As a Dental Practice owner, you have probably heard of Facebook business pages and Facebook Likes. Facebook Likes are probably the most important factor in being a success on Facebook. Without them, you will find that your posts and business page don’t get any traction on the site and any interaction has much less engagement.
That is why we have put together this complete guide to Facebook Likes, so that you know exactly how to utilise this vital social currency.
What Are Facebook Likes?
There are actually a few different types of Facebook Likes, each of which serves a different purpose. Firstly, there are Page Likes (these are the most important to your practice) Once you have setup your business page, the more people that like it, the better. Once a person has ‘Liked’ your page, they will see the posts that you make on Facebook. You can make these posts about anything you want, but one tip would be not making them all about promoting your treatments, or you could find people unliking your page. If your posts are engaging, regular and varied, the patients who have ‘liked’ your page will see them and it can encourage them to buy from your business.
Fanpage Likes and Post Likes
The second type of Facebook Like is a ‘like’ on a post that you make. These can be useful too, because it means that your post could show up on someone who doesn’t currently like your practices’ Facebook page. Posts which are engaging spread your marketing reach.
How Can Facebook Likes Help Your Practice?
The basic concept is that the more ‘likes’ you have on your page; the more people will be aware of your business. This means to can market to more of your existing patients who may not be aware of all the treatments you may offer, and that your practice brand has more visibility.
Once someone has liked your Facebook page they will see your posts – you can use these posts to promote your practice, your new treatments or add some personality to your practice (like a post about a team night out). They give you a chance to interact with your current patients, who may post on your Facebook page. You can also use the platform for any urgent notices (if your phone lines are down for example).
How Do You Get Facebook Likes?
So, now that we have established what exactly Facebook Likes are and why they are vital to your social media marketing success, we must now turn our attention to how exactly you can get them for your business.
You can split the methods of getting Facebook Likes into two categories, organic, and artificial. They are both valid ways of getting Facebook Likes to your page.
Organic
This is the traditional way of building Facebook Likes, and will probably result in the best results. The best way to start is to get your current patients to like your page. You can do this by asking them to directly, or via advertising in your waiting room, a link on your website or via an email template. Then you would begin to share and create interesting content on your page. Links to blog posts on your own website, or links to other sites that have interesting content that is related to your page. Content about your team tends to be engaging and if you have any offers or interesting new treatments will help.
The idea is that the people who currently like your page will then like and share this content with their friends. This should cause some of them friends to see your page, and hopefully like it. As more and more content gets shared, your Facebook Likes organically grow over time. This takes longer than a Facebook Likes campaign, but it’s also the method that is most likely to result in real Likes, real sharing, and real patients for your practice.
Artificial
While organic is without doubt the best way of getting Facebook Likes, it isn’t the only way. If you want to get a head start and inflate your ‘like’ numbers, then this is possible. The most obvious way of doing this is a Facebook Likes campaign. A ‘likes’ campaign is a paid advertising campaign aimed at directly increasing the number of ‘likes’ for a Facebook Page. The goal of a ‘likes’ campaign is to target people who might be interested in your practice and the posts you share on Facebook. A ‘likes’ campaign works for many reasons they have great social proof (they show pages your friends have ‘liked’) which makes you want to ‘like’ them too; they are easy to setup and tend to be the least expensive. Most importantly, they increase your ‘likes’ and your pages get that instant exposure to new fans.
A Small Favour
Here at Dental Design, we do understand the importance of Facebook Likes…so we are going to practice what we preach and ask you to take two seconds (that’s all it takes!) to visit our business page and ‘Like’ it!
https://www.facebook.com/dentaldesignuk/