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new patient marketing

It doesn’t matter if your dental practice is located in London, New York, or Madrid, there is something all dentists always want more of. And that's new patients. 

One of the primary ways to implement new patient marketing is through social platforms. Are you hesitant to step into using digital marketing to get new patients? 

The article below will get you started in the right direction, so keep reading. 

Start by Choosing 2-3 Social Media Platforms

You can choose from dozens of potential social media platforms to attract new patients. You don't have the time to be on every platform. Even if you could, diluting your social media efforts won't result in solid marketing results. ss

It's important to pick two or three social media platforms where you can focus your efforts. Most dentists tend to choose Facebook and Instagram as their primary social media platforms, with a few dabbling in TikTok. 

Choose the platform you are most likely to stick to. For example, if you enjoy taking photographs, and are consistently doing so, then Instagram is a good platform for you. If you love doing funny videos with your staff and don't consider it a chore, then TikTok and YouTube are excellent choices for you. 

Share Your Story With Your Followers

Don't be staid or boring on social media. The idea here is to open up and share your backstory with your followers. That's why your followers are there - they want to learn about your dental practice in more detail. 

Perhaps you have a golden retriever mascot that sits around in the office and soothes young patients. Or maybe your practice has staff that loves to dance and sing entertaining patients while they wait. 

Whatever it might be, share all of this valuable, quality content with your audience. Don't be afraid to be a bit silly, a bit off-key, and a bit out there. All of it will land well with your followers who will be happy to learn about a deeper, more personable, aspect of your business. 

Video Is a Key Digital Marketing Tool

Video is a powerful and important tool for digital marketing. Humans are visual creatures, and attention spans (as short as a goldfish, apparently) are shorter than ever. 

So give them what they want. Forget about long blocks of text, without anything breaking it up. Always have images, videos, and infographics in any sales material you share online or offline. 

And bring humor into as much of your social media content as possible. It doesn't all have to be hilariously funny, but some of it has to be. 

Stay Consistent With Social Media Updates

A mistake often made is assuming once every two months is good enough to consider your effort on social media a job well done. A regular cadence in your posting schedule is key to a constant influx of new patients. This could mean once a week or once every day, with the maximum time between posts at most a week. Longer than that, and your followers will start to lose interest and unfollow your account. 

Share a variety of social media posts. From casual behind-the-scenes in the office, like a birthday party or someone bringing in a cute Labradoodle, to high-quality photos promoting your services.  

Advertise on Instagram or Pinterest

Organic, also known as free, social media marketing is a great starting point for growing your audience and reaching new patients. Eventually, expanding to paid ads on social media platforms is strongly recommended to increase the speed of your growth. Advertising on social media is cheap and effective, especially if you are on a budget. Once you start reaping the benefits, increase your budget to see higher profit and results. 

If you aren't sure how to operate Facebook or Instagram advertising, hire a marketing agency with experience in the dentistry niche to manage it all for you. 

Blogging Is Not Dead - Share Your Expertise

Finally, you should also get over your fear of your 10th Grade English teacher and start practicing your writing skills. When it comes to writing topics there are several diverse, and even fun, dentistry-related topics to choose from.

When you share your expertise in blog format, your website visits increase, and in turn, your new patient count increases as well. Start by writing shorter blog posts, 500-1000 words long, and gradually build up to longer posts. 

If you and your staff aren't up for this, you can use a marketing agency to do all the heavy lifting for you and still experience the results. 

New Patient Marketing Must Include Social Media

Utilizing social platforms is a fundamental piece of new patient marketing. A significant amount of your new patients will find you on social networks, so you need to become savvy about these platforms fast. Hopefully, your dental practice is already on a few social media platforms and you regularly post. If not, then you have some work ahead of you. 

Join my subscriber list of 9000+ if you would like to learn more about dental practice marketing in any shape or form. I am here to help you grow your dental practice and build your leadership skills. 


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