When looking for a clinic, a patient tends to check Google reviews, your website, and a Facebook page. Facebook is one of the platforms where, if used efficiently, you can attract new patients, run marketing campaigns, and post the latest promotions.
There are 2.9 billion active Facebook users which means this social media holds a big potential and offers plenty of opportunities for small to medium-sized businesses.¹ To yield all the benefits it can give you, you should learn how to optimize your page, engage new and current patients, and provide quality customer support. This, in turn, will result in clients retention and increased revenue, not to mention the satisfaction of patients with your services.
Read on to learn what you need to do to be on the right track to scale your business and strengthen your social media presence.
Create An Optimized Facebook Page
Having an active Facebook page has many benefits for your dental practice. The ad choices available on the platform will help you target only those patients who you consider your target audience. Social media marketing is less expensive, too, so you will be able to invest the remaining financial resources in purchasing the latest equipment or furniture for your dental office. Furthermore, you can easily reach out to people about available appointment dates and check how effective your ad campaigns are.
As you can see, Facebook is a very powerful tool for promoting yourself as a dentist or upscaling your clinic. If you already have a personal Facebook account, you can easily register a business account, too. You will only need to provide personal information (e,g., name and email address), and enter clinic details.
Now that everything is ready, it is time to optimize your page. Here are three easy steps you can follow:
Verify Your Dentistry
It is of utmost importance to verify your clinic because visitors will definitely pay great attention to this detail. If your page lacks credibility, it will be hard if not impossible to gain new clients.
Luckily, it is fairly easy to perform such a verification. All you need to do is to go to Settings at the top of the page and find Page Verification in the General section. Once you click on Verify this Page, you will need to provide or confirm the phone number, your location, and your language. There is also an option to verify with documents instead.
What happens next is Facebook is going to call your number and provide you with a code, which later should be entered on the page.
Introduce Your Dentistry in the About Section
Every social media platform has the About section where you can provide information about your clinic, and Facebook is no exception. A prospective patient will check your feed but also will look for more information about your business. Therefore, you should add as much information as you can. This includes the basics:
- Website URL
- Phone number
- Address
- Working hours
Additionally, you can provide a number to contact you through platforms such as Whatsapp, Viber, Telegram, etc.
Add Call-to-Action Button
Another important feature that you are advised to add is a call-to-action button. This is a very nice addition to your clinic’s page that allows visitors to directly give you a book, book an appointment, write a text, or redirect to your webpage.
It is especially useful when patients log in to Facebook from their smartphone and can easily and conveniently contact you. This button is always in a visible spot, right above the Like and Message button.
If you aren’t sure what you add or how you can enrich your page, you can check some of the best dental Facebook pages for inspiration.
Build And Engage With Followers
In order to grow your audience, they need to see value in your content and also be assured that their dental needs will be taken care of. Before you convert your leads, you need to draw them to your page. This can be done by posting quality content.
Facebook is a platform that is people-centered and its users like light and funny posts, photos, and videos. Your followers will appreciate informative posts about dental health and related articles, along with special promotions for newcomers. Here are some Facebook post ideas for dentists:
- A video interview with a surgical technician about oral health
- A news tip from the American Dental Association that you follow in your daily work
- Local news about your location, presence at the fair, or supporting a certain cause
- Engage your audience by asking them questions (e.g., “Do you find dental insurance necessary?” or “What do you usually do first when you have a problem with oral health?”)
- Post videos or photos of your dental clinic or any new equipment you receive for procedures
- Post funny content or cheerful stories from work
It is important to remember not to spam your page with repeated discounts or frequent sales. While descriptive blog posts are placed on your website, you should keep posts short and clear for your Facebook page.
Introduce Your Dental Clinic Staff And Story
When looking for dental service, a patient will definitely check the photos and videos on your Facebook page. Future clients want to see in what condition your clinic is or whether you use innovative technology. You should grab this opportunity to introduce your medical professionals and tell your story about why you opened up this clinic.
Among comparison photos of your successfully performed dental work, you should upload photos of your staff and a short description of them and their qualifications. To gain even more trust, you can include photos of your equipment or showcase the process of various procedures.
Videos are another tool that helps increase company awareness and boost sales.² Thus, if you want your patients to learn more about you and the clinic staff – videos are an effective and engaging alternative to blog posts.
Attract New Patients By Collecting Facebook Reviews About Your Dental Service
When choosing a dentist, patients usually check the Facebook reviews. Therefore, the testimonials left on your page play a pivotal role. When you have big traffic of patients, it can be hard to monitor and track every review left on your page. While positive feedback is always welcomed, negative reviews have to be reacted to as soon as possible Otherwise, the situation might be escalated, and your reputation may also be ruined.
Weave helps you collect reviews from Facebook and Google. Since positive reviews greatly influence a buying decision, you need to have as many as possible of those. With Weave, you can send automated review requests to your patients. This way, the app is responsible for review reminders, and it also frees up lots of time for your staff to focus on more important tasks.
