Are you advertising your orthodontic or dental services on Facebook or Instagram? If not, that’s got to change. If you ARE using Facebook ads, or you plan to use them to advertise, you need to have the Facebook pixel installed on your website right away. This essential tool will unlock the powers of Facebook advertising and bring more patient leads to your orthodontic or dental business. Here are the basics to help you get introduced to the Facebook Pixel.
What is the Facebook Pixel?
Have you ever been on the Internet searching for something like shoes or a vacation when all of a sudden an ad pops up on the next website with those same shoes? This is called retargeting and that’s one of the powerful ways the Facebook pixel can work for you.
The Facebook pixel is a small snippet of code that gets placed on your website. It collects data that helps track website visitors. It allows you to build custom audiences of people who engage with, or show interest in, your Facebook and Instagram ads. The best part is that once you’ve built an audience, you can retarget them with ads to keep your orthodontics or dental business top of mind and get more patients.
How Your Orthodontics or Dental Practice Can Benefit from the Facebook Pixel.
Let’s say you want to advertise a video of your latest patient who got their braces removed to Facebook users within 3 miles of your practice. The Facebook pixel will track the people that watched, clicked, or engaged with your video or ad. You can then send a second Facebook ad to those people with a compelling offer to come into your practice or download a “$500-off brace” coupon. Pretty powerful stuff and a great way to slowly introduce your brand to people in the community and then hit them with a second ad or compelling offer.
The Facebook pixel provides important information to help your orthodontics or dental practice create better and more targeted Facebook ads. The tracking data helps your ads get seen by the people most likely to take action on your specific offers and ads. This bumps up your Facebook ad conversion rate, reduces the cost to run ads, and gives you a better overall return on investment.
Still not convinced that Facebook ads are for your orthodontics or dental practice? That’s okay, you should still install, or get someone to install the Facebook pixel now. The code will begin collecting data right away so you won’t have to start from scratch when you decide to begin advertising on Facebook and Instagram.
Two Powerful Ways to Use the Facebook Pixel for Your Orthodontics or Dental Practice
Retargeting
As mentioned above, the Facebook pixel allows you to show targeted ads to people who already visited your site, engaged with one of your ads, or even engaged with a Facebook post.
Lookalike Audiences
Facebook can use targeting data to build audiences that look like the people who have already interacted with your website or ads. Imagine building an entirely new audience of people with similar likes and interests to people who already love your practice!
Drive More Patients to Your Orthodontics Practice
Reach people who are more likely to click your ad and give their contact information. This is accomplished by setting up automatic bidding and allowing Facebook’s algorithm to target people most likely to convert.
Measure Results of Your Ads
Better understand the impact of your ads by measuring what happened as a direct result.
How to Install the Facebook Pixel
Before you begin, you will need a website for your orthodontics or dental business. You must be able to update the website’s code.
If yo need assistance or simply want to talk about how Facebook and Instagram ads can help your orthodontics or dental practice, click the “Contact Us” button below and we would be happy to chat.
How Facebook Advertising Helped an Orthodontist Generate $105K in One Month
If your practice or business could generate $105,000 while only spending $600 in advertising, would that be worth it? Umm, yeah. Check this out!
In one month, we partnered with a small orthodontics practice to generate over $105,000 in new patient leads using Facebook Advertising.
An orthodontist, that happens to my good friend, recently reached out to me asking for online advertising help. He owns two orthodontic offices and splits his time between them. He recently moved one of his offices into a brand new location.
He wanted to get the word out about the new office, in a more convenient location, that would serve his patients a lot better and create a more welcoming environment.
The conundrum: How would he let a community of close to 200,000 people know? I suggested Facebook Advertising. Why? Because it’s MEASURABLE, TARGETED, QUICK RESULTS, and COST EFFECