Get more Facebook likes for your dental practice

It’s wonderful when a patient decides to “like” your Facebook page. It can feel like validation for all your hard work... but what do you do when those “likes” are few and far between? Don’t be discouraged if you’re not getting as many as you’d hope. Here’s how you can increase your chances of gaining Facebook fans for your dental office.

Promote your Facebook page offline

If your practice engages with your Facebook account offline, you stand to gain a lot more followers than if you set up your business page and then forget all about it. Engage your patients when they’re in the office by doing the following:

• Remind patients that you have a Facebook page by displaying a poster in the waiting room or by handing out cards with your Facebook information with their bill or appointment reminder.
• If you’re in a location where contests and prizes are permitted, offer patients a chance to win an electric toothbrush in exchange for liking your page or “checking in.”
• Ask your young patients with no cavities if you can take their picture and add it to your Facebook page. Just make sure to get their mom or dad to sign a photo release form!

Share valuable information

Whatever you share on your business page should be related to the business. That means oral hygiene, procedural information, dental comics, fun facts about staff, and any events taking place in the office from birthdays to Tooth Fairy day. By consistently sharing valuable information, you show current and potential patients that you’re plugged into your Facebook page and they will then be more inclined to like your page. Here are a few ideas on how to get more valuable posts:

• Keep track of which types of posts your audience likes. How many shares or views did each post get? Identify the winners and make more posts like that – or re-share a popular post after a few months if it’s still relevant.
• Share patient education materials with a brief introduction. (link to Patient ed post)
• Oral hygiene tips are great! Sit down with staff and brainstorm fun ways to talk about brushing and flossing!

Use Facebook advertising

You might have noticed that you don’t see every story come up in your Facebook newsfeed. Sometimes, your friend posts something that you miss completely. That’s because Facebook has an algorithm that determines which posts they think you’d like to see based on your past interactions. The same thing happens with your business page posts.

To overcome this, you can pay to advertise your posts or your Facebook page to your followers or to people in your geographic area. These advertising tools are great for gaining likes as well. The more people who see your posts the more interest you’ll get in your Facebook page. Here’s how to make the most of Facebook advertising:

• Set up an ad to promote your page using a nice image and compelling text. Think about why someone would want to like your Facebook page when you’re making your ad. Do you hold contests? Do you give the best tips? What value do you give your patients and potential patients with your Facebook page?
• Set up your ad to target only your local area to make the most of your budget. A dental office is a highly local business and most people won’t travel very far for a good dentist when they can visit a dentist close to home. If you’re in a small town, you might get people from up to a half hour away. But if you’re in the city, the vast majority of your patients will either live or work in your geographic area. Don’t waste your money by targeting a larger area than necessary.
• Don’t buy “likes” outside of Facebook. Websites that promise 1,000 likes for $5 can be tempting but they don’t actually do your practice any good. The vast majority of these “likes” will be from other countries – and no one in Bangladesh will visit your practice, no matter how compelling your marketing is. In addition, having a lot of “likes” from somewhere other than your local community can make you look suspicious to anyone who takes the time to look at your friends list.

Anything we’re missing? Let us know... and of course feel free to “like” us on Facebook!