An Orthodontist’s Guide to Getting In, and Tactfully Promoting Your Practice on Social Media

One of the most frequently asked questions with regard to social media is, “how can I promote my practice on local Facebook parents groups?” It’s not an easy answer. We agree they’re very influential, but they’re closed to the public for a reason: to keep it exclusive to those who live in the same town and are raising children in the area or are somehow contributors to the community.

That said, there are ways to artfully include your practice in the conversation when it’s relevant. The key is to remain highly credible, not salesy and always helpful. That means appointing a member of your staff (or you), who are actual members of the community, to join these groups and monitor them regularly. To be authentic it has to be a real person with real knowledge of the area. Following is are three easy steps with best practices. We hope you find it useful. 

PART 1: Getting Started

Appoint your responsible team member wisely. Strong qualifications are:

• Great at spotting an opportunity 
• Comfortable on Facebook and social media in general
• Understands how to respond appropriately, has good grammar/spelling, and importantly, good judgment

PRO TIP: TCs are usually great with this because they do it all day long at the office.

Research and join as many Parent, Mom and Town-specific groups as will accept you. Most pages will not approve your request to join unless you live in the same town, however, if you are honest with them they may. When joining a page the Admin will usually ask a few questions before letting you in.  One of the questions is always: Do you live in this town?  You should be honest and say you do not live there but have a family orthodontic practice in town and would love to be in tune with what happens in the community. Once approved, search keywords periodically on these pages. You can conduct searches by typing keywords into the left-hand search bar that says “Search this group” Search words like: Orthodontist, Dentist, Pediatric Dentist, Braces, Invisalign, Smile Direct Club, Tooth, Teeth, ALL dental specialties and procedures. Scroll through to see what people are saying. Oftentimes you’ll see posts to the community asking if anyone knows a good orthodontist, dentist, pediatric dentists, etc, and you can see the comments in response.

PART 2: When and How to Contribute

Do NOT respond to every single post that’s relevant to the practice. (Super important!) This comes off as needy and a little creepy, like you're just hanging around Facebook all day waiting to pounce on every opportunity. After people see the same person over and over and over again they just begin to ignore you and all of your posts. Once you have that reputation it’s hard to win them over, no matter what you have to offer. Try to be helpful in general (but be conscious about who may be watching).

For example, look for posts that would be great for the doctor to offer a response. Example: Does anyone know a good oral surgeon? I need my wisdom teeth extracted.  

• If your practice only refers to one practice, Doc Response: Try Dr. Smith - I am an orthodontist practicing in [insert your location(s) here] and many of my patients go to her for extractions and other oral surgery procedures. The practice is great with kids and adults and the patient care is always exceptional- not to mention the office is state of the art. I highly recommend her.
• If you refer to multiple practices then change the message to, Doc Response: PMing you some of the best oral surgeons in the area - I am an orthodontist practicing in [town] and refer many of my patients for extractions and other oral surgery procedures - all of those I’d recommend are great with kids and adults and the patient care is always exceptional.

We have many more suggestions on how to gracefully get into the conversation in a natural way.  Contact us for a full digital marketing assessment from our company for your practice.

PART 3: How to Proactively Promote Your Practice in a Post

Always ask permission of the admins prior to or when posting and tell the admins to please delete your post if not allowed. Example Post: Hi Moms and Dads.  I just wanted to throw this out there. If not allowed, my apologies to the Admins and please don't hesitate to delete. I work for a local orthodontist, [practice name here], and we are doing complimentary Adult Invisalign Simulations the last 2 weeks of September.  At first we were going to limit it to parents in our practice but then decided to extend it to our community :)  Basically you would be able to see what your smile will look like at the end of treatment before committing to any fees. If anyone is interested or has any questions you are welcome to PM me :)

PRO TIP: Don't make it seem too polished! Remember, on these pages you do not want to come off as solely representing your office because, on these pages, you are merely sharing information that will help someone in your community.

Contact us if you want even more tips and tricks to promote your practice and get qualified leads that convert into patients. If you have any questions about digital marketing for orthodontics, click here to get in touch with People + Practice today!

Photo by Tobias Dziuba.