Back in 2014, Matt Cutts, a former software engineer with Google, informed the world that “social signals do not affect search rankings.” For many businesses, this statement confirmed what they already suspected — that social media marketing is a pointless fad. For others, however, it did little to sway their enthusiasm for SMM. If anything, it bolstered it, as those organizations realized that what value they could derive from social would only increase as their competition dropped off the channels. What kind of value, though, did those marketers recognize that others did not?
The value of dental social media marketing
Social media content and engagement may not directly impact your dental practice’s rankings in search, but that does not mean you should forego an SMM campaign entirely. Below are a few reasons to invest in an SMM strategy in 2021:
- Nearly 50% of the world’s population — or nearly 4 billion people — have active social media accounts.
- 54% of social media users use social media to research products or services.
- The average person logs into Facebook at least nine times a day and spends between 2.5 and three hours on social media.
Your audience is on social media, and members are using it to guide their purchase decisions — two major reasons you should make SMM part of your dental digital marketing strategy.
Social channels your dental practice should not ignore
Armed with the before-mentioned data, you may be ready to make SMM part of your dentist SEO strategy. However, before you do, know that more is not always better. It is important that you focus your efforts on the channels most popular and widely used with your particular audience; otherwise, they may fall flat. Though the most effective platforms will vary from practice to practice, a few are more popular than others.
Nearly 70% of Americans use Facebook and, of those, approximately three-quarters of active users check their accounts daily. The largest percentage of users at 61% are Americans between the ages of 25 and 61, which is the target demographic for many dental professionals. As an advertising platform, Facebook is great for lead generation as it allows you to create customized ads and target them to a very specific audience. It is also a great platform on which you can build relationships and turn followers into loyal customers.
As a visually driven platform, Pinterest is a great place to showcase before and after photos. Pinterest’s audience consists mostly of women — or, more specifically, moms. According to the data, 80% of Pinterest users are women between the age of 18 and 64 with children. Moreover, more than 90% of users browse the platform with the intent to make a purchase. If you want to target the decision-makers of the family, Pinterest is the platform on which to do so.
Twitter is a great platform on which to publish announcements, important messages, deals, breaking news, and other time-sensitive information. Most Twitter users are under the age of 50 and prefer short, digestible snippets of textual content, such as listicles, articles, and quotations.
Work with Doctor Genius to identify effective marketing channels
Though social media may not impact your rankings in search directly, SMM is still a crucial component of any effective content marketing campaign — especially during this era of social distancing. When you partner with Doctor Genius, we can help you identify the most appropriate channels for your practice and help you build and implement a strategy that will result in maximum engagement. Reach out to a member of our team to schedule a consultation today.
Doctor Genius, located at 16800 Aston Street, Suite 270, Irvine, CA 92606, provides a range of services for practice success. We seek to meet our clients’ needs by providing a variety of marketing, SEO, practice optimization tools, and coaching to transform the healthcare experience. Though we work to provide the most accurate information, the content found on this website is solely intended for entertainment purposes. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the information provided is entirely correct. You may not use the information on this site to cure, prevent, or diagnose a perceived medical issue. If you have healthcare-related needs, please speak directly to a healthcare professional. Never self-perform medical treatments discussed on this website. All images displayed are also for entertainment purposes only, and personal experiences may differ. Please note that the business tactics mentioned on this site might not be applicable to your industry or practice.