Another very handy feature that every clinic staff will definitely appreciate is real-time monitoring. You will be instantly informed about every review left on your page. This way, you either thank a patient for their heartful review or resolve a potential problem.
Use Facebook As A Means To Handling Patient Support
Little do you know that your patients can have an abundance of questions for you, but you haven’t just given them a chance to reach you. Thanks to Facebook, it can quickly be fixed, and you start having a meaningful connection with your followers.
One way you can start a conversation with your patients on Facebook is to ask a question. As simple as it is, by posing a question, you encourage people to engage with you. Mind that your question shouldn’t be boring like “How was your day?” but more related to oral health. For example, you can ask, “When was your last visit to our clinic?” or “How often do you have a dental check-up?”
You could also benefit from Facebook Live; this is where you record yourself in real-time and answer all the questions from your patients. You could arrange such lives regularly and encourage patients to send you their concerns that you will later discuss during your live.
Lastly, allow patients to message your business through Facebook and try to reply to them promptly. You can also add frequently asked questions with brief answers so that your clients can receive information as soon as possible.
Facebook Advertising
Facebook ads for dentists are the quickest way to reach new clients and promote business. Facebook is a platform accommodating thousands of active monthly users which makes it a perfect place to increase awareness of your clinic and services and boost sales.
You might have already seen dental ads examples that appear on the side of your Facebook feed. There is usually a link, a call-to-action button, and an attractive image with a catchy phrase.
And you can do the same in a few easy steps. The best part is that the progress of every campaign can be tracked, and you are always advised to experiment with ads to expand your reach.
Target Facebook Users Who Can Be Potential Patients
Facebook Ads is the tool that lets you manage dental marketing for an affordable price. You can set it a way that it only targets people living in New York and who are looking for a specific service.
Imagine you launch teeth whitening Facebook ads, but you don’t want to spend money on people living too far from your clinic and who are unlikely to visit and purchase services. To avoid wasting money on advertisements online, you can arrange them in a way that they only appear to the attention of a preselected group of people.
Thanks to the Facebook Ad Manager, dentists can gather a pool of potential patients and run a profitable business. Follow these steps to create a compelling Facebook ad:
1. Create a New Campaign
In the Ads Manager, you should create a new campaign by clicking on the “+ Create Campaign.” The button is situated in the left upper corner. Once you click on it, you will see a new window with many options available.
2. Define Your Objective
Your very first step is to choose an objective for your campaign. There are three objectives available:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Conversion
Awareness means your advertisement will be shown to your target audience in order to promote your posts and page, or to increase brand awareness.
Consideration is there to encourage your audience to take action. It is targeted at people who are already aware of your clinic. The action can be to watch a video, install your application, or sign up for an event or a webinar.
Conversion converts the leads to actual buyers. It allows you to promote a product or service, encourage people to click on your clinic’s website, or increase engagement on your page.
3. Choose Your Target Audience
This is the most important step of all. Here, you will determine you is your target audience and who you think will benefit from using your dental care services. Here you can select the following:
- Age
- Gender
- Radius
Your target audience can be people of all genders, aged 27-63, and living in the vicinity of your clinic. Facebook will accordingly calculate the estimated daily reach and the potential reach.
4. Choose Where to Place Your Ads
Ad Manager lets you choose the platform where to run the ad. You can choose from the following:
- Audience Network (companies partnering with Facebook)
- Messenger
You can also select whether you want your ad to be visible to mobile users or not. If your website is not optimized for mobile use, it is better to choose to ignore mobile devices.
5. Select Budget and Schedule
Facebook ads can be very affordable for your business as you can select how much money you can afford to spend on digital advertising. You can select between a daily budget and a lifetime. However, Facebook warns that the actual amount may be different.
6. Choose a Format
For your first ad, it is best to choose a single picture. However, there are more options available:
- Carousel (2 or more scrollable images)
- Single video
- Slideshow (looping video ad with up to 10 images)
7. Upload a Photo or a Video
You can upload your own picture or choose one from the free stock images offered by Facebook. Your final step is to add the destination, in this case, the URL of your landing page.
Every ad has a call-to-action button added to the ad. You should choose one for yourself, too. Some of the available ones are:
- Sign Up
- Get Directions
- Learn More
8. Run the Ad!
Once your ad is up and running, you will be able to check how successful it is. For every one of your ads, you will be able to monitor performance, demographics, and placement. The good part is that even after your ad is running, you can still modify it.
On the dashboard, you will see detailed statistics of how people react to your ad, how many people have taken action, and also your remaining budget.
Conclusion
Having a business Facebook account for dentistry is very profitable. Whether your goal is to drive the sales up or gain new patients, you can successfully achieve your milestones on this social media. Moreover, by posting quality content and offering your expert opinion, you have a big chance to increase awareness about your dental clinic and make people trust you more.
Facebook allows you to post photos and videos, and you can accumulate comments from existing clients. A new audience can be reached thanks to dental ads that are visible to a specific age group or location. Consequently, when someone checks your page, the testimonials presented on your page will be quite convincing for potential patients to use your services and recommend you to their friends and family.
Watch a demo to increase your visibility on Facebook.
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