Get More Dental Patient Engagement on Instagram

37% of American adults use Instagram. While that may not come close to Facebook at 69%, Instagram does generate 10 times more engagement per post than Facebook does. That’s huge. Throw in the fact that it’s free dental marketing, and it certainly becomes worth adding Instagram to your social media strategy.

In this video from Xaña Winans, who runs one of the most experienced dental marketing agencies in the country, Xaña will share some advice to get the most from Instagram and use it to generate new patients for your dental practice.

Want to dig deeper into social media marketing for dentists? Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to engage and learn. You can also visit our website to schedule a quick Marketing Breakthrough Call!

Transcript:

If I told you to pick the one best social platform to use for your dental marketing strategy, you’d probably go with Facebook, right?

But what if I told you to pick two? Do you know the second best platform to use?

If you said Instagram, then you either really know your dental social media… or you were just paying attention to the title for this video.

Hi, I’m Xaña Winans, owner and CEO of Golden Proportions Marketing, the most experienced dental marketing company in the country. Let’s dig into Instagram and see if it makes sense for your dental practice.

37% of American adults use Instagram. While that may not come close to Facebook at 69%, Instagram does generate 10 times more engagement per post than Facebook does. That’s huge! Throw in the fact that it’s free, and it certainly becomes worth adding to your social media marketing strategy.

It may sound like a lot of extra work to manage two social accounts, but keep in mind that Facebook owns both platforms. And, as you might expect, they made it really easy to use them both together. There are lots of quick and easy ways to publish your content to both Facebook and Instagram, so it’s really not much extra effort.

Do I have you interested in Instagram yet? If so, I have a few tips that can help you start generating engagement right away.

Be consistent

OK, unless you’re completely new to social media, you know that posting frequently is super important. 63% of Instagram users check it every day, so if you can post on a daily basis, GREAT! Since Instagram is more about visuals than words, it doesn’t take much time or effort. Posting is as simple as uploading a picture or video, writing a short caption, and adding hashtags.

Use hashtags

You may or may not use hashtags on Facebook, but you really need to use them on Instagram. Not only are they the primary way that users find your content, but posts using at least one hashtag generate 12.6% more engagement than those without any. There’s not really a magic number of hashtags you should have, but try using 5-10 to make your posts easy to find without looking spammy.

Include location

Also be sure to geo tag your posts. It’s obviously important for patients to know where your office is located, but posts with locations also get 79% more engagement. Want to put yourself on the map? Simply tap “Add Location” from the “New Post” screen and Instagram will automatically provide you with a list of possible locations to choose from.

Post videos

Videos get 38% more engagement than photos on Instagram, so that should mean lights, camera, action for your practice. Office tours, patient testimonials, educational clips, and fun videos showing your office culture are all great ideas for generating likes and comments. Nothing fancy needed. You can just pull out your iPhone and hit record.

Run contests

Contests are huge on Instagram. Instagram accounts that hold giveaways grow their follower lists 70% faster than average, and contest posts generate 64 times more comments than regular posts. That kind of engagement makes your dental practice the real winner.

Go with what works

Lastly, just like any other marketing effort, keep a watchful eye on your results to see what types of posts are generating the most engagement. If something is working, keep doing it. If it’s not, look for better ideas. We have plenty of them on our blog!

Thanks for watching!