While we focus our time and effort on being the best dental SEO company around, we are well aware that many dental practices have discovered that there’s value in creating an engaging Facebook presence. If your practice has jumped on board this movement, you’ve likely come to realize that it’s a lot harder than it seems to keep new content flowing. This is understandable of course. Your staff is busy running the business, treating your patients, handling billing, and all of the other tasks that currently keep them busy.
Many dental social media campaigns fizzle out because they fail to gain traction and it’s easy to quit when you never build the audience you anticipated. One way to combat this is by using some tried and true content ideas as a starting point so you’re not flying by the seat of your pants every time you want to post. With some known quantities for topic types, you can quickly build out a calendar that you can stick to. Then, just update your calendar periodically with new ideas so you can quickly refer to it when it comes time for your next post.
See, wasn’t that easy?
Now I’ll run down seven different types of posts that both current and potential patients will find engaging as you work to build your Facebook fan base.
1. Feature your staff.
Existing patients likely come back to your practice because they have built a good relationship with their dentist, dental assistant or other staff members. Sharing brief profiles or some nuggets of personal information about your staff can be an effective way of gaining engagement.
2. Follow the dental calendar.
The good folks at dentalcare.com were nice enough to put together a Holiday Social Media Toolkit that has all of the major dental holidays. For example, did you know February 9th was National Toothache Day? Use this calendar to personalize some posts targeted at your local audience and have some fun with it to create engaging posts.
3. Make your patients famous.
People love sharing flattering content about themselves, so why not share some of your patients’ smiles on social media? Take some of your more outgoing patients and ask if you can snap a pic of their smile and share it on social media. If they know they’re going to be online they’re likely to share it with their family and friends as well to drive up your engagement numbers. Before you go this route, though, you’ll need to make sure you have the patient fill out a HIPAA consent form similar to this one to make sure everything’s on the up and up.
4. Use your blog and news sections.
If your website has a blog or a news section that you update periodically this one should be a no-brainer. Whether you’re touting some new technology that you’ll be using or want to share some facts on teeth whitening, the blog is a great place for long-form content that you can promote on Facebook.
5. Share the good you do.
If your practice does charity work or other community good deeds like a candy buyback over Halloween, you’ll definitely want to feature this on Facebook and your other social media content services.
6. Office events.
In what might be a surprise to some, little things around your office can also sometimes get big responses. Ordered a tray of subs from a local business for lunch? Take a great photo and tag the restaurant saying thanks and watch their followers and yours pile up the likes and comments.
7. Office scheduling.
This one is as practical as anything else, but if you have upcoming holiday dates where you’ll be working unusual hours or will be closed certain days, be sure to share these on social media as well to help keep everyone in the loop.
We typically recommend 1-3 posts per week for dental offices. Don’t post too much, there’s a sweet spot you want to hit to stay relevant without annoying your followers. Pay attention, or even track on a spreadsheet which posts get the most activity and fine-tune your approach over time. We’ve found a good mix of lighthearted fun along with dental health information or personal level information about your staff can really help you build a stronger following and a better relationship with your patients.
Want more free tips on marketing your practice?
Now that you’ve got some ideas for improving your Facebook presence, why not learn a little more about SEO? We’ve put together a dental SEO guide that provides you everything you need to know to improve your rankings on Google.
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