is measurable in terms of:
- Visibility
- Identification of new potential patients and useful contacts to be used in another form in the context of a digital marketing strategy (newsletter, participation in events)
- Online reputation improvement , including through reviews
- Possibility of showing your services and providing information on costs and treatments
- Sharing informative content of the blog
- Directing users to the website (where they can explore all the services offered)
- Possibility of making appointments
- Possibility of becoming the useful source for the information the reader is looking for (and therefore a reference point that remains imprinted in the target’s mind)
What are the social media of choice where to set up a correct marketing strategy for a dental practice?
Facebook is the social of choice to generate a multi-level dialogue with the user. It allows you to reach a large and targeted audience
Twitter is the social of participation: being present and interacting constantly is fundamental and there is no room for one-way communication
Youtube allows you to share quality videos to show your skills and techniques, but requires high-level content
Instagram allows you to get excellent results with sponsored campaigns (hardly obtainable today, with the same budget, with Facebook)
What are the winning contents to be included in a social media marketing strategy for a dental practice?
It is essential to produce informative and valuable content, which may include news about the study, latest news on treatments, technologies used, training, “personal” news about staff members (hobby interests) and important events for the study.
Creating punctual, concrete and useful content serves to strengthen one’s reliability and gain credibility, while generating “personal” content is useful for creating a more empathetic relationship with one’s audience.
How to find useful topics to deal with?
We said that the results are obtained thanks to the dialogue and the possibility of providing useful and informative contents, but how to identify the topics to be treated in the context of a social media marketing activity in the dental field? To do this it will be essential to listen to patients (in order to intercept questions, curiosities, fears), to be integrated with an analysis on generic forums and specialist forums (in which users seek advice from a healthcare professional).
What results can a dental practice achieve thanks to social media marketing?
- Increase visibility and recognizability
- Improve brand awareness by sharing useful content for users
- Show your skills and stand out from the competition
- Indicate your services and monitor which of them are the most sought after and how
- Approach users (and potential customers) by creating a dialogue and giving answers in real time
- Effective Medical Web Marketing
How to publish the topics?
It is necessary to develop an editorial plan that includes different types of materials (articles, aphorisms, short tips, photos of the study and treatments). A good rule of thumb is to use the 80/20 formula in which
- 80% will be content designed to meet the wishes of your audience: industry news, practical advice and fun or inspiring content, questions or content that stimulate interaction
- 20% will be content concerning professional activity
To conclude
Ultimately today setting a correct social media marketing strategy is one of the most concrete possibilities for a dental practice to obtain visibility and search for new potential customers, because it allows you to get in touch and establish a direct dialogue with your target
The contents must be useful and interesting for the reader, who must therefore be identified precisely
In order for a marketing strategy to be effective, it is necessary to constantly monitor interactions and the level of interest of the platforms on which you work.
Using social media requires a lot of constancy, especially in the dental field: the results in terms of visibility will come, but popularity is based on prolonged and constant interaction and on the continuous production of useful content.
