When was the last time you updated anything on your website besides your blog page? (It might even be a while since you touched that!) Your About Us page is probably one of the most popular pages on the site, and if you haven’t updated your team photo for a couple years, it may not match your current lineup. 

Introducing your team online is a great way to alleviate orthodontic patients’ anxieties before they walk in your door. We recommend having great imagery, team highlights, and an explanation of your practice values featured clearly and prominently on your website. Tell your team to get dressed for photo day! Use this free template to update your bio and about us page.

Contests are a great way to boost engagement on your social media channels. Share a thought-provoking picture from around your practice and see what your patients do with it! Make sure that you specify the judging criteria, and offer an incentive to get everyone really excited about the results.

We’ve compiled our 101 Best Dental Social Media Captions. Download and let the creative juices start working.

One of the best parts of a visit to the orthodontist is choosing a new set of colors for your elastics. So why not let your patients have a say when you’re ordering some new bands? You can feature the options via video or photograph on your social media channels and invite patients to share their opinions. You might also show some color combinations that you’ve seen in the office and have people vote on their favorite.

Check out how these Orthodontists are using TikTok to let patients know that they have a color choice.

One of the most enjoyable things about Instagram reels is utilizing stickers to spark a conversation with your followers and spice up your video or carousel. As of last year, Instagram is allowing you to create your own sticker, which can then be published and utilized by people around the web. Anytime the sticker is used, it’ll be collated into a page crediting you at the top as creator of the sticker.

Take this opportunity to start a conversation online around orthodontic care! Invite people to share their smiles, tell funny stories about braces, or show the world just how invisible Invisalign is. You can share information about it on your own Instagram and TikTok reels and invite your patients to join in the fun. Learn more about how to create your “Add Yours” sticker on Instagram’s help page.

Your patients all have one thing in common: they’ve been looking forward to the day they finish treatment since before their treatment even began! When you feature a patient who just got their braces off, you’re doing a few important things. First of all, you’re taking the moment to celebrate a fantastic milestone… the reason you do your job in the first place. Second of all, you’re inviting your other patients to anticipate their own amazing results. 

Braces off pictures aren’t just of interest to your patients… every one of your patient’s friends are excited to see the big reveal, so if you can deliver with a great picture, you’ll reach amazing new channels for new patients. Social signs are a fantastic way to make taking photos easier and more fun, and quickly communicate the story behind the photo. Check out some of our best Orthodontic social signs for free here.

 

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One of the hardest things about braces is keeping up with oral hygiene despite the hardware. So, have your team show just how it’s done, whether you’re highlighting brushing technique, best ways to sanitize headgear or other devices, or the dreaded floss threaders. Even if your patients are familiar with floss threaders, they could surely use a brush-up!

Dental video content is one of the best things you can do for your marketing strategy today. Video outperforms every other kind of content that you could produce on every platform. If you haven’t yet committed to a video strategy for your practice, 2023 is the year to do it! Start with learning some more about TikTok Orthodontic marketing.

Reviews are your best friend when it comes to attracting new patients online. 86% of dental patients say that online reviews are the single biggest influence in their choice of a care provider (and we can assume that the number for orthodontic patients is similarly high). In addition, patient reviews are a major factor in your Google listing online, which determines whether or not you show up in the map pack when people search for local practices. 

There are numerous ways to invite reviews from your patients. You can sign up for an automated service that texts or emails patients for feedback. You can highlight other reviews on your social media pages and hope that patients will get the hint… or you could just ask in person! We make it easy with this free guide to getting reviews, complete with in-office printables and signs. 

Adult orthodontic treatment is one of the fastest-growing markets in the business. In fact, 1 in 4 orthodontic patients today are over the age of 18. Many adult patients turn away from your office just because they assume you only treat teens and children. Show them that they’re invited to the party by featuring a fellow adult on your marketing channels. 

There are plenty of ways to feature your patient. You could invite them to write a review. You should certainly take a photo and share it on your social media accounts. They might even be willing to answer a few questions about the process, which you can share in a video. 

Whichever medium you choose, make sure to have them sign a photo release form so that you can share the information and attract new adult patients.

This year, before school starts, set up a space for patients and their families to donate school materials which will then be given to children in need in your community. You can contact local schools, foster programs, and women’s shelters to learn more about what is needed. 

One of the best ways to get some new traction on both social media and traditional media is with a charitable giving campaign. But that’s not the only reason to do it, of course! Your team and your patients will love being a part of something positive for your community. Make sure that you get the word out by posting on your own social channels, and reach out to local media to invite more people to get involved. Smart communication and sincere love of the community is just one reason that giving practices grow.

As an orthodontic practice, you inhabit a unique space. Your small business is tightly connected with local referring professionals. Your doctor(s) may also enjoy relationships with dental associations, accreditation programs, and suppliers. Some of these businesses will share a target audience with you and others won’t, but all of them share a common industry. As such, links from their websites can greatly benefit your SEO. 

Links are a vital part of healthy Orthodontic SEO for your website, and one of the best ways to get backlinks to your site are through thoughtful guest posting. Ask some of the folks in your professional network if you could give them free content in exchange for a link pointing back to your site. Put together a high quality article educating people about the benefits of orthodontic care.

Another way to collaborate with local professionals and businesses is to run a joint give-a-way. The video below explains how you can do this. Collaborations benefit both of you!

There are plenty of places where you cultivate your online presence, but your Google Map listing might be the one that your patients (and prospective patients) are the most likely to visit. Take time today to learn more about how to optimize your Google Map listing.

To understand why you should check your Google Business Profile listing, watch the video below.

You can run a Google maps report for several keywords. The most common keywords that Orthodontists run reports for are: ‘Orthodontist’ ‘Orthodontics’ ‘braces’ ‘Invisalign’ ‘clear aligners’ . Click on the image below. and we’ll run the reports for you.

How many of your patients know that you’re on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook? Featuring the amazing pictures that you take of your team and your patients in strategic places throughout your practice has several benefits. Firstly, it cozies up the place and adds character to some sterile spaces. Secondly, it sparks conversations with your patients and clients, and gives you opportunities to tell them about the fun things you’re doing on social media, attracting new followers for you!

TikTok gets a lot of heat on the news for the potentially dangerous challenges that kids get up to, but the vast majority of TikTok challenges are pure, innocent fun. Take the opportunity to jump onto (or even start!) a viral trend that your followers will love. For example, you might join influencers, celebrities, and teens around the world in…

• “Show us your drawers” – TikTokers open up a nearby drawer, whether it’s a bureau, kitchen drawer, or vanity, and show us what’s inside. Your patients might be surprised by what’s jumbled together in your utility drawers. 
• “Teenage look” – Delight your followers when you react to a photo of your teenage self. Note that the formula for this challenge (and many others) is specific, using a particular sound and music track. 
• “Me after” – Use the CapCut template to illustrate an abrupt before/after change. There are plenty of opportunities to have fun with this one in the orthodontic office!  

Download our FREE guide to TikTok and Instagram Reels. Also check out some of these TikTok dental challenges.

Your patients are involved in a lot of things in the community, from school sports to local drama productions. Get the team together to attend an art show, football game, or community service event that one or more of your patients is involved in. Then snap a photo and show your support to the amazing people who made it happen. Community-oriented content like this helps prospective patients know more about your practice culture.

You can also snap photos of patients who are in the middle of a big life event. We’ve created a life events set of social media signs to help you break the ice when getting photos with patients.

Are you planning to go to a conference this year? Will members of your team do extra training and certifications? Spotlighting these actions helps your patients know how important it is to you to be on the cutting edge of orthodontic care. Share a photo and let everyone know what you’re learning and why it matters!

 

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Your practice is made up of diverse people from a variety of backgrounds. Take time to celebrate a holiday that’s special to each of your team members and their families, especially if it’s one with which the rest of your team is relatively unfamiliar. Whether it’s Vietnamese New Year, Eid, or Canada Day, ask your teammates whether they feel comfortable sharing a little bit about the moments that help them celebrate their heritage. It’s a great opportunity to find commonalities with your patients, build bridges in your community, and show patients how much you love the strengths that your diverse practice brings to the table.

Your office features some pretty amazing tech. From the 360 degree x-ray machine to retainer molds, there are fascinating things happening around your office every day. You just don’t notice it because you see it so often! Take this opportunity to spotlight your state of the art tech and your team members’ artistic techniques with some amazing video content. Your patients will love the behind-the-scenes glimpses when you share them on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

Many orthodontists go the extra mile to welcome new patients into the fascinating new world of braces. This welcome may consist of a small kit of orthodontic wax and floss threaders, but it can be so much more. If you’re still doing the bare minimum, consider some extras such as coupons to a local smoothie spot, fun stickers, a travel case for toothpicks, and colorful mini cold pads that you can keep in the fridge. 

Once you put it together, show it off! Make a video presenting all the cool swag, and take pictures with your patients whenever you give away a new one.

Whether you’re struggling to stay creative in your marketing efforts and you need some new awesome Orthodontic marketing ideas, or you are simply struggling to figure out how to put your ideas into action, we offer a full service approach to your digital marketing. Contact us to learn how we can take your marketing strategy to the next level.