If you’re a dentist actively marketing your practice online, chances are you have a business Facebook page – and you may even be posting frequently on it. But how many followers and “Likes” do you have?
Many dental practices hire agencies to run their social media, and create weekly or even daily posts. However, if they’re not reaching a wide number of people, is it really worth your investment? You can be posting all day long, but if only a few people Like your page, it’s not doing much for your marketing reach. So how can you increase your following?
It takes a combination of strategy and focus to increase your following. It’s important to engage internally with patients in your practice, and also to leverage your friends and family. Additionally, it takes diligently Inviting people to Like your page when you reach people outside of your current followers through tagging or paid reach.
Connecting Directly with Followers
Get into the habit of mentioning your Facebook page to patients. When you have a patient who’s on their phone during their entire dental appointment – which happens ALL the time – mention that your practice has a Facebook page and you’d love if they took a moment to “Like” it.
Make sure to Invite everyone on your personal Facebook page to Like your business page. You can find this on your main business page logged in as an Admin, under the section “Page Tips” – it will guide you easily through how to invite your personal friends.
If you keep a separate professional Facebook page, you probably add dental colleagues as friends when you attend conferences or meetings. Make sure to Invite all of them to Like your business page as well. Inviting your personal and professional connections is something you need to do on an ongoing basis. I’d recommend every 3-6 months to look through your list of connections and Invite them to Like your page.
If your team members are comfortable with it, you can ask them to invite their friends as well. Note that it’s important to respect your team member’s privacy if they prefer not to engage with your business page. However, many team members will enthusiastically support your Facebook marketing efforts and be glad to invite their friends and family to Like your page.
Online Strategies to Increase Following
Get into the habit of tagging people, products and companies in Facebook posts for your dental practice page. This gives your post a wider reach. When people Like your post, go through and Invite all of them to Like your page.
A surprisingly high number of people will accept this. You can do this by clicking on the post, and clicking on the list of people who Like it. You’ll see the “Invite” button next to everyone who doesn’t Like your page already. Chances are, you’ve been Invited to Like a business page with this method, and have accepted!
Also, if you’re doing any Facebook ads or page boosts, this will attract people to the post that are outside of your page following. Since you’re paying for this wider reach, it’s essential to be diligent about Inviting all those new people to Like your business page.
Benefits of Increasing Your Facebook Following
Why is this important? And does it lead to more new patients? Increasing your Facebook following is absolutely a helpful way to market your practice in the modern age of social media.
More followers means that more people are likely to see your posts. This not only increases your return on investment for making the posts, it also puts your practice on the minds of more people. Then, when they have dental needs they’ll call you. Also, for patients in the practice seeing your posts will remind them to schedule outstanding dental care. Finally, when prospective patients are researching you online, it makes your practice look great to have a robust Facebook following! It definitely shows you in a better light than having few followers, and helps patients feel a sense of trust and confidence about having a great experience in your office.
On that note, we’d love if you took a moment to Like our ClearEdge Facebook page!
Contact us today if you’d like help with your social media strategy! We are experts in creating customized content that reflects your unique brand, and helps your practice shine!