Instagram is one of the most effective social media channels for digital healthcare marketing. Maintaining an active Instagram presence can help showcase a more personal side of your practice, connect with patients locally which in turn can boost product or service promotion. Instagram is more than just a photo-sharing app in today’s visual-centric world. It is currently the fourth most popular social media platform, with 2.3 billion active members. Your practice’s visibility can be greatly increased by customizing your social media strategy to appeal to dentists. Posting about your dental services on a regular basis builds patient trust, and genuine material attracts more interaction from prospective customers. Nowadays many patients are paying more attention to Instagram business account because this visual platform allows posting images and videos to attract potential patients and creating interest for specific products and services. A reliable healthcare digital marketing agency can provide the right assistance to dentists to optimize their Instagram page and attract more potential patients.
Why Is Instagram Relevant for Your Dental Practice’s Success?
Instagram marketing for dental offices is one of the most effective methods of increasing your dental practice’s online visibility. Dental practices planning to create a sustainable influx of new patients need to do the same to connect with current and prospective clients themselves. Compared to other social media platforms, Instagram creates a visual effect that allows dental practices to create deep connections with their target audiences. The “anonymity” feature that Instagram offers allows users to explore key issues (that one might be cautious of on other social media platforms) and like, comment and engage with posts more freely without the fear of being judged publicly.
With quick search features, you can easily locate your competitors in the dental field and gain important insights into how they are achieving success in their Instagram strategies. This in turn helps gain access to their methods and improve upon them, thereby allowing them to divert some of their own traffic to your dental practice.
Features like Instagram stories, searchable hash tags, and geo-location tracking help dental practices to explore new revenue streams (that they were not aware of). The video upload feature that helps engage target audiences makes this social media platform clearly business- friendly.
Dental Instagram Marketing- Top Strategies
Before diving into dental Instagram marketing, it is important to take the time to learn the basics. As this platform revolves around visual content, just posting any vague content won’t bring the expected results. Visual appeal is key when it comes to engaging potential followers and making them aware of the latest news and services. Therefore, Instagram posts need to be eye-catching with the right background or applied photo filter. In fact, incorporating simple details can make a lot of difference when it comes to establishing your dental practice on a social platform like Instagram.
Here listed are some of the top tips that help maximize a dental Instagram marketing strategy: –
- Turn on the Business Account – If your dental practice already has an Instagram account, make sure it’s a business account. Make sure to add some basic information in your business account like – physical address of the practice, front desk phone number, business or walk-in hours – that a standard account doesn’t offer.
- Optimize Your Profile – Optimizing your dental practice’s profile is very important. Do some background work on the profile as this is what your audience sees when they search for your posts. Typically, Instagram profiles are deceptively simple. Therefore, it’s easy to focus on certain key features like – name of the dental practice, practice logo or the portrait of the dentist, website link, call to action button and description of the dental practice – that help market your practice. Make sure to add relevant keywords like location or type of dentistry – while adding description. Always highlight the unique aspects of your dental practice and what makes your practice stand apart. Also, use emojis (wherever relevant) to include some visual touches in the description.
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- Make Your Account Local and Branded -Initially, when you plan to set up an Insta account for your dental practice, make sure that you include all the necessary information for people to find your office. It is important to include your dental practice’s name, location – city and state, phone number and a link to your website. Including all such important information will make it easier for the local people to connect with your practice.
- Make Regular Posts – Once your Instagram account gets activated, post relevant content at regular intervals. Generally, most visible brands on Instagram post 1 -2 times per day, and they post around the same time each day. The most effective way to determine the best time to post on Instagram is by testing how your photos perform at different times of the day. For instance, if you happen to notice that the photos you post in the morning are consistently earning you more likes, comments, or followers than those posted in the afternoon or evening, then adjust your content schedule accordingly. By posting content at regular intervals, dental practices can easily interact with patients and keep them engaged thereby increasing the total number of followers.
- Post a Variety of Content – The content you post on Instagram should be unique and depict the personality of your dental practice. Avoid posting too many photos of one single subject. Post variety is important to keep your audience entertained and coming back for more. Follow the 80/20 rule – which means 80 percent of your posts should be useful and entertaining, while the other 20 percent should be aimed to promote your dental services.
- Use Appropriate #Hashtags – Hashtags are important as they help expand the exposure of your posts and widen the audience that view your content. Posting content with the correct combination of popular and trending hashtags on Instagram can help increase engagement. However, overusing these hashtags can increase spam activity on your profile. Try to use 3-5 quality hashtags that describe your post. In addition, add location tags to enable potential patients to find you when searching for your dental practice.
- Create a Content Strategy – To be successful on Instagram it is important to have a regular flow of content. Create a definite content strategy by including a variety of posts like – personal posts (that show off your expertise in dental work), educational posts (that reveal your personality alongside your expertise level), behind the scenes posts (that introduce office and staff to new and returning patients) and case study posts (with the patient’s permission) that allow you to showcase the quality of your dental work. In addition, organize these posts into a content calendar. Also, post relevant content at regular intervals as this helps dental practices to easily interact with the patients and thereby increase the total number of followers.
- Use Video Content – Creating and publishing videos on Instagram is a crucial strategy for social media healthcare marketing. Right from alleviating fears about dental procedures to connecting with the personality and atmosphere of your dental practice, strategically created video content may lead to increased traffic and conversions. For instance, posting live videos enhances your credibility as a dentist. Video options like Instagram Stories help create a loyal following of patients within their communities. For instance, dental practices can “go live” and pass on their message using video. Other video ideas like – sharing patient testimonials, conducting social-media contests, live-streaming (during local events or dental conferences) and creating videos that greet patients or team members on their birthdays etc.
- Use Eye-catching Images – Post eye-catching photos or images that convey your dental team culture. Share visually interesting images in and around your practice like – snapshots of patients and team members. Share a photo along with its story.
- Hold Contests – Holding contests can help reward your current followers and generate a greater number of followers on Instagram. It will also create a buzz around your brand and have a significant impact on increasing followership. Key ideas for Instagram contests include – Commenting contests (wherein participants have to comment to enter) and “Like” or “Share” to win contests.
- Publish Employee-related and Employee-generated Content – Instagram platform allows businesses to tell a visual story about their dental brand. As per social media marketing experts, employee-generated content receives more engagement than content shared from the business itself. In addition, employee content significantly improves brand messaging.
- Cross Promote Instagram Posts – As a dental health provider, another way to increase followers is to post across all of your social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Then, invite those followers to also follow you on Instagram. As they are already following you on other social media platforms, this step will give them another way to socially connect with your practice.
- Pay Attention to Your Engagements – Once your dental practice has been making regular posts on Insta for about a month, it is important to review all the content posted and look at all the most popular posts. Try to note what has made them so popular – was it a photo or a certain hashtag? Try to find out why some posts get more likes or shares and repeat that success with similar photos. If you have an Instagram Business Profile, you can do this by selecting the “insights” button on your profile page.
Instagram marketing is a powerful way to market a dental practice and connect your current and potential local patient base. By combining dental SEO services with Instagram marketing, you can improve local search rankings, attract new patients and referrals, increase website traffic, and showcase your brand message. Implementing the above-mentioned dental Instagram marketing strategies will help meet your healthcare and social media optimization goals in an effective manner. Social media marketing services provided by a reputable healthcare digital marketing agency can help handle all aspects of developing your dental practice’s social presence.
