Social media promotions are fun ways for dental practices to grow their social media audience and improve their local impact. Use some of these simple promotions in your dental practice to get more patients and pump up your social media prowess.
1 – Cavity-Free Club
A cavity-free club is a fun way to motivate your young patients to keep their teeth healthy. You can offer a small prize to children without cavities, and reward it to them upon completion of their checkup. Promote your cavity-free club on your dental practice’s Facebook and Instagram to encourage families to participate. You can also set up some simple signs in your office that invite patients to ask about the cavity-free club.
2 – Counting Contest
Sometimes a promotion is so simple that it is hard to ignore. Herein we find the counting contest! Simply fill a clear jar with something fun like toothbrushes, travels toothpaste containers, marbles – really whatever you’d like. Place the jar on your front desk and take a photo of it. Share the photo on your dental practice social media accounts and ask people to comment on the quantity of items contained in the jar. You can solicit guesses in the office, but you should encourage your patients (or their parents) to guess on one of your social accounts.
An example of a counting contest run on Facebook.
3 – Halloween Candy Buy Back
Dental practices can use Halloween as a fun way to engage the local community and encourage healthy habits through a candy buy back promotion. Many dental practices offer to pay $1 in cash for each 1- 5 pounds of candy that children donate to their practice. Then, most of the candy is donated to local shelters or sent to operation gratitude, which gives American troops overseas a small taste of home. Announce your candy buy back rules and guidelines on social media in mid-October, and share on social media as often as possible. Set aside a day or weekend where your dental office accepts donations, and encourage patients that visit your office to participate.
Smile Savvy offers support for candy buy back campaigns to our Ultra social media customers. Learn more here.
4 – Referral Rewards
Referral rewards are fun, long-running promotions that are really easy to start. Simply buy some gift cards to local eateries or places of interest, and offer them to patients that successfully refer your dental practice to family members and friends. Share the contest on your social media channels, and with signage in your office.
When a new patient arrives, ask if they were referred to your practice by a current patient; if they were, then make a note of it in the referring patient’s file, and connect with them so they can claim their prize. You can take a photo with the winners, and share them on social media – with their explicit permission.
Some states prohibit certain types of referral incentives for medical services. With this and all promotions, be certain to follow applicable rules and regulations.
5 – Back-to-School Photo Contest
Back-to-School promotions are widely popular, and it’s a great time to get parents involved with your dental practice Facebook or Instagram. Create a back-to-school promotion by inviting patients to upload photos of their children waiting for a bus, or getting dropped off at school, or wearing their clothes for the first day of school, and then choose a winner at random. Announce their victory on Facebook or Instagram by sharing a photo of the victor with their prize.
Whether it’s beginning a new school year, or coming back from a break, you can run back-to-school promotions at a few different times each year.
6 – Treasure Box Contest
To generate more interaction on social media, you can begin a simple treasure box contest! Inform patients and parents on social media that they can interact with your practice on social media to get an extra reward when they visit your office. You can give extra treasure box rewards to those that add your dental practice as a friend, comment on your page, or interact with one of your posts.
Remember: social media privacy settings won’t always allow you to see these things, so have patients show you their post, or rely upon the honor system.
Social Media Mastery for Dentists
Mastering social media is a full time job, which can make it difficult for busy dentists. Smile Savvy provides the most comprehensive approach to marketing available for pediatric dentists. We post for you, give you weekly ideas for your own original posts and provide unmatched social media consultations. Our unique pediatric dental focus means that we understand our clients and their audience.
Click here to learn more about how our Ultra Social Media package can help you grow your online visibility and expand your social media presence.
