In part – 1 of this post, we looked at why Instagram could be an incredibly effective social platform for generating engagement and developing recognition for your dental practice brand. This hugely popular social site recently made advertising options available to all which means integrating Instagram into your dental brand marketing strategy could help in driving your dental brand growth by helping you connect with a wider audience base.

Building your Profile Page

Careful selection of a profile picture is absolutely necessary as your practice profile is perhaps the most important element in driving back traffic to your dental website. Of course, this will be reformatted to suit the display screens of different devices.

Regardless of the kind of picture you select, ensure that it is clear and attention grabbing. One look at all the pictures that get uploaded on Instagram and you will understand why it is so necessary to use a photo/picture that is interesting. Instagram has its own set of filters that allow you to adjust your photos. However, you might also want to consider other photo-editing applications such as VSCO Cam to further improve your pictures.

Establish a Posting Frequency

As with all social sites, make sure you work on a frequent posting routine. And by routine we mean, posting atleast a couple of times on a daily basis. Observe the timings when your posts earn maximum engagement and post during those times. Another good practice when it comes to posting is the use of hashtags to increase the number of followers. The key to a good hashtag is to ensure that you use tags which are relevant to the image you are posting. You could also tag images with your dental practice office location; anytime users click the location they will be able to view the pictures that others have posted from your dental practice.

Building an Instagram Audience

Building an audience on Instagram will take some time, careful thought, and persistence. Work on a plan for your Instagram account and stick to it. Few things to keep in mind include the following.

Make sure you;

• Update on a regular basis.
• Use relevant hashtags.
• Use clear and attention grabbing images/pictures.
• Identify time frames that deliver maximum engagement and post during those times.
• Ensure you post content is rich in quality and relevance.
• Engage with your followers, reply to their comments, and if you find an item worth re-posting, go ahead and re-post it.
• Get involved in conversations that allow you to showcase your dental brand value.
• Engage with followers regardless of their location – virtual connections work in strange ways so you never know where your next recommended patient might come from.
• Add a “follow us on Instagram” link to your website or any other digital assets.

Advertising on Instagram

Instagram recently announced that it opened up advertising for all businesses. You can use Facebook’s ad platform if you want to advertise on Instagram. Use Facebook’s Power Editor (browser plugin) for placing an ad on Instagram. Also make sure you check out the different kinds of business specific resources on Instagram. If you are not sure how to go about advertising on Instagram, you could take a tour and check out the different campaigns that have found success with Instagram’s audience.