11 Instagram marketing tips to boost your dental practice growth

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion active users. Its engagement rate is the highest compared to other social media platforms, opening doors for businesses to drive leads and conversions effortlessly. But does this hold any significance for dentists? Of course, yes!

With various content formats, Instagram social media marketing can help you capture easily convertible leads and improve patient engagement. As a result, Instagram marketing could (and should) be a key component of your social media marketing strategy, as few other social media platforms can drive engagement and sustainable practice growth like Instagram can.

If you want to unlock the power of Instagram as an effective marketing tool, this article is for you. Let’s take a deep dive into the importance of Instagram marketing for dentists and learn some tips that could help you make the most of this platform’s many benefits for your practice. 

 

Why should dentists use Instagram?

Seriously, why should dentists invest in Instagram marketing? Is it worth including in your dental social media marketing plan? We will let the following statistics speak for themselves.

1. Instagram has around 1.047 billion users worldwide as of 2021, including your target audience. 
2. Instagram ads can reach 928.5 million people.
3. Instagram’s advertising reach has increased by 5.7%
4. Users spent an average of 30 minutes per day on Instagram in 2020. 
5. Around 81% of people rely on Instagram to research products or services.

Now that Instagram’s popularity has been established, let’s understand why dentists must utilize this platform. The following reasons will show why you should invest in a solid Instagram marketing strategy for dental practice growth:

 

Reach a wider audience
Simply creating a website and waiting for prospective patients to learn about your dental practice won’t work. Instagram provides a greater reach through engaging posts. It helps you get your dental practice in front of your ideal audience. Partnering with a social media marketing company can help increase your reach and expand your patient base with professional guidance and expertise. 

Target local patient base
Patients residing or working nearby your dental practice form the largest component of your patient base. Instagram facilitates locally-targeted dental marketing campaigns to narrow focus on your target audience and drive quality leads. 

Boost word-of-mouth marketing and recommendations
Instagram social media marketing creates an opportunity to generate referral traffic. Patients can recommend your dental practice to friends and family through tagging and branded hashtag features on the platform. Dentists can also promote their referral programs and generate positive brand mentions from followers, paving the way for more patient appointments. 

Outsmart competitors
Competition is getting more challenging by the day in the dental industry. You need to stay abreast of the latest developments in the digital world to beat the competition and be your prospects’ apparent first choice for all dental health-related matters. Instagram is the right platform to show off your dental brand and gain a competitive edge.

Builds trust
Instagram for dentists presents an excellent opportunity to connect and interact with patients beyond the treatment time. Patients can follow you on Instagram and stay in touch, which boosts brand recall, top of the mind awareness and builds patient loyalty over time. 

 

Instagram marketing tips 

Instagram marketing may be a tough nut to crack, especially if you manage everything single-handedly. However, by teaming up with an Instagram marketing company, you can pay your undivided attention to treating patients without having to wear multiple hats. Such a company knows how to leverage Instagram to suit your unique dental practice needs.

If you are new to Instagram and don’t know where to start, here are a few proven Instagram marketing tactics to take your practice to the next level.

 

1. Make a business account for your dental practice.

Don’t mistake creating a personal profile for your dental practice. A business account will give you crucial insights into post engagement and opens up opportunities for Instagram advertising. Write a short and straightforward bio with location keywords to make it easier for patients to discover your practice via search. Add your website link in your bio to redirect traffic to your website and encourage appointments. 

 

2. Create an eye-pleasing profile

Instagram is a highly visual platform. Dentists should utilize this feature to showcase their practice in the best possible light. While paying painstaking attention to designing individual posts, consider how they look alongside adjacent posts in your Instagram profile. Your Instagram profile as a whole should look attractive. There must be a certain cohesiveness in the choice of fonts, color scheme, etc.

 

3. Harness the power of videos 

You can live stream videos or upload short and long format pre-recorded videos to boost Instagram marketing for dentists. As a dentist, you can showcase your expertise by conducting live sessions and answering patient queries. Reels is a popular video format that engages audiences effortlessly. Give quick oral tips and stay on top of trends with fascinating reels that arouse interest among the audience—partner with an agency specializing in dental social media marketing to create high-quality, professional videos. Ensure to include a URL in the videos to earn website traffic. 

 

4. Encourage UGC posts

User-generated content (UGC) posts are a valuable asset for your dental practice. Encourage patients to click selfies of their post-treatment smiles and tag your dental practice in their posts. Create a branded hashtag that your patients can use while posting something related to your dental practice. Existing patients openly recommend your dental practice on social media, build trust, and motivate conversions from on-the-fence leads.

 

5. Use the right hashtags.

Hashtags are integral to boosting visibility and discoverability. But the key here is to use the right hashtags. Use a few local hashtags that give away the location of your practice. Create a branded hashtag and use a few common industry hashtags for each post to expand the reach and amplify engagement. Make sure you don’t overuse hashtags. Otherwise, it will be considered spammy. Eleven hashtags per post are ideally recommended. 

 

6. Go all out with Instagram stories.

Instagram stories are a great tool to deliver an immersive experience. Stories are fun and engaging and have unlimited potential for creativity. Include some entertaining behind-the-scenes posts as stories to give your audience an authentic understanding of your dental practice. You can use Instagram highlights to keep your stories in your profile beyond 24 hours. Stories that feature light, simple content can help gain the trust and confidence of patients with dental anxiety.

 

7. Advertise on Instagram

Set a marketing objective like awareness, traffic, or reach and configure your target audience based on demographics, interests, and behavior. Instagram advertising offers a variety of ad formats such as image ads, story ads, video ads, and carousel ads (show up to 10 images or videos in one single post). Either promote your high-performing post or create a new ad with a clickable URL that motivates patients to take action. 

 

8. Come up with interactive content.

Quizzes and polls must be an essential part of your Instagram marketing strategy. Quizzes and contests easily drive engagement. You can ask simple dental health-related questions or understand patient preferences when given an option to choose from dental treatment options like clear aligners and braces. The answers to these polls and quizzes will also give insight into patient pain points that can guide your future content creation efforts. 

 

9. Use original photos 

Limit the use of stock images. They don’t reflect authenticity and originality. You can post before and after treatment images (strictly with the patient’s consent) or photos of your core team to ease patients’ decision-making process. For matters related to health, patients feel much more safe and confident when they get to see original images of the dental office and team. 

 

10. Write interesting captions

Though Instagram is more visual, you still need to put effort into writing some exciting captions. Write in a language that appeals to your actual potential patients. Insert some emojis but know when and where to use them. Always keep it professional, and don’t deviate from your already established dental practice personality.  

 

11. Leverage the reach of influencers

There are many influencers on Instagram who enjoy immense popularity and people’s trust. Invest in influencer marketing and collaborate with micro-influencers who are an apt fit to promote your dental practice. Your dental social media marketing company can help reach out to local influencers who can promote your dental products and services without exceeding your budget. You can capitalize on the trust earned by the influencers to cement your dental practice’s position as reliable and trustworthy.

 

Conclusion

Instagram is undoubtedly an indispensable part of social media marketing for dentists. While Instagram marketing may seem relatively easy, as it takes only a few clicks to publish a post, the real challenge is to stay consistent with content creation and achieve tangible results such as leads, conversions, and followings. It takes more than basic social media knowledge to ace the Instagram marketing game and reaches your engagement potential.

Here’s an overview of our top Instagram marketing tips:

• Create a business profile on Instagram
• Videos and Stories are your best bets to maximize reach
• A visually attractive Instagram profile wins you half the battle
• Use original photos and interactive content as often as possible
• Master the art of creating catchy captions and hashtags
• User-generated content is one of the best forms of Instagram marketing
• Collaborate with influencers relevant to your industry

 

Instagram marketing works best with a mixture of organic posts and ads. Both together can take you closer to your goals faster. Although, there is one thing that dentists must keep in mind. It is always better to outsource Instagram marketing to a well-known dental Instagram advertising and marketing agency. 

From devising an incredible Instagram strategy to monitoring metrics and fine-tuning campaigns, a dental agency has experienced professionals who have mastered various nuances of dental Instagram marketing. You can go about your daily operations as your agency will give your dental practice that extra push needed to set yourself apart from the competition.