• 6
• Dental Marketing ,
• 23 May

If you have a new dental practice or if you’re thinking about expansion, you know how hard it is to get new clients. This is especially true if you’re a young dentist who wants to start their own business.

Dental services are quite specific.

Like any medical procedure, people are unwilling to trust unknown dental practitioners. It is a relationship that is built over time, time that your business doesn’t have. In other words, you need more exposure.

Even though internet exposure doesn’t instantly build trust, it does help get your message across. And as we know, the more people you reach, the bigger the odds someone is going to give you a chance.

I don’t have to tell you that the time of billboard, TV and radio advertisement is already over. Different types of ads are starting to show promise occupying millions of screens worldwide.

Of course, I’m talking about internet ads.

Among various approaches, pay-per-click stands out as the quickest, most reliable form of promotion. That doesn’t mean you should avoid dental SEO or social media marketing for dental practices. It just means you need to get your priorities straight.

As something that can generate profit almost instantly, Facebook ads are an excellent solution to your problem.

Today, billions of dollars are invested in this type of promotion. Furthermore, you can use Facebook ads to reach thousands of potential patients every day.

How about that for efficiency?

But wait, there’s more!

What is the secret of Facebook ads for dentists?

Numerous things make dental Facebook ads so successful.

First and foremost, Facebook is great at finding people based on their personal interests. If an individual has searched terms related to dentistry or dental services, Facebook will use them as focal points of the marketing campaign.

Instead of wasting your money on people who don’t want to do anything with your product, you can easily find those who might be interested. Facebook is very proficient in analyzing behavioral patterns or simply put your clicks.

There are lots of targeting tools that will allow you to set up demographics and other parameters, giving you the option of fine-tuning your campaign.

But Facebook alone might not be enough for you. This is why the platform also has the option of also advertising via Instagram, the company’s second big social network.

Now, you might say that this is very similar to Google Ads, and you would be correct. However, there is something that Facebook does much better, and that is providing a better type of exposure. The ads are shown much more frequently and can be much more profitable due to their lower prices (not always the case, though).

Lastly, we need to mention the mental aspect. Facebook is much more jovial and relaxed than Google search. People who are using it are usually using it as a form of relaxation during their off time.

This means they are more likely to be affected by an ad and give the company a chance. This might seem like a little thing, but it does make a difference when it comes to whether a person will buy something or not.

How to create your own dental Facebook campaign?

Keep in mind that running facebook advertising for dentists is not an easy task.

While there are lots of online tutorials that can help you with it, you have to be an expert to get optimal results. A much better option is hiring a company such as ours to perform this task for you.

However, if you do decide to run it by yourself, here are some steps that you need to take.

• Starting with dentist ads on Facebook

Most of your time, you’ll be spending on Facebook Manager.

Here, you can start your campaigns and set up various objectives. It is the starting point from which you will progress onwards. Once you create your first campaign, you will move to the next screen. Bellow the tab “What’s your marketing objective?” you can choose between 3 options, including Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.

As the name suggests, awareness increases the overall awareness of the target audience. With this objective, you’re able to place your ad in front of as many people as possible who would be interested in your dental services.

Consideration is geared towards individuals who are already acquainted with your company but still haven’t purchased your services. During this step, they will at least start considering what you have to offer.

Convert allows instant conversion and purchase.

Your objective will depend on the marketing stage in which you’re in. If you just started advertising, perhaps an Awareness campaign would be the best fit.

• Finding the right audience

Already in the second step, you can see how sophisticated Facebook ads for dentists are.

After creating a campaign and setting up your primary goals, you have to input what kind of audience is ideal for your ads.

First, you need to add a city and an exact street name. This is especially great for local businesses such as dental companies as it helps you pitch neighbors who are the most likely clients. Based on the street that you’ve used, you can increase or decrease the radius of search encompassing all surrounding streets. In other words, all you have to do is place the address of your company.

After that, you can set up age and gender. When it comes to dental practices, you will like to target both sexes of medium and older age. Once you input all the parameters, Facebook will tell you what kind of reach you can expect based on the data.

• Choosing the best platform

The great thing about these ads is that you get to decide on which platform your ads are going to be shown. Keep in mind that you have the following options: Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, and Messenger.

In other words, by using this service, you can spread your reach throughout the Internet if you choose to do so. Remember that Facebook is still the best social network for dental practices, so perhaps it’s best if you focus all your funds on it.

Another thing you can choose in the Placement tab in device types. Nowadays, the majority of people use mobile devices to access the Internet. Still, you can select both mobile and desktop devices.

If you want to be even more specific, you can select a particular mobile device and operating system on which your ads will be shown. This won’t do too much good for the dental profession, so I advise that you go with the broadest option.

The budget is the final thing you have to address in this section. You have two options; you can either go for a continuous or a periodic budget. The recurrent budget refers to a particular time span while the ongoing budget is set up indefinitely.

The great thing about these ads is that you can post them at a specific time of the day. So, for a dental practice, perhaps the ideal ad slot is between 5 to 10 PM. Keep in mind that the better time slots will cost more, so this is something you need to take into consideration.

• Selecting the ad type

Now that you’ve set up all the parameters, you can choose what type of ad you want to run. There are several things at your disposal under the Format tab: Carousel, Single Image, Single Video, and Slideshow. 

Each format provides something new. With Carousel, you will create an ad with two or more scrollable images or videos. Single Image gives you an option of using up to 6 ads with one image each. As its name suggests, Single Video allows you to create a video ad while Slideshow enables you to create a looping video by using up to 10 images.

When it comes to dental business, in particular, perhaps creating videos is not the best idea. While it is something that will differentiate you from the competition, it usually goes with high costs. Simple images typically do the trick, so I would suggest going with this type of ad.

In terms of images, you can either choose generic photos or your own. I always suggest that you pick your own as this will leave a personal stamp.

Lastly, don’t forget to add a link to your homepages as well as a message.

Since images tend to look generic, the message is the element that will be more important. If you create a catchy line, you are more likely to attract people to your page.

Using Facebook Analytics

Running successful Facebook Ad campaigns don’t stop with creating one ad.

This is a continuous process, and if you wish to get good at it, you will have to rely on Facebook Analytics. Always remember: Analytics is only available once you create an actual add.

There are lots of different things we can learn through it. For example, it shows us the data for the number of people who have seen the ad. You will also get financial data such as cost per click, remaining budget, and money that you’ve spent so far. There is also a section for demographics and performance over time.

Like other analytical internet tools, Facebook Analytics can show you whether or not your project is profitable. It also is able to compare the different projects that you had over time. By checking the data, you can figure out what’s working and what’s not, where to tweak things, should you continue investing, and so on.

One thing to keep in mind is that dentists Facebook ads are no joke!

There are lots of marketing professionals who are using them on a daily basis, and even they might have inconstant results. You probably won’t be able to strike gold from the first try. However, that doesn’t mean you should stop trying.

Of course, if you wish to circumvent the whole process, you can contact us, and we will start the campaign for your dental company.

Conclusion

Facebook Ads for dentists require a lot of time to perfect. Still, if you need immediate results, they are probably the best option at your disposal.

Facebook is the most used social network in the world, so you can rest assured that dental ads on Facebook will be able to reach your target audience.

With my tips, you will get the hand of some dental facebook advertising basics. Nevertheless, you need to get into the dashboard and start experimenting yourself. In the end, nothing beats a good practice!