A great social media presence can help develop a practice’s loyal following.
However, the effective use of social media is also a great method for appealing to new patients. With an abundance of prospective patients online at any given time, making yourself visible is a dependable way to grow your audience and expand your reach.
The challenge is in understanding where to focus. Is your practice lacking a plan for attracting new patients online? Keep reading to learn about 4 free steps your practice should take in order to attract new patients via your social media efforts.
Tip #1. Cast a Wide Net
Diversification matters in the social media world. Varying audience types make having an account on a few different platforms a necessity so ensuring your practice is covered on Facebook, Instagram, and Google My Business to start with is a must.
Take the time to build out your profiles on each one by updating as much information as possible – even optional fields. Be sure to be informative but welcoming. Have everything ready for your patients so when they call in to make an appointment, they can easily access the main details about your practice and the services you offer.
Tip #2. Share Blog Posts
A blog offers an excellent option for boosting your website’s visibility in online search results. However, sharing blog posts on your social media channels can be just as important.
Dental-related content offers a practice’s audience a great option for educating patients on important themes they may know little about. By publishing this informative content, you can reach people who are looking to learn, make oral health decisions and ultimately find the right practice for them but may not have seen the content via your other online channels.
Tip #3. Have a Posting Schedule
Not only is the quality and insightfulness of content vital but the quantity of posts is just as important. To ensure that content quality remains consistent having a regular posting schedule is advisable.
We highly recommend that practices develop a content calendar. This is simply a calendar of what content should be posted, when, and to which social platform.
By using a calendar, your practice can develop a strategic launch sequence and organize posts in logical ways based on seasonality, current initiatives, and more. Consistently sharing content to social platforms also encourages followers to regularly check back in and engage with the posted content.
Tip 4. Provide Valuable Content
While all these tips are important contributors to a great social media strategy, they are nothing if the content is not valuable.
Patients will follow social media accounts if the content is informative.
For example, practices should:
- Talk about services and products
- Highlight patients and staff to illustrate the human side of the practice
- Mention changes or new technology popping up in the industry
- Discuss FAQs
These themes are simply a starting point in a long list of eligible themes. The main goal with content is for a practice to provide useful information to its audience. Any content that effectively achieves this goal in a respective way can be deemed fair game!
Each of these practices alone will help boost your practice’s online visibility but collectively they’re even more powerful. For example, if your practice has a detailed profile on Facebook but is only posting once a month, engagement and reach will suffer greatly. In short, a holistic approach is a necessity for true growth!
And if your practice is looking to get a social media refresh or answer any related questions, please reach out to Sesame’s Social Team. They will be happy to evaluate your online presence and make relevant suggestions for improvement.
-Marie Dubray, Social Media Specialist, Sesame Communications