At the end of the day, we are all worried about the same thing: PROFITABILITY! A profitable dental marketing campaign should account for visibility, competitive edge & conversions. Carefully calibrated Facebook & Instagram ads can achieve all three of these components, for a powerfully targeted dental campaign.
Visibility keeps your dental practice relevant in search engines, social media outlets and within networking circles. Through visibility practices like engaging Stories, Live videos, paid Facebook advertising and referral programs, your target market will know that you exist.
Competitive Edge is how you separate yourself from your competition. For instance: if your practice is well known for being an industry leader in your specialty and so is your competitor's, why should potential new patients choose your dental practice over the next one? What sets you apart?! It can be anything from highlighting your speaking engagements or showing behind the scenes storylines about your travels... Whatever you can enthusiastically and consistently share, share it!
Conversion is getting the viewers of your digital footprint to become interested enough in your practice's story & vibe to engage with your accounts and, eventually, become a new patient or refer someone in for treatment. We all know people are more likely to seek treatment with a doctor who's staff seem bright and cheery, online. Stock photos and executive portraits can only get you so far. The idea is to create a tangible emotional attachment to your practice and that's accomplished overtime.
Using Facebook/Instagram paid ads to promote your practice allows your marketing to reach new people based on their personal interests and geographical location. This can corner a whole new market of potential patients who were not mindfully looking for a new dentist, implants, or dentures - but your Social Media ads planted a seed & convinced them that they should give you a call.
Dentists are often hesitant to utilize Facebook ads, the misconception being that it is not the right platform for their target audience... The statistics tell us that out of the 3.53B global active users of social media 3.46B users accessed social media via mobile devices in the summer of 2019!!! The number are at almost 70% of Americans currently using Facebook. In fact, 66% of monthly Facebook users are on Facebook daily, accessing the site 8 times or for approximately 35 minutes per day, on average.
Many dental services, like dentures and implants, are specifically for an older demographic. Another huge misconception many people make is assuming that these potential patients are not online! Facebook reports that the number of American users aged 65+ has doubled to 41%, making it a very suitable platform for those higher-valued services. This proves that Social Media ads for dentists are a successful platform in gaining new patient leads, and should be a priority in dental marketing. If you are already running dental ads through Google ads, those can also be productive and worth your marketing money but using them for dental services only focus on keyword searches, so the only people that see those ads are those intentionally looking for a dentist. Social Media opens your ads up to a wider audience!
A dental practice’s Facebook page is only seen by people who “like” your page. Posting on your Facebook page is not marketing your practice. If you write a post on your Facebook page, less than 7% of your page’s likes will see it. Since most of your “likes” are existing patients, that’s like an ad that only 6% of your existing patients will see. That doesn’t bring in new patients!!! Differently, a Facebook ad is a sponsored post that is seen by people that might not know who you are yet... Facebook ads reach a whole new audience, or, in terms of dentists, a whole new set of patients. Facebook targets people who are most likely to be interested in the topic your ad is about (implants, dentures, etc.) based on their digital footprint so that your ad will show up directly in their news feed.
Watch Out for These Mistakes:
~ Spending marketing money without a strategy... Are you hosting a Digital Smile Design promotion? Are you running a Whitening Special? What is the goal of your ad?
~ Inconsistent messaging... Are you a General Dentist or a Specialist? Do you have multiple locations? Be specific!!!
~ Failure to differentiate your practice... What makes you different than the Dentist down the street? Why do your patients love you?
~ Impersonal photos... Testimonial videos and behind the scene features are the best ways to build a tangible emotional attachment to your staff & smile journeys.
~ Unclear or unenticing offer... If you're inviting someone in, be sure that they can completely understand the messaging of your ads.
~ No call-to-action... Call now! Book an Appointment, Today! Check out the link in our Bio! -- these are all examples of calls to action.
Stay tuned for more helpful hints and send us a message with your practice-specific questions!!!