Patients and fans follow your practice on social media not just for dental content, but to get to know you better. Build a more compelling social media presence by focusing on the needs, interests, and personalities of your patients and team members!
A common concern we hear from dental teams just starting out on social media is “What are we supposed to share? People don’t want to hear about dentistry. It’s boring!”
While there is a lot to share about dentistry that is fascinating and valuable for followers, we understand where they’re coming from. Perhaps they’ve seen the social media pages of other local businesses that do nothing but post about products and industry news. But businesses using social media solely in this way ignore one of the platform’s greatest strengths — the social part. People connecting with people.
People like to do business with people they know. And in dentistry, where relationships are especially important, social media offers doctors and their teams unprecedented opportunities to connect with patients and prospective patients on a personal level.
In your social media mix, make sure to regularly include posts that allow your followers to get to know your team better. Create posts congratulating team members on personal accomplishments, asking them a few interview questions, or simply showing how much they enjoy working at your practice.
Also, share things that demonstrate how much you care about your relationships with patients! Choose a Patient of the Day or Patient of the Week, snap and share a photo with them, and caption it with one or two lines about why you’re glad to see them when they visit. A small gesture of appreciation goes a long way in not only building rapport with that individual, but also showing prospective patients that you’re truly committed to your patients’ happiness and well-being.
Prospective patients take notice when what you post on social media reflects how much you care personally about your patients and team members. It builds your brand, strengthens relationships, and makes people more likely to introduce your practice to family and friends.
Every day in your practice, there are easy opportunities to show how much you value your relationships with patients, team members, and all the other people that allow your practice to thrive. Sharing these moments on social media will build your brand and help prospective patients feel good about choosing you.
About the Author
Jackson Hadley is a marketing strategist with My Social Practice, which provides a complete social media marketing solution for dental, orthodontic and optometric practices. A public relations specialist, Jackson combines the advertising and trust-building aspects of social media to help businesses connect authentically with their communities.
We recently released a pack of free printable Social Signs to help dental teams create these kinds of posts! It features signs to use in photos commemorating various milestone events in the lives of team members and patients. They’re great icebreakers to get people to participate!
