Double Your Dental Practice’s Social Media Following (1 Killer Strategy)

Here’s one killer strategy that’ll double your dental practice’s social media following!

And it’s so simple that you can do it every day while sipping your morning coffee

In these next few minutes, I’ll provide a step-by-step guide to lay the foundation for your social media growth and make getting followers easy peasy

And this doesn’t involve posting every day, writing captions, or creating graphics…

Oh, btw …

I’m Mel, the Marketing Director of Roadside Dental Marketing.

With 12 years in dental marketing, I’ve honed in on what patients are looking for when choosing a dentist online. And social media for dentists is prime to get yourself to stand out and build a loyal following.

And I’m not just talking about any followers – I’m talking about people from your local area.

This killer strategy is called social media outreach, and it can completely transform your online presence.

As a heart-centered dentist, you’re all about creating relationships with your patients and community.

And social media outreach is another way to build and nurture those relationships online.

In a simplified way, it’s commenting, liking, and messaging your followers and potential followers.

So here’s a step-by-step guide to achieve that.

As a heads-up, many of the examples I’ll provide will be on Facebook or Instagram, but this can apply to any social media platform.

But… if you want me to give you more tips and tricks with a specific social media platform, please comment below and tell me what videos you want to see more of.

Ok… now let’s get into step 1…

1. Identify your dream patient

The first crucial step is to identify your target audience. Knowing who you want to reach makes your outreach efforts much more effective.

• Who are your ideal patients?
• Are they families, young professionals, or retirees?
• Where are they spending their time online? Instagram, Facebook, or another platform?
• Who do they follow on social media? This could be your competition, industry leaders, or influencers.

By focusing on your ideal audience, you’ll ensure that your efforts reach the right people—those who are most likely to become loyal followers and patients in the long run.

Once you’ve identified your ideal patient, the next step is…

2. Follow other accounts

Find local organizations with social media profiles and follow them.

There’s the…

• Chamber of Commerce
• Tourism accounts in your area
• Local government and community services (sheriff’s office, fire department, parks and recreation, library)
• Local news outlets and magazines
• Farmers market in your area
• Schools and colleges
• Sports teams (minor, major, youth)
• Charitable organizations (Humane Society)
• Local businesses your team visits (restaurants, gyms, coffee shops, etc.)
• Other practices you refer to, or they refer to you

Now, I want you to follow some major organizations, brands, and products that are relevant to your industry.

This could be:

• American Dental Association
• American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
• Academy of General Dentistry
• Invisalign
• CEREC
• Burst
• Sonicare

Any brand and organization you’re affiliated with.

Follow them because they share relevant dental content that could be really useful for your followers.

Finally, follow anyone else who shares content that your audience might be interested in. This could be funny memes or jokes, companies, and influencers.

And here’s a quick tip: You can follow hashtags on Instagram related to dentistry or your local area.

When you follow hashtags, you’ll start to see different posts in your feed with those tags. (I’ll get more into that in a little bit).

3. Send them a personal message

This step applies to the local organizations you followed earlier.

Once you’ve followed them, reach out and send them a direct message.

Make it personal and genuine, introducing yourself as a local dentist.

You’re simply reaching out to them, similar to the example that you see here:

 

It’s a personal message introducing yourself and letting them know that you’re a local dentist.

And then if you have a connection with them, mention it.

For example, if it’s a restaurant that you go to all the time that you love, go ahead and say so.

You can ask them for a follow, but again, this is just a personal message – it’s not salesy or spammy.

What you just did is set the foundation of your social media growth.

You’re now ready to do these next two steps, which will take as long as sipping your morning cup of joe.

4. Start commenting

Every day, take a look at your posts and respond to any comments you’ve received.

These responses don’t need to be promotional.

Just keep the conversation going.

Now, I want you to spend a few minutes scrolling through your feed.

You’ve followed the local organizations from step 2. Now, let’s look at their recent posts.

And if there’s an opportunity to drop a comment, go ahead and do so.

This is all about creating that relationship and having a conversation.

You could:

• Share an opinion
• Ask a question
• Share a tip
• Give a compliment
• Tag a friend

This is a great way to start to build some connections within your local community on social media.

5. Reshare content

So this is a fun one.

Remember when you spent some time following local organizations, major brands, and hashtags back in step 2?

You’ll start to see relevant posts in your feed from those accounts.

Look to reshare content, when possible, that your audience might enjoy.

This is a really simple way to get more content out there without actually having to create it.

Scroll through your feed a couple of times a week, aiming to reshare content that you think your audience might enjoy.

This could be a joke, a meme, a tip, or anything related and relevant to your industry.

Do these steps every day, and you’ll see steady growth in your social media following.

And this growth will be with the right people – people in your community.

Let me share a success story to illustrate this.

Social media outreach success story

We worked with a small-town doctor on social media outreach.

We followed the steps I shared with you. In just one month, their followers grew from 26 to 61, a 134% increase.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – that’s not a million followers.

Our goal isn’t about big numbers; it’s about steady growth with the right people.

You want followers who are potential patients and local community members.

As of now, they have 234 followers, which is a 283% increase.

This happened because they consistently engaged with their patients and the local community on social media.

This kind of growth is sustainable and meaningful, driving real results for their practice.

So, remember, it’s not just about the numbers.

It’s about growing a loyal, local following that will support your dental practice.

Now that you’ve got this killer strategy, it’s crucial to post consistently.

Regular posts keep your followers engaged and your social media presence active.

But I know the struggles dental practices have with social media—finding the time to post, creating engaging content, and staying consistent.

That’s why having a plan in place is so important.

So, I’ve got this free social media content calendar for dental clinics.

It’s packed with ideas to keep your content flowing effortlessly for the entire year. This way, you can focus more on building relationships and less on the stress of daily content creation.

Download it below: