Why you're not gaining more followers on social media

Whether you’ve just launched your startup or been running a successful business for years, a plateau in new social media followers is bound to happen. Growing your social media platforms is crucial to your business since followers can be converted into customers (and repeat customers) down the line. While gaining more meaningful followers isn’t going to happen overnight, here are a few things that might be holding you back:

Your customers don’t know you’re online

If you recently launched your social media accounts, chances are your customers simply don’t know to follow you. Be sure to link your social media accounts to your website and email with a call to action for your customers to follow your social media accounts. 

You’re playing the salesman card

While the goal of any business is to sell a product or a service, posts that continually telling your followers to purchase an item are draining.  No one likes to be sold to daily. Your social media accounts are your opportunity to share your brand’s personality. What makes you unique? How do you fix your target audience’s problem? What inspired you to create your business? Vary your posts to include a variety of educational and product posts throughout the week. 

You’re not engaging with others

Aside from trying to work the Instagram algorithm, no one wants to engage with someone if they’re not going to respond back. When people interact with your posts, like their comments, answer their questions. show interest and engage with your audience. 

You don’t have good visual content

Relevant, high-quality pictures and videos are critical to your social media success (especially on platforms such as Instagram); if you don’t have good visuals for your posts, chances are they’re going to get looked right over. Posts with images are ten times more likely to get engagement. Photography isn’t your strong suit? Hire out a professional photographer to give you an inventory of top-notch branded images. If custom pictures aren’t necessary to build your brand image, you can stick to a more budget-friendly option by using free stock images for post-worthy visuals. 

You’re not (correctly) using hashtags

The right combination of hashtags allows you to organically reach new people who are interested in your content. Use community and industry-specific hashtags to ensure you are reaching your target audience (but not getting lost in the crowd). There are a ton of food-related hashtags such as #HealthyFoodForLife and #VeganDishes that speak to a more specific audience than #food. Popular hashtags are often overcrowded but may increase your chances of reaching a broader audience. Our advice? Use a variety of specific and broad hashtags to keep your posts from getting lost in the crowd. 

Your post timing is off

On social media, timing is everything. The right post time can make the difference between a few impressions or thousands of conversions. Every audience is different, so gather your own data using your social media account’s built-in analytics to determine what post time is getting you the most interactions. Work to tweak your timing and regularly check back to make improvements and adjustments. 

With a few steps and adjustments to your social media plan, you can begin to get your business out of its social media plateau.

How to use content marketing for your dental practice

Standing out from your competition is easier when you’re able to implement content marketing as a dental practice! Content marketing is just one piece of your overall marketing strategy but it helps you succeed in other areas of marketing such as social media marketing and email marketing. Before we share actual content marketing topics you can use for dental marketing, let’s go over what content marketing is:

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is sharing your knowledge and expertise in the form of blog posts, videos, infographics, and other ways your target audience consumes information. You can effectively prove your knowledge and expertise through original content that can be distributed in different ways such as Facebook marketing and email marketing. Through content marketing, you help your dental patients understand how you can solve their dental problems with the solutions you provide such as fluoride treatments and root canals.

Here are a few ideas you can use to build up your dental practice with content marketing

To make it easy for you, we’ve created different content marketing ideas that you can use for various platforms. Keep in mind that you’ll want to customize content to each platform you’re using. For example, simply reposting something you’ve shared on Instagram to Facebook doesn’t give your target audience a reason to follow you on both Facebook and Instagram. Why would they engage with you on both platforms if they’re not seeing a difference between the content you share on each platform?

To help you get started, here are different content marketing topics you can use for your dental practice:

Facebook marketing topics for your dental practice

• Facebook Live video answering the top 3 most common insurance questions you receive

• A 3-minute video where you talk about the reasons someone might need a root canal

• A link to your blog post on “Here are 6 foods that are bad for your teeth”

Instagram marketing topics for your dental practice

• Instagram Story series sharing quick tips on toothbrush care

• Infographic post breaking down the anatomy of a human tooth

• Post about how to get rid of bad breath

Blog post topics for your dental practice

• What is dental plaque and how can I get rid of it?

• Why you need to drink more water to protect your teeth

• Here are 4 ways to maintain healthy gums

Content marketing is easier than you think

As an experienced dentist, you should be able to provide the content you need to address all of the topics shared above. Quality content marketing comes down to you being able to provides solutions to the problems people pay you to solve. Be consistent in providing online content since consistency is key to succeeding in achieving your revenue goals through content marketing.

Got questions about dental practice content marketing?

Do you have any questions about content marketing and how it can benefit your business? Let us know by filling out the form below and we’ll get back to you quickly!

What should you be sharing and posting on your personal LinkedIn feed?

LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for organic engagement and building your personal brand. The professional networking platform makes it easy for you to share content you’ve created and engage with other posts you’ve found value in. It’s also simple to talk to other people and engage with their content quickly.

While that sounds great and all, if you don’t know how to get the ball rolling and gain momentum on LinkedIn, it can be frustrating. This blog post is designed to help you know what type of mindset you should have on LinkedIn and how to provide value for your community.

How do I know what I should be sharing on LinkedIn?

This is a common question we receive nearly on a weekly basis. Knowing what to share on LinkedIn can feel overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. Here’s the question you need to ask yourself which will be what guides you in creating your content: Which problems are people paying my business to solve?

As long as you’re focused on helping your target audience solve the problems you’re best at solving, you’re on the right track. Here are a few examples of problems people are dealing with and the businesses positioned to help them solve those problems:

• You’re having a hard time filing business taxes -> Tax accounting firm

• You’re having a tough time losing weight -> Nutritionist

• You need help driving traffic to your website -> SEO agency

For just about every struggle you could possibly have, there’s a business somewhere out there providing a solution. By sharing freely sharing your knowledge and expertise, you help potential customers and clients understand how you can best help them. You’ll be able to build your brand and increase trust between you and the people who follow you by focusing on them and their needs.

Start by creating a list of questions you consistently receive

You’ve already identified the major problems you help people solve. How do you break up that main issue into multiple piece of content? One approach you can take is to create your first 10 posts by answering the top 10 most common questions you’re asked. Here are a handful of examples of questions you might be receiving depending on the business you’re in:

• Auto repair shop:

  • How long does it take to repair a broken windshield?

  • What are some maintenance tips I can follow to keep my car in great shape?

  • How often should I change my car’s oil?

• Financial advisor

  • What are my retirement plan options if I’m self-employed?

  • Should I create a trust for my children?

  • Do you recommend investing in mutual funds?

• Real estate agent

  • What are the pros and cons of building a new house?

  • Is refinancing my home a good thing or a bad thing?

  • How do I get pre-approved for a mortgage?

• SEO agency:

  • How often should I update my website?

  • Where can I find keywords to target?

  • Is $500/month enough ad spend to get more business?

Take the questions you receive and address them 1-2 times a week at the minimum. You’ll position yourself as an expert by proving to be a reliable resource.

Now that we’ve covered the mindset you need to have and topics to post about, let’s talk about a few tactical things you need to do starting with hashtags.

Put hashtags to work for you

Hashtags are a powerful tool you can use in LinkedIn. You can easily search for trending content via hashtags on LinkedIn which will help you find out what people are talking about in your industry. For example, we can easily stay up to date with the latest trending posts about social media marketing with #socialmediamarketing on LinkedIn. The same goes for relevant hashtags in any industry you might be in from financial planning to web development.

Be sure to add at least 2-3 hashtags whenever you post on LinkedIn. It’ll help you expand your reach and also help people in need of your services/products easily find your content. Always stick to using hashtags that are directly related to your post and the industry.

Reply to comments

It takes more effort to comment on a LinkedIn than it does to react to a post. People who take time out to comment on what you’ve shared are showing that they care and are interested in what you have to say. Always respond to the comments you receive. It’s proof that you’re listening and are grateful for their willingness to engage with you on LinkedIn. The more conversations that happen on your post, the more your post will be seen by people outside of your immediate network which is a great thing!

Engage with other people’s posts

We can’t stress enough times the importance of being social on social media. Spend time engaging with people’s posts on LinkedIn. Don’t post and expect other people to like and comment on your posts if you’re not doing the same. Below are a few goals you can follow weekly or even daily depending on what you are willing to do and have time for:

• Comment on 5 posts with hashtags directly related to the industry you’re in

• Give 1 recommendation to someone you’ve managed or reported to

• Comment on 3 posts from people who are 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn

You can take the goals listed above and modify them according your needs. The key with getting more engagement on your posts is consistency in your engagement with the posts of others on LinkedIn.

Follow these tips every week for at least 5 weeks. You’ll see a noticeable increase in overall engagement as well as an increase in the number of people checking out your LinkedIn profile to learn more about you. It’ll time to build some momentum so don’t give up.

Do you have any questions about building your personal brand on LinkedIn? Let us know in the comments below!