How Social Media Marketing For Dentists Helps Patients

Across the planet, each person's dental experience is a unique journey. From teething as babies to teenage orthodonture to the collection of chips and stains on adult teeth, everyone has had their own special experience when it comes to dental development and care. 

Some people have crooked teeth that need correction while others have perfectly straight pearly whites. Some people have indestructible enamel while others combat cavities their entire lives.

Some need emergency wisdom tooth removal while others never develop them at all. However, the one thing that unifies almost all dental patients is the soft sound of tutting when their dentist takes a look.

Even people who brush and floss regularly usually have some area or dental task they've missed and there's always that feeling of chagrin when the dentist has a few recommendations to make.

However, what most people don't realize is that their dentists are just as frustrated as they are.

Comprehensive dental hygiene, the kind that leaves your teeth gleaming and your gums healthy 100% of the time tends to require constant daily reminders to brush and floss, and to do so correctly.

The fact of the matter is that as a busy dentist, you only see your patients to deliver these reminders once or twice a year.

While you may want to be there to remind them to brush every day so that their annual visits are a pleasant exchange of congratulations after inspection, you just can't be in everyone's home at once. 

The Dentist's Best Use of Social Media Marketing

You can tell a lot about a business by how they handle their social media marketing. Some businesses focus mainly on hashtags and memes while others can't quite get the hang of leaving purely promotional material behind.

However, when you look at the success stories of businesses who have built energetic and involved online communities, grown their customer base, and delight their audiences with interesting social media content, this almost always comes from sharing industry knowledge in a friendly way that both benefits and entertains the audience.

For a dental practice, there are actually a surprising number of possible approaches to successful and entertaining marketing in the social media spheres.

You can give customers a tour of your office, share interesting trivia about teeth that are fun to share with friends, or even create a kid-friendly series about braces education.

Of course, you can also turn your social media campaign to a purpose that benefits everyone while simultaneously entertaining your online audience by sharing hilarious and educational reminders to brush.

Breaking the Ice with Laughter

When people think of going to the dentist, there is a cultural trend to see this as something ominous or terrifying.

Children are told scary stories about the dentist by older siblings and friends and even adults who've been to the dentist hundreds of times still feel a sense of building dread, often because they expect that tutting at the state of their teeth.

Many dentists have a hard time with successful social media marketing as a result of this subtle cultural issue. Fortunately for you, surprise is at the heart of comedy and nothing makes a more popular social media campaign than a business that knows how to laugh.

When building your social media campaign, your first goal is to stun your audience into laughter. This breaks up their preconceived notions about what to expect from dentists and actually gets them to pay attention.

If you follow up with truly interesting, useful, and entertaining advice, you can take at least one step toward making a real difference.

The key is knowing both what information to share and how to formulate your social media messages to surprise, entertain, and educate all at once.

Here are some fun examples:

• Americans buy more than 14 million gallons of toothpaste a year. Do your part and make sure to use some at least twice a day!
  
  
• Your baby teeth start to form before you're even born. Fortunately, you don't have to start brushing twice a day them on your own until you're old enough to hold a toothbrush!
  
  
• 61% of adults are attracted to a smile more than anything else. Is your smile attracting someone special?
  
  
• In the 1800s, blacksmiths also served as dentists. We call them Orthodontists now. Thank your orthodontist for not using horseshoes next time you see them.
  
  
• Even Dentists forget to brush sometimes, and boy are our dentists disappointed! Make your dentist proud by remembering to brush twice a day!
  
  
• There are over 2,500 bristles on your toothbrush. That means that your teeth should make contact with a bristle about 50,000 times a day!
  
  
• One of Sir Isaac Newton's teeth is worth $35,700 and is set into a ring. If he hadn't brushed regularly, it wouldn't be here today to be one creepy piece of jewelry.

Every Year, North America goes through 3 million miles of dental floss. How many miles of floss have cleaned between your teeth so far?

Fun, Useful, and Delightfully Sharable

The best thing about writing truly entertaining and hilarious dental reminders is that they won't stop at the first people to see your social media feet.

With these kinds of entertaining facts, many people simply won't be able to resist the urge to share or 'retweet' to send the funny tooth-related messages along to their friends and family.

Through this method, you can achieve what dentists have been striving toward for decades: Regularly reminding your clients and the community as a whole to brush regularly without coming across as a disappointed parent or a lecturing commercial.

Your audience members will giggle at first but the facts will stick with them as they become much more likely to brush that night, the next morning, and again the next time they see one of your entertaining messages pop up on their social media feed. 

Building Your Brand as the Funny Dentist

While spreading the word about dental hygiene is always a good cause, your real reward begins when patients start coming in not only with better dental care, but with expectant smiles instead of scared looks.

All these funny facts are also effectively building your reputation as a dentist with a sense of humor, one that can entertain children with trivia while they get their annual inspection and provide unusually helpful advice at the end of an appointment.

When your brand is known for light spirits and a positive attitude about dental hygiene instead of the usual disappointed look, your clients might even start looking forward to fun trips to the dentist instead of the usual responses.

Social media marketing for dentists works to build new patients with this approach also.

For more interesting ideas on how to market your dental practice online, contact us today!