While Facebook has received bad press lately regarding privacy concerns, you might think that people would abandon the platform in droves. Just the opposite is happening. We have not seen a decrease in performance for our clients, and the number of Facebook users keeps growing month over month. As it’s the largest social media platform, you simply can’t ignore the facts:
- 74% of adults in the United States visit Facebook on a daily basis
- In 2018, 78% of consumers in the United States made purchases through discoveries on Facebook
- 93% of businesses are active on Facebook
What does this mean for your practice? Simply put, you must show up consistently on Facebook to reach new patients and nurture relationships with your existing ones. Here are a few reasons to include this important marketing channel in your overall strategy.
The Power of Search
Now that we’ve established that a lot of people use Facebook, you might be wondering what they do on the platform. Besides posting about their day or looking at their friends’ photos, people use the platform to search for information. In fact, 43% of American adults get their news from Facebook.
And it’s become a search engine for people looking for news as well as products and services just like yours. As Facebook continues to grow, so does your audience. Make sure they can find you by posting consistently and also by utilizing the review section of your practice’s business page.
Target Your Patients
What Facebook does extremely well is enable you to show your message to the exact type of clients you want through Facebook advertising. Unlike traditional advertising channels like print or radio, you can focus your ads to target your patients based on geographic area, as well as their interests and hobbies. It’s also becoming less costly as Facebook ad targeting improves. So far in 2019, the average price of an ad has decreased by 2%, while ad impressions have grown by 34%.
What’s more, you can retarget patients who have visited your website on Facebook. Reinforcing your brand is key to staying top of mind with patients, and Facebook ads do so effectively.
Time
People are spending more and more time on the platform scrolling through their feed, watching videos, chatting in Facebook groups, and more. If the average person spends 37 minutes on Facebook at a time consuming content, then your practice should be there providing it. Mix up your posts with photos of your team, updates on your practice, and patient video testimonials. The more patients see of you, the more they will remember you next time they need to book their dental appointment.
The social media platform is just too big to be ignored. By utilizing it’s many capabilities to market your practice, you will grow alongside Facebook, too.
With more than a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Ms. Ulasewich Cullen decided to take her passion for the dental business and marketing to the next level by founding My Dental Agency. Since starting her company, she and her team have helped a wide variety of practices all over the nation focus their message, reach their target audience, and increase their sales through effective marketing campaigns. She can be reached at (800) 689-6434 or via email at jackie@mydentalagency.com.
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