Social Media in Lockdown: Part 2 of 2

Following on from information picked up in Shaz Memon’s webinar titled “Building Influence with Instagram”, I thought I would highlight the seven tips he shared on making Instagram work for you.

Shaz Memon is the founder of Digimax Dental, a dental marketing agency in London. He has recently published a book called Instagram for Dentists, which has had some great reviews. If you get a chance, do look into this.

Shaz stated that he felt Instagram is different from other social networks, mostly because of its simplicity and ease of use. He goes on to mention how 500 million Instagram accounts are active every day. This is an incredible statistic.

Many people perceive Instagram as “broadcast” media as opposed to “social” media. As a result, they tend to outsource posting content onto this platform. However, this only results in generic marketing. It won’t have any of the personality or feel of posts that are made by real people who are closely associated with the business.

Building your Instagram profile using generic content rather than giving it personality can reduce engagement with your target market. Dry content may not necessarily reflect the type of practice that you are.

In the long run, this can do more harm than good, not to mention the increase in overheads incurred by outsourcing to a third party. This is not cost-effective marketing.

One idea I would suggest to make it easier for practices to personalise their content is to establish a Social Media Coordinator who is responsible for collating possible posts to upload for social media. The entire team can then work together to collect content and pass it on to the coordinator. It is far easier to take a picture in the moment but not worry about when it will be uploaded. It also makes it easier for the coordinator to focus on making the Instagram account more engaging.

Shaz Memon’s Tips to Make Instagram Work for You

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Power of 9

The first nine squares should represent around 70% of your story. Review these continuously to make sure the content remains varied and relevant.

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Brand Perception

Who are you? Why do you exist?

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You need to define this beforehand so that you can understand what your marketing messages should consist of. Think about how you are being perceived.

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Tell people what they don’t know about you. What makes you special? For example, your charity work, diversity within a multilingual team, or the fact that you train other dentists. What do you have that other practices don’t?

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Balance

Make sure you have a broad spectrum of content. Don’t overload with, for example, too many clinical pictures. Create a variety and balance of content that can appeal to people in different ways. Avoid making it too boring or single-faceted.

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Be Genuine

Humanise your content. For instance, share how you mentor your team, what you do outside of dentistry, or any charity activities you are involved in. It could simply be how you and your team have fun together.

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What to Post

Patients do not always understand dentistry. These posts allow you to connect with your patients in ways they can relate to.

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Possible topics include:

• Team
• Birthdays
• Training days
• Days out
• Patients
• Gifts
• Practice updates
• Transformations
• Laughs and smiles
• Saying thank you
• Wins
• Calendar events
• Family

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Get Real Followers

Focus on gaining real followers who are genuinely interested in your practice. Engage with your patients in ways that encourage authentic growth. Avoid artificial, ineffective strategies such as following random, non-strategic accounts, as they are unlikely to be interested in your services.

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Tagging

Make it easy for your patients to spread the word about you. For example, take several pictures with your patient and get them involved by asking which picture they like best. Explain that you’ll be tagging them and encourage them to re-post it. If patients are involved in the process, they are more likely to share your content. This uses the power of word-of-mouth marketing in a digital, organised manner.

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Stories

This is another aspect of Instagram and Facebook that allows you to engage with followers in a slightly different way. Stories provide real-time engagement and can cover any topics you feel your patients might enjoy or benefit from. They are great for humanising your business and making it more relatable.

I would like to personally thank Shaz for the great content he shared in his webinar, which I know will be very useful to many dentists during such challenging times. I would highly recommend getting his book to better understand how to make the most of Instagram.

Meanwhile, stay safe.

‍Bhavna