Marketing on Twitter for Dentists
Twitter Ads for Dentists
Twitter Social Media Ads for Your Practice
Twitter is a social media platform where people tweet what is on their mind with 280 character “tweets” available for their followers to see.
When you sign up for Twitter, you can choose to follow other twitter users. While a lot of the more popular Twitter users are from the entertainment industry, you can also follow friends - or news sites to keep up to date on what matters to you.
Twitter is like Facebook in that you’ll see tweets from the users that you follow in your timeline. Usually these tweets are in chronological order - with the most recent tweets being on top of the feed.
The Twitter Timeline
Here is an illustration of a Twitter feed. The most recent tweet is on top of the feed - and older tweets appear further down.
New tweets up top, oldest tweets at the bottom. Ads are sprinkled in.
It is hard to get the attention of your followers on Twitter, because your "tweets" are quickly buried by newer tweets from others.
Should Your Dental Office Tweet Updates?
There’s no harm in tweeting your dental office updates (other than the time spent tweeting) - but there’s minimal benefit. Dentists should strongly consider trying other marketing methods to promote their practice before using Twitter.
The problem is that due to the chronological nature of Twitter, newer posts will push your dental office’s tweets far down the page - in many (if not most) cases - your followers will never even see your tweet.
Also - your tweets must be interesting and relevant which is challenging for a dental office to pull off to engage followers.
Like most social platforms, people on Twitter aren't actively searching for a solution to their problems - they aren't looking for your information about your practice.
Most people on Twitter are concerned about their specific sports, celebrity, or news interests. The fact that a dentist's office is offering a whitening special is highly unlikely to appeal to them. Tweets from dentists just aren't going to be all that interesting to prospective patients, and they will likely to "unfollow" you.
Getting new dental patients by merely tweeting on Twitter isn't going to be effective at marketing your practice.
Tweeting out updates for your office is free - but it isn't going to help you get more patients walking through the front door.
Advertising on Twitter
Effective marketing for dentists on Twitter can best be achieved through advertising. One big advantage of promoted tweets (ads) is that your dental ad stays near the top of the user feed - it doesn't get buried like your normal tweet would.
You can sign up for a Twitter account for your practice at ads.twitter.com.
Below is what a promoted Tweet (an ad) looks like.
Typically, you'll create either an image or a video ad
Ads on Twitter look like other updates - except there is a very subtle "Promoted" tag in the lower left part of the ad.
Setting up a Dental office Ad Campaign on Twitter
Here, I’m setting up a new dental ad campaign in Twitter. We’re looking for direct response from people who see our ad. The choice that we’re looking for is “Website Clicks or Conversions” - as this meets the goal of getting people to call your practice to set up an appointment.
The goal for a dentist would be "Website Clicks or Conversions"
After establishing this goal, we’re taken to the next page where we’ll set up our campaign - including a name, budget and schedule.
Here, you'll name your campaign, provide a budget and dates
Next, you'll set up your ad groups (subgroups of your campaign). From here, you'll name your ad groups, enter an ad group budget and a bidding strategy.
Set up the Ad Group name, budget and bidding strategy
Setting up your Twitter audience - who you want to see your dental ads - is next.
As an example, we’ve selected both male and female twitter users (any gender) as well as 5 zip codes around Colorado Springs. This location targeting is obviously one of the most important targeting options for dentists - as you only want to target users that are near your office.
Enter key information about who you want to see your ad
Once you’re done targeting your audience, you’ll need to find a tweet to promote. You can either use an existing tweet from your account - or better yet, create a custom tweet to promote your dental office by clicking the “Create Tweet” button.
To get attention, you’ll want to have a relevant, eye-catching image that links to a page on your website - because when the user clicks on the link in your promoted tweet, they’re taken to the page on your website that is based on the Tweet. Here, they can call your office and set up an appointment.
Click the "Create a Tweet" button in the upper right and compose your tweet
How Much Does It Cost?
You set the budget for Twitter ads - and with promoted tweets, you only incur a charge when someone clicks on your tweet and is taken to your website.
Should I Promote My Dental Office on Twitter?
Unless you’re creating incredible engaging ads, the Twitter users that see your promoted tweets are unlikely to be looking for a dentist. Twitter ads are another form of interruption marketing.
Twitter users are interested in catching up on their favorite celebrity personalities and aren’t going to be interested that you offer IV Sedation.
Twitter for Dentists Summary
Twitter is one of the last advertising channels you should consider for your practice. Consider paid search on Google, Bing, and Facebook before considering using Twitter.
Here are the basic reasons why I wouldn't recommend using Twitter at all for your practice.
- Non-Promoted Tweets are Basically Invisible - Just tweeting updates about your practice is next to worthless. Your tweets will get buried, so are unlikely to be seen in most cases.
- Paid Tweets are Interruption Marketing - If you're promoting your office in someone's Twitter feed, you're interrupting them from what they really want to do - get updates from their favorite celebrities, news personalities, sports stars, or industry experts.
- Hard to Be Interesting - It is extremely challenging for dental offices to provide captivating updates that enthrall Twitter users. If you're boring (and it is hard not to be) - you'll be unfollowed, or your ads will be ignored.
For a single location dental office, it would be extremely difficult to get new patients from Twitter.