Facebook is an essential tool for marketing your dental practice. If you want to stay in the minds of your patients and reach lots of potential new patients, Facebook ads are definitely the way to go.
It’s not hard to see why Facebook is such a useful platform for advertising. Over a billion people use Facebook every single day. And while your aim isn’t to nab the attention of over a billion people, that still gives you the opportunity to reach a large audience in and around your specific location using Facebook ads.
What Facebook Ads Are, and What They’re Not
Facebook ads are not Facebook posts. Let’s delve into the differences.
How Facebook Posts Differ from Facebook Ads
Facebook posts are posts that your team makes on your dental practice’s official Facebook page. These posts only show up in the news feeds of people who have liked and/or started following your page. They are an excellent way for you to engage with your followers and generate interactions.
What Facebook Ads are and What They’re Meant to Do
Facebook ads are designed to help you get the attention of potential new patients. They only appear in the news feeds of people who have not liked or followed your Facebook page—they won’t show up on your profile.
The 3 Main Facebook Ad Types
There are 3 primary types of Facebook ads you can create, depending on your current marketing goals. What do you want people to do when they see your ad? Make an appointment? Visit your website? Your ad needs to prompt some sort of action that benefits your practice.
Brand Awareness Ads
These ads generate interest in your brand and communicate your value. They need to be geared towards people who are unfamiliar with your dental practice. You want as many people in your target audience as possible to see these ads.
Consideration Ads
Consideration ads get people to think about your practice and your services, and encourage them to reach out to you for more information. Businesses use these ads to get more website traffic, engagement, leads, and direct messages.
Conversion Ads
Conversion ads prompt people who know of and are interested in your practice to take action by calling you or filling out a form on your website.
Altogether, these ad types can be used as a “funnel” to guide people from the first step of building a relationship with your practice, all the way through to becoming a patient.
To Recap
If your current goal is to expand the reach of your practice and generate awareness among people who haven’t heard of you, you’ll want to do brand awareness ads. If your goal is more engagement and lead generation, then consideration ads are the way to go. Last but certainly not least, if you want to book more appointments and get more patients in the door, then you’ll want to put out conversion ads.
How Facebook Ads Can Help Your Practice
Facebook ads can benefit your dental practice in multiple ways:
- Raise/increase awareness of your business
- Connect your practice with more people
- Maintain and strengthen your relationship with your established patients
- Bring more new patients to your practice
- Fill up your appointment book faster and farther out
- Bring in more revenue for your practice
In short, Facebook ads can help you achieve your business goals and flourish in your market.
As an example of how a Facebook ad can work for you, imagine that an individual who is fearful of the dentist sees an ad you’ve put out promoting your sedation dentistry service. Maybe this person has been searching around for dentists in the area who can help them with their problem, when they come across your ad. They might feel relief at seeing a dental practice that can help reduce their stress and discomfort, which could give them the confidence they need to reach out to your office. Not only does this help them, but it also potentially brings a new patient to your doorstep.
Hire Experts to Manage Your Facebook Ads
Set up properly and with the right budget, your Facebook ads can prove to be extremely rewarding for your practice. But to do ads the right way, your best bet is to work with an agency that knows Facebook inside and out, and has experience creating and monitoring Facebook ads for numerous clients. The marketing experts at InTouch know how to create Facebook ads for maximum reach and engagement, and make Facebook work for you—not the other way around. Call (877) 493-9003 today to speak with our team.