When it comes to social media marketing platforms for dentists, Instagram typically isn’t the one that most offices are flocking to. But skipping it might mean missing a great opportunity to showcase your practice. At the end of the day, aesthetics is central to dentistry success, so this visually-oriented platform can hold huge potential to demonstrate how you have returned your patients’ smiles.
That being said, Instagram for dentists can be a wildly valuable platform once you know how to use it for your practice. It all comes down to having the right strategies in place to get the results you want.
In this post, we’re going to help with that. We’ll take a look at how to set up your Instagram account for success, along with the strategies and types of content you should use to keep your existing patients, attract new ones and build trust, getting people from your profile into an office chair.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms today, and that’s not changing any time soon. Because of this, having a strong presence here can help you expand your reach while building social proof, allowing you to connect with your patients (new and returning alike!) in meaningful ways.
Users on Instagram are excited to engage with brands of all shapes and sizes, and are actually more likely to engage with brands on Instagram than other platforms. More than 80% of users follow at least one brand on Instagram, and more than 70% intentionally look up brands to follow. When you combine this with Instagram’s higher-than-average engagement rates, it’s easy to see the appeal.
In addition to the brand-friendliness of the platform, it’s important to acknowledge the sheer visibility that Instagram can offer. Instagram isn’t plagued by almost non-existent organic reach the same way is Facebook, so you can actually connect with your followers, and since you can do so with both Stories and in-feed posts, it’s almost like you’re getting two platforms in one.
The first thing that you should do is ensure that your account is set up for success. Whether you already have an Instagram account up and running or have yet to create one, double check that you’re crossing off everything on our checklist here; without the foundation of a strong base profile, you’ll struggle to drive meaningful results.
First things first: You need to set up a business account instead of a standard personal profile. Business accounts will grant you access to crucial features like the ability to promote posts and see detailed analytics about your contents’ performance.
If you already have a personal account, that’s ok; go to your Settings, then click Account, and then choose “Switch to Professional Account.”
Using a professional account on Instagram will grant you access to key features like analytics.
As soon as you do this, you’ll want to enable two-factor verification for security purposes. This requires not only a password to log into your account, but also for you to enter a code that’s texted to the number you have on file, making it much harder to hack into your account.
When it comes to the security of your dental practice and your patients, you’ll want to make this a priority up front. To do this, go to your Settings, then find “Security,” and then click “Two-factor authentication.” Once you do this, you’ll see the options to set up two-factor verification along with the use of third-party apps. You can do both for maximized security.
Two-factor authentication will protect your account and, by extension, your patients. You can set up text message verification and/or an authentication app.
Once you have your professional account set up and you’ve got security underway, it’s time for the fun part: Filling in the profile itself.
You’re going to want your profile to do several things for you:
Dr. Thales Cousen lists different services his practice offers as a way to attract the attention of his target patients.
In order to do this, use these best practices:
Hashtags are vital for Instagram marketing; they’re essentially clickable, searchable topics that can expand your reach significantly and make it easier for potential patients to find you.
When it comes to hashtag usage, you can be liberal. Best practices have noted that engagement seems to peak with an average of 11 hashtags per post, with best results happening when you have a diverse mix of different types of hashtags, which include:
Dr. Marisa Zenha uses several industry related hashtags here like #implantology and #smiledesign to ensure her content is seen by those who want to find it.
Since different hashtags serve different purposes, using a combination of different styles of hashtags in each post will typically generate the best effects. Start with the fun hashtags that are most likely to drive engagement, since you want people to read them first.
In addition to including plenty of hashtags in each post, you’re also going to want to change up the hashtags that you use in each individual post. This will extend your reach; by adding diverse hashtags to each post, you’re increasing the chance your content will be found by potential patients.
While it can be a little exhausting to keep up with a list of which hashtags you’ve used and which have been researched and are still in reserve, tools like the Jetpack App to create separate lists of hashtags that can quickly be copied and pasted into different posts as you see fit.
Tools like the Jetpack app will allow you to store lists of hashtags, organize them, and use them quickly. This can help increase the diversity of your hashtags easily.
In order to maximize your reach, it’s best to do some hashtag research during the beginning stages of your strategy development.
While fun hashtags that you just want to use to engage users don’t have to be researched, you’ll want to look for industry, location-based, and general hashtags that could increase your visibility.
Tools like Hashtagify are incredibly valuable for this purpose. You can search for a target keyword, and they’ll suggest related, popular hashtags to look into. You can view the popularity of each individual hashtag and compare it to others.
Hashtag research tools like Hashtagify will help you ensure that you’re leveraging hashtags to their full potential.
Use these tools to brainstorm a large list of diverse keywords, looking for a strong combination of reach and relevance.
Other tools to consider include:
On Instagram, users now have the option to follow hashtags in addition to accounts, allowing them to see relevant content in their main feeds and not just in the explore section even if they aren’t following the account that created it. This is an incredible opportunity for dentists to show up in more patients’ feeds, but it should also be used for competitive research purposes.
To follow a hashtag on Instagram, simply search for it, and then select “Follow.” This will allow the content to show up in your feed moving forward and give you a better idea of what your audience wants to see.
While you’re creating content, you don’t want to just think on a post-by-post basis. You also want to think about the big picture that users will see when they click to your profile and view your Instagram gallery as a whole.
Dr. Daniella Giosa uses a striking color scheme to stand out in the feed, and it looks cohesive when viewed in her gallery.
Accounts that have visually and esthetically pleasing Instagram galleries are more likely to attract followers. This gives you a consistent, branded look that viewers are naturally drawn to. For best results, use a similar palette of color shades and opt for cohesive image styles wherever possible.
When you’re marketing on Instagram, it’s crucial to remember that it’s not all about sales. Relationship building should be the big focus here, allowing you to build trust with potential and current patients while showing how your practice is different.
There are 6 types of posts you can use that will help serve this purpose effectively. Let’s look at each one.
User-generated content (UGC) posts are made up of videos or images that were shared by your patients. It’s overwhelmingly trusted, and it’s an incredible asset on Instagram for dentists.
Odontolopes’ Clinic reposted a fun picture of one of their pediatric patients, leveraging UGC to their benefit.
It shows that your patients care enough about you to post themselves, and it shows that you care what they have to say. UGC can increase engagement and encourage the creation of content from other patients, too.
As a dentist, you have an enormous wealth of knowledge that is valuable to your patients and Instagram followers. Sharing some of that information through short, educational posts can help you establish yourself as a thought leader and keep your audience interested.
If, for example, you strongly believe that people shouldn’t use charcoal to whiten their teeth, explain why. Share tips on how people can brush extra great after all that Halloween candy, or updates on the latest technology and procedures, which Dr. Hugo Madeira does below.
Educational posts like this one from Dr. Hugo Madeira will inform patients about procedures you offer and help them feel more comfortable about what’s involved.
Your followers like to get to know the people behind the scenes, and keeping your staff front and center on your Instagram is a great choice. Share posts focusing on your staff. Wish them a happy birthday, introduce new hires, celebrate wins, and honor work anniversaries.
Dr. Leon Pariente recently shared this post about the success of his team and how much he appreciates them.
Sharing pictures of your staff on Instagram is another great way to build trust and familiarity, helping people feel comfortable with you before they even book their first appointment.
Sitting down to have your teeth restored or replaced isn’t exactly most people’s idea of a great way to spend their day, so using social media to create a more positive association with your practice can go a long way.
Dentists, for example, might do fun things to put patients at ease. Showing your rapport with your patients and demonstrating that you can have a good time will create engaging posts your audience will love.
Dr Carlos Monteagudo takes a fun picture at work, showing off the good nature of the practice and the dentist himself.
Are you going to be closed for Thanksgiving, or down for a few weeks for renovations? Are you offering new specials, or bringing on new members to the team? Make an announcement on Instagram, using a relevant picture to attract attention.
Office announcements help your patients feel like they’re in the loop, which can boost loyalty and engagement long-term. Make sure you’re checking in on the engagement for these posts particularly carefully in case anyone has questions or is asking for clarification.
Timely, seasonal posts are typically valuable and attention-grabbing, whether that’s you weighing in on a breaking news story about a new procedure or reminding everyone not to have any cider after brushing their teeth at Christmas.
Timely content is a great way to use more generic stock images to create posts that your audience will respond to, keeping your posting calendar full even if you start to run out of ideas.
Odontolopes’ Clinic created a post featuring cool summer drinks while talking about tooth sensitivity, reminding people to get in touch if the cool temperatures are bothering them during the summer months.
Everyone loves a great before and after shot. These images are an incredible way to demonstrate exactly what your services and products can do, encouraging patients to make an appointment and see what you can do for them, too. They’re highly visual, and are an excellent choice for Instagram’s in-feed posts and Stories alike.
Dr. Manu Losada features before and after shots on his Instagram to show patients what’s possible and get them excited about what their smile could look like, too.
Instagram Stories rolled out a few years ago and has become one of the most popular features of the entire app.
Stories are made up of vertical images or fifteen-second-or-under videos that will take up a users’ entire mobile screen. The idea is short, rapid consumption of slightly-quirky, “unedited” content, and users love it.
Dr. Frederico Hori and his team use Stories to explain procedures to their target audience.
Around 500 million users are watching and/or producing Stories daily, and 25% of Millennials and Gen Z-ers look for Stories of products or services they want to invest in. And, since one third of the most-viewed Stories on Instagram are coming from businesses, you don’t want to skip this feature.
The average business posts stories between two and three times per day, using a combination of images and video with text, emojis, and stickers added on to increase engagement, add context, or keep it fun.
Instagram stories can be edited and created by clicking on your profile picture, which pulls up the stories creation screen. You can take a picture or video with the in-app camera, or upload one that’s already in your library.
Once you do, you can add background music, interactive stickers, camera effects, text, and emojis to your stories. Unlike most other types of content, you unfortunately can’t schedule your stories through most third-party or native scheduling tools (Later is one of the exceptions); you need to create the content in-app and publish it exactly when you want to go live. Since stories will only play for 24 hours after they’re first posted, this can make getting the timing right a little complicated.
Dra. Danielle Giosa uses an image of her work station with a simple caption and emojis, showing off what she can do for her patients.
To help with this, it can be useful to leverage a few tools that will help you create stories ahead of time, so that the only thing you need to do is add in any relevant stickers. Some of these tools include:
Stickers are a big asset for stories. Some simply allow you to do things like share the date and time that the Story was first shot or published, or to share Gifs on your content. Others, however, significantly increase the interactivity of your post. And there are some Straumann-specific stickers, go look for them.
Dr Hugo Madeira uses the @-mention sticker to create clickable profiles of people in his post, which can be used to increase interactivity of the content itself.
The key stickers you’ll want to consider using for interactivity purposes include:
Stickers can be added to any story, and increasing interactive components will increase viewership and can even give you new ways to connect with your target audience. Take advantage of that.
IGTV is a standalone app that does have an integration with Instagram. This app prioritizes long-form content, and the idea is that it’s more like watching television, where the content is always going, and you can jump between “channels” to stay engaged.
IGTV has not been the massive hit that Instagram first hoped and thought it would be. Usage isn’t great overall; most users are driven to IGTV only when they see a prompt from content on Instagram itself.
That being said, using the platform well could give you new opportunities, so it’s worth testing at the very least.
Consider creating long-form content like educational series, which could include videos on the following:
Engagement is essential on Instagram. Not only is it a strong indicator that your target audience is finding your content valuable, but it’s also a key component that influences the visibility of your content.
Engagement is one of the core drivers of Instagram’s algorithm, and if you’ve got higher-engaging content, it will show up towards the top of your followers’ feeds. This boost in visibility is the best way to connect with them, especially since high-performing posts are more likely to be shown to your target audience in their Explore tab even if they haven’t connected with you yet.
Driving engagement also gives you the valuable opportunity to connect with your patients – new and old alike. This can help you to establish trust and a strong relationship before they ever even come to your office.
The following engagement strategies can help you drive more comments, likes, and even shares through Stories:
Dentists can benefit immensely from a strong Instagram presence, and since this platform can be even more valuable and accessible than other options, it only makes sense to dive in head first. Taking the time to get your account set up for success and to come up with a long-term content strategy will be key, however, so be willing to invest more energy into the early stages of the account development for a long-term payoff.
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