Congratulations to Brenner Dental Care, our May Practice of the Month!
Brenner Dental Care is a family-focused practice in Seattle, WA. Through their very effective use of social media, they bridge the gap between a “scary, unapproachable dentist” and a “warm, trusted health professional.”
“Our Experience Getting Started…”
Cheryl, who heads up social media for their practice, told us about their experience getting started with social media.
“Call it insecurity, or the fact that dentists are often the source of nightmares, but we never thought anyone would actually ‘like’ our Facebook page. But as soon as we started posting funny captions, health tidbits, and a few photos of our family, we started receiving 5-10 new Likes a week.”
Since then, their social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest has been steadily growing. Through a thoughful balance of funny, helpful, and personalized posts they have been able to show patients—and prospective patients—what their practice is all about: great patient care, a family focus, and advanced technology and techniques.
Social Media Is The New Word-Of-Mouth
The team at Brenner Dental Care recognizes that social media creates stories that spread. Cheryl told us, “Social media is the technological equivalent of word-of-mouth referrals. When a patient shares or retweets one of our office posts, it is the same as telling a friend that he thinks we’re a great practice. Instead of just telling one person, he has now told hundreds.”
Like word of mouth, social media doesn’t run on sales pitches; it works through the trust and rapport that you develop with your patients.
Brenner Dental Care’s Posting Includes 3 Important Categories
Because social media is relationship-driven, it’s essential to find a good, conversational balance in the things that you’re posting. Brenner Dental Care has done this by mixing up three important kinds of posts.
#1: Fun And Personal Posts
These posts humanize your practice and strengthen relationships with your patients.
#2: Helpful Information
This may include dental-health-related topics… or not!
#3: Sales & Promotion
Notice that this category only makes up a small part of your posting. Nothing causes your patients to disengage faster than too much self-promotion.
However, utilizing social media to inform patients about specials can be incredibly effective. Especially if you pair it with boosted posting on Facebook.
Cheryl told about their surprising experience promoting their CEREC technology: “We boosted a post about our one-appointment crowns, and we ended up with quite a few new patients. Those patients have now referred other patients to our practice, and that was all from getting our information out through our existing patients on social media.”
Use Social Media To Tell People What Your Practice Is REALLY About
Cheryl told us, “The greatest benefit of social media marketing is the influx of new patients seeking information about our practice. They see that we are a family-friendly, high-tech office without ever stepping foot through the door. They learn what is important to our office, and why we care about our patients.”
Here’s the takeaway lesson: to all of our sorrow, “dentist” as a general, hollywood-ized term, can often be a trigger for anxiety and sympathy during day-to-day conversation.
However, when people are talking about their dentist who they actually like to visit, (you know, your practice made up of friendly people who love what they do) it’s a completely different story!
Congratulations to Brenner Dental Care!
Adrian Lefler is the CEO and Co-Founder of My Social Practice and a recognized dental marketing expert with nearly two decades of experience. He is a trusted voice in dental marketing, AI in dentistry, and emerging technology, and he hosts BYTE SIZED, a podcast focused on dental AI, innovation, and technology.
