How to Increase Social Media Engagement: A Guide for Dentists

30 March 2022

For most dental practices who have an online presence, strong social media engagement is a sign that you’re making an impact in the market.

It’s not just about looking popular: it’s about making meaningful connections with current and future patients, which will serve to boost your practice both on and offline.

So what is social media engagement anyway?

In its simplest form engagement is the measurement of comments, likes, and shares.

Yes, we know you want to rack up your followers, but ultimately, the greatest measure of social media success is an engaged audience, not just a big one.

100k followers who don’t buy your treatments aren’t going to add any revenue to your bottom line.

As a profitable dental practice, it’s quality, not just quantity, that you should be striving for.

Activity and engagement is crucial for every social platform to build a positive brand experience, and develop meaningful relationships with new and potential future customers.

Social media engagement is measured by a range of metrics that could include the following:

• Comments
• Likes
• Shares
• Followers and audience growth
• Click-throughs
• Mentions (either tagged or untagged)
• Using branded hashtags

Basically, social media engagement is growing anytime someone interacts with your account.
Can you influence your engagement?
It’s important for all online brands, including dental practices to implement both reactive engagement and proactive engagement.

When you’re reactive, you’re answering direct messages, incoming mentions or comments.

When you’re proactive, you’re the one sparking conversation with people who may be talking about you, but haven’t necessarily sent messages to you directly. Maybe they’ve mentioned you with a misspelled brand name (“I love La Croy!”), or a common, unofficial nickname (“can i pls marry a McD’s breakfast sandwich”). Either way, this is an opportunity to reach out and say hey, and begin to nurture that relationship online.

However you define it, social media engagement is about putting the “social” back in social media. Whether it’s a big party or intimate conversation with a friend, when you put in the time and care with people, you get it right back—so show your followers you like them, really like them.

Not got time to put your engagement strategy into action? Book a disco 💃🎶 call with one of our friendly team to see how we can take this burden off your shoulders!