How To Target Patients on Facebook with Digital Ads

By Dr. Greg Grillo

We spend most of our time taking care of patients, mastering new techniques, and leading our teams. The last thing most of us want to do is design Facebook ads and run campaigns. But we can’t ignore social media and its captive audience. Our patients use social media with a never-ending appetite. The average person spends 145 minutes a day on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. They see hundreds of brands and ads while browsing, and savvy healthcare businesses know this. People connect socially on these platforms with friends and family, but they also look for information about our practices. More than 40% of adults want to follow their doctor on social channels, and 65% of Millennials think it’s appropriate to contact their doctor through social media. If we’re going to grow, we need a marketing strategy that includes Facebook ads that will reach people at the right time in their decision-making process.

If you’re not sure how valuable paid ads can be, consider these findings:

Two-thirds of Facebook users visit a local business page every week.
Facebook ads provide the highest return on investment of any paid marketing channel.
For businesses with a physical location, 72% of people reached through Facebook ads visit the store within five miles.

Set The Stage For Dental Ads Marketing

Facebook ads are one of the most cost-effective ways to grow a practice in 2022. The platform allows us to target local patients who need dental care now, but it also establishes awareness for viewers who may need a dentist in the future. With just a few simple steps, your dental ads can be running and targeting potential patients within minutes. Our Facebook Business Page must reflect our brand and image, and this dedicated page needs to look consistent with the rest of our digital assets. A skilled design team can tie the pieces together to avoid brand confusion. Next, we need to create a custom audience. This is a group of people who have visited our website, subscribed to our email list, or engaged with us on social media. We can target this group specifically with ads that relate to them and their interests. Our creative ads should match our targeted demographic for maximum effectiveness. Keep in mind what stage of the decision-making process patients are in when creating ad copy. Are they just browsing, considering treatment options, or already had treatment? Use images relevant to your target audience and the benefits of the services you offer. For example, showing a photo of someone enjoying a nice meal with friends might deliver more of an impact than a close-up of dental implants. Including a call to action (CTA) on every ad is essential. Your CTA should tell patients what you want them to do next and make it clear where to click or enter information. Some examples are: downloading an e-book, calling for a consultation, or visiting your website. To summarize, simply follow these five steps to create effective dental Facebook ads:

Target your custom audience based on their interests, location, and other demographics.
Create an ad relevant to the patient’s needs at each stage of the decision-making process.
Use compelling images that relate to your target audience and the services you offer.
Write a CTA that tells patients what they need to do next (download an e-book, call for a consultation).
Test different ads using Facebook’s split testing feature to see which ones perform best over time with minimal investment upfront.

Retargeting To Boost Conversions

Savvy marketing teams know how to gauge your interest and keep showing you related ads. For example, you look at a new clothing brand’s website, and then you will start seeing their ads on your feeds. These retargeting techniques can enhance the efficiency of Facebook advertising for our practices, too. If someone views our website, we can set our campaigns up to show them ads related to our practice. This strategy helps our brands stay top-of-mind while they’re working through the consideration stage of their decision process. Make sure your website or landing pages have a Facebook pixel installed before starting any Facebook ad campaigns. This piece of code tracks leads and retargets existing visitors from our site using Facebook’s advertising platform.

Nurture With A Facebook Ad Funnel For Dentists

The more people see us on Facebook, the more likely they’ll be to schedule an appointment. However, if we’re trying to convert attracted leads into patients, we need content that matches their stage in the decision process. Ad copy and imagery can speak directly to their needs and desires for treatment options at different points of awareness. But it may take more than ads for people to take the next step. A Facebook ad funnel effectively gets people from an early stage of the decision-making process to take action. Implementing an ad funnel can increase people’s chances to schedule appointments with us. Furthermore, nurturing those leads with targeted content, we can turn more browsers into paying patients. For example, we may gather contact information from a lead and send them patient-centric emails related to their interests.

Facebook Marketing For Dentists Done Right

If Facebook ads, pixels, retargeting, and funnels sound overwhelming, you’re not alone. I’ve spent years in the dental marketing and content realm, but it’s still more than I like to manage. Fortunately, the team at Legwork puts an entire marketing department at our fingertips. With options that include video ads and Instagram campaigns, Legwork amplifies our brand’s reach. People are more likely to remember a TV commercial than a printed flyer, and Facebook video ads work the same way. Facebook video ad packages include up to one video for every category offered, such as pediatrics, cosmetics, and Invisalign®. Legwork’s Dental Advertisement experts research and develop social messaging strategies to create ads for dentists. They know how to build the perfect audience based on your location and the target demographics they’ve researched. From writing compelling ad copy within the text space parameters to designing custom graphics, Legwork optimizes social media ad campaigns to get the results you are searching for.

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