Over the last couple of years there has been a flurry of activity with dentists joining Instagram. You may remember similar a number of years ago when there was a similar flocking to Facebook?<\/p>\n
So what has happened with all of those accounts and how many dentists are actually getting lots of new patients from Instagram? Well the reality is, very few indeed. So what\u2019s gone on and why hasn\u2019t Instagram become the panacea for new patient acquisition promised by some dental marketing agencies and written about in more than one book?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look…..<\/p>\n
This is absolutely critical and explains why simply creating an account and posting content to Instagram<\/a> won\u2019t instantly lead to new patients getting in touch. The harsh reality is that simply because you\u2019ve posted content on the platform, doesn\u2019t mean that anyone will necessarily see it. Just like Facebook, you need to gain a following of people to stand a chance of reaching anyone with your content. Even then, there is no guarantee at all that your content will be seen, even by those who followed you.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important to remember that Instagram is owned by Facebook. With Facebook, organic reach (the average number of people who liked your content who actually see your posts) has been reduced to less than 4% – so that\u2019s less than 4 in every 100 people! Facebook did this to support their \u201cpay to play\u201d plans; forcing the use of their paid advertising for those who are serious about getting their content in front of potential purchasers.<\/p>\n Whilst organic reach on Instgram hasn\u2019t been curtailed as much as Facebook yet, it\u2019s going that way quickly as Facebook again pushes businesses to pay for the privilege of using their platforms. So even if you\u2019ve managed to get quite a few followers, the large majority of them aren\u2019t seeing what you post.<\/p>\n The analytics data we run for many dentists shows us how many new patients enquiries (conversions) come from the various channels used to promote their services i.e. how many visits come from Google searches, paid ads on Google and also from social media, including Instagram.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very clear from the data across numerous accounts that even those dentists who have quite active social media presence, tend to see very limited new patient enquiries coming organically from those channels (i.e. not via paid ads).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a case of prioritisation and understanding what delivers best \u201cbang for buck\u201d from your marketing campaigns. Typically we see that the most valuable channel is organic enquiries from people finding your website in Google; but you will very likely need to invest in SEO (search engine optimisation) to gain great rankings and then maintain them ongoing. However the cost for achieving this, even though it can take time, is typically a lot less per new patient than enquiries coming from social media i.e. from paid ads on social media.<\/p>\n The cost to build a huge organic Instagram presence is actually significant and to be frank, most dentists won\u2019t make it. Not only do you need to build a huge range of followers, you then need to actively engage them with lots of new and interesting content. Generating this content and then devoting the time to post and manage it is far from trivial. Those few dentists that have managed it either pay huge sums to external agencies, or have dedicated resource within the practice to handle those activities. But it isn\u2019t achieved in just an hour or so of activity each day unfortunately.<\/p>\n For the vast majority of dentists, using Instagram can be successful but you will need to use paid ads to buy the reach you need. Indeed your paid ads campaigns on Facebook will likely incorporate Instagram too. As we\u2019ve seen, achieving it through organic reach alone can be a bridge too far for many businesses.<\/p>\n Instagram is very visual and useful to demonstrate what you do, along with demonstrating what is known as \u201csocial proof\u201d. So where someone likes or comments on your content, others will see that as a validation of your services and help to convince them that you should be their dentist of choice. \u00a0We also know from our data that website visitors will often link across to your social media channels to see what\u2019s going on there. If they see activity, it\u2019s another confirmation that they are engaging with a modern business which takes an active role in publishing what they do.<\/p>\nWhat do we see in conversion data (new patient enquiries)?<\/h3>\n
What does this mean for your marketing budget?<\/h3>\n
Is it worth posting on Instagram at all?<\/h3>\n