Staying on Top of the Latest Social Media Trends in Dentistry
Social media continues to provide a fast, effective platform for industries to connect with their prospective clients. Dentists included! Over the COVID-19 pandemic, social media took on more interactive ways to engage with people stuck at home: video. Primarily in the form of TikTok, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Reels.
Publishing Dental Videos Online
Today’s recording technology is affordable and accessible to almost everyone. It’s relatively cheap to produce and just about anyone can do it. You could consider making videos on your own if you have the downtime, or appoint a specific person in your office to do it for you. Your younger team members will likely be aware of the most current social media channels and trends, and could be one of your best assets when it comes to pushing interactive content. You might even find that one of your high school or college-aged patients (or children of staff members) want to get in on the action and help you get started.
Creating Attractive Videos for Prospective Patients
Whether you’re using your phone or uploading snippets into a platform like Canva or TikTok, editing your social media videos is extremely straightforward. You can easily add background music, stickers, and special effects to make your recording more appealing.
Although trends are constantly changing, some engaging ideas to get you started including things like:
• Patient before-and-afters
• Voice-over videos of you and your staff
• Having your team or doctor perform a current dance trend
• Give quick “how-to” info sessions
• Provide an overview of your high-tech office investments
• Explain how certain treatments work or why they’re needed
It’s important to remember that TikTok “trends” come and go quickly, so don’t get too far behind time-wise with video production. You’ll want to make sure you stay in the loop with trend setters so that you don’t post something that’s already out-of-date.
You’ve Got 1-2 Seconds, Tops...
…to catch the attention of your audience. Otherwise, they’re going to continue scrolling. You need to be obvious about your topic from the start, because if you aren’t it might not grab the interest of your viewers. Consider having a banner or large text on the video and the correct hashtags in the description. Taking too long to lead into the message will result in plenty of missed opportunities. Get straight to the point and keep it engaging.
Working With Social Media Influencers
A social media influencer is a paid sponsorship where someone with popular social media channels acts as an ambassador of your brand or business. Working with an influencer can have up to a 500% or more ROI, making it extremely cost-effective if you’re trying to target a specific market segment.
Pay to Boost Your Content
Can you post on social media for free? Absolutely. But you can also pay to play with the big dogs. If you’re boosting your well-performing posts and videos, your audience reach will be even wider. Just make sure you’re boosting the best content so that you get the most out of your investment.
Don’t Disappear Into the Shadows
If you have online media channels, make sure you monitor them frequently and engage with your audience. A “hands-off” approach doesn’t bode well in the world of social media. Especially when it comes to people leaving online reviews or feedback on your online profile pages. Audiences prefer that companies—dentists included—respond to bad feedback; when they don’t, consumers are more likely to have an even lower perception of whatever company it is that’s being reviewed.
Along those lines, if you’re using “stories” on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, make sure you respond quickly to viewer engagements. Stories disappear quickly, and once they are they’re gone for good. You’ll probably want to have a specific staff member assigned this role who you can count on to check social media channels frequently (at least once a day, minimum.)
Spread Out
Only using one or two social media streams won’t have as far-reaching of an impact as you might hope. The good news is that certain apps allow you to push to various platforms at the same time so that you don’t have to do each one manually. By incorporating other media platforms, you’ll be able to cover more demographics. For instance, Gen Z is more likely to use TikTok than it is Facebook, and Baby Boomers are more likely to use Facebook. You don’t want to restrict yourself to one or the other. And don’t forget platforms like YouTube or Pinterest.
Don’t Forget Good, Old-Fashioned SEO
Traditional written copy on your website—particularly monthly or weekly dental blogs—helps boost your search engine optimization so that patients in your area can find you better. So even if more of your recent trends are shifting to the area of videos, make sure you’re still incorporating fresh blog content for search engine purposes.
Working with social media experts and seasoned marketing teams or influencers can help you jump-start your online storytelling process and bypass some of the growing pains in early video production.
