With the coronavirus pandemic still making an impact in 2022, the dental industry continues to adjust to ensure the health and safety of both patients and dental professionals. In addition, it has also embraced new marketing and advertising strategies to reach out to patients who have grown accustomed to working from home.  It’s not enough to have a website depicting your services nowadays. It’s all about expanding your web presence and finding more ways to connect with patients.

Try some of these digital marketing strategies for dentists to engage with your target audience and capture more patients in 2022.

Use Local SEO and Google My Business

Since most dental practices rely primarily on local business, optimizing your content for local SEO is critical for raising your online presence. When you are offering a local service in a certain region, you need to target local keywords and include things like your city. Terms like “dentists near me” and “dentist in (your city)” will help you stand out in location-specific searches. Creating blogs and other articles with your targeted keywords as part of your content marketing strategy will also be very helpful for your local search engine rankings.

Having an optimized Google My Business listing is also very important for local search results. Updating your info in your GMB profile ensures that your Google Maps location, your dental practice’s address, and details like your business hours show up in local searches. Basically, your GMB listing is a verified source of information about your dental practice. It also gives patients a simple way to review your practice, which can help your Google rating.

Capitalize on Social Media Marketing

There are over 3.5 billion active social media users and nearly half of them use these platforms to research products prior to purchasing. Clearly, social media is fertile ground for sharing your dental practice’s important selling points and bolstering its reputation.

Maintaining social media pages helps your practice connect with both current and potential patients. Not only can you include positive patient reviews, but you can also address any problems or concerns patients may have about your practice. Facebook’s messenger feature, which lets you answer questions directly, is very helpful in these cases.

The great thing about social media marketing is that it strengthens your online profile and your website’s SEO ranking. All the likes, shares, views, and referrals on social media pages generate more organic traffic. In addition, many social channels also let you promote your business through paid advertising. For these reasons, dental practices that stay active on social media wind up with better leads, more website traffic, and new patients.

Take Advantage of Video Marketing

Many experts agree that video marketing is one of the most exciting dental marketing trends with plenty of room left to grow. In fact, internet users spend a third of their time online watching video, which amounts to nearly 7 hours of video per week. Video can help you share important information about different treatments, procedures, and even a behind-the-scenes tour of your dental operation.

Adding videos to your YouTube channel, for instance, can help your brand and your dental SEO. Indeed, video content practically guarantees higher conversion rates; it increases social media shares and reinforces a more personal connection with your dental practice. In other words, it’s a great tool for highlighting your expertise and the people involved in your practice.

Keep Your Blog Content Fresh

How is your dental blog looking these days? Unfortunately, dated and irrelevant content is an all-too-common problem among dental practice websites. You never want to miss out on a chance to establish your brand’s authority and create value for your patients. Relevant, authoritative content also helps your search engine rankings. By discussing common dental problems, tips, and the latest techniques, you can connect with both existing and prospective patients. Because people are always looking for information, an up-to-date blog is another way to answer questions and position yourself as an expert.

Increasingly, dental patients rely on websites, reviews, and communication to learn about your dental services. Far too often, dental practices don’t devote the time or the effort to nurturing the leads that come from online sources. If you incorporate these digital marketing strategies into your marketing plan, however, you will continue to grow your dental practice and stay far ahead of your competitors.