TBU #26: How To Use Instagram To Market Your Dental Office
Nov 05, 2022
Read Time: 4.5 min
Social media can be a complicated place. It can suck you in. It can make you crazy. It can give you anxiety and make you happy at the same time. It can give you lots of opportunities. It can literally be whatever you want it to be.
Coming out of Quarantine, I think I found myself struggling, just like everyone else, about what to do next and how to navigate where I was trying to go. Using Instagram was a good way to take my mind off of the current events, but I was also noticing some depression creeping in. I had to take a break. The burnout from being on social media was getting to me. Ultimately this doesn't benefit anyone. There's way this could have been avoided, or at least minimized.
I'm taking some of this content from a course that I am putting together right now. It covers some of the things I have learned about social media and how to use it for dentistry.
Ok. There's five types of relationship types when it comes to Instagram. Analyze yourself and see which one you are currently in.
Prince Charming
"I’m not in a real relationship with IG yet, I don’t post much, or if I do it’s not consistent. But I’m just positive when I am REALLY in the relationship it will solve everything! It will increase my sales, make people realize my value, enable me to accomplish my dreams, and I’ll finally feel loved and appreciated!"
Hit it and quit it!
"I show up to Instagram, I say what I have to say, I expect it to give me the action I need, when I need it, how I need it, and I don’t want to hear about IG’s feelings. I’m stretched thin, I have a lot going on. I mean, I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just that I have more important things to do than those other, desperate people who spend their time on IG."
Co-dependent Cathy!
"I have a good day or a bad day depending on how my content is received. When IG likes me it means I’m doing a good job, I have value and my business is going to work! When IG doesn’t seem to respond to me I obviously have no chance of success, and I start to think of quitting. What’s the point anyway?"
Lost that loving feeling!
"I was excited and intrigued at first. Full of longing, fresh ideas, and passion. Things were going well, but now I just can’t keep it up. (That’s what she said) Sometimes I manage to find a way to stay interested and it seems mutual, but I don’t know, it’s a lot of effort for minimal return. I’d really like to figure out a way to keep the relationship alive."
I don’t know, what do you want to do?
"I’m here for the likes, the follows, the saves, the sales, whatever will boost those numbers and get me to the top of the algorithm. It’s exhausting, and maybe it's not exactly what I want to be sharing anymore, but it’s what works, so I can’t let people down. It’s what Instagram is into right now, so it’s what I’m into, but I can’t remember what my favorite color is anymore."
Complicated right?
...So how do we use it as a dentist?
For me, I know I've been everyone of those multiple times. Circled through that list and then back again. Ugh.
See? The Burnout. Its a real thing. So how do we manage it? First, lets see why we're on IG in the first place. Here are three things I recommend:
- We first need to understand why we are there. Are we a casual viewer? Are we there to learn? Are we attracking new patients? Making connections with new peers? Establishing our value and expertise? There's literally tons of reasons. Now just narrow it down to about 2 main reasons. The fewer the better. Seriously tho, the more niched the better.
- Next lets look at our posting frequencies. Once a week? Once a day? Twice a day? No wrong or right answer here. If youre balancing burnout, lets start with less. The answer doesn't matter. What matters is consistency. Instead, shift the focus to some sort of regular schedule whatever it may be. The frequency of the posts also is dependent on the account's goal (ie growth, awareness, casual, etc.)
- Now...Leeeets GO! Now we just need to go do it. If you have been off for awhile or if your struggling for some reason to post regularly, take baby steps to get to your goals. There's lots of tools out there to help with this. (I'll have to make another post about these tools and how they can make the process easier. )
So for the actionable tip? For the sake of this article, I'm going to assume we are focsing on growing dental office/ personal dental account.
Here are my recommendations of how to market your dental office on IG and other social media.
- Become the expert in your area. Grow your knowledge and application of whatever treatments that you do. Tailor your practice to that and become known as the leader. If this is implants, great. If this is dentures, perfect. If this is biomimetics, even better. The reputation will spread. Promise!
- Learn how to make money with that new specialty and skill. Thats a totally different thing than just learning about it. Putting it to practice and using it to work for you can often be an entirely different set of training.
- Come up with a plan for how to produce content. You have two new skill sets, now its time to show it. Document cases, create reels, make blog posts, etc. There's so many options. Don't get overwhelmed and try to do it all. I've attempted before and it leads to more burnout. If you need, find someone in your office to help.
This is more or a mental exercise to analyze what you want to do with IG. But going back to the basics and developing a plan is the best place to start. Decide what you want and put it into practice. Document the cases and then get a game plan for how often you are going to post.
Use this Content Calendar (Download now ) to help guide you during the next week!
Whenever you're ready, there are 4 other ways I can help you:
1. Work with me 1:1 to grow your biomimetic dental practice.
2. Take one of our online courses that covers these topics in more detail.
3. Join our ever growing community, surround yourself with like-minded biomimetic dentists.
4. Download our 53 page biomimetic protocols guide for posterior direct restorations.
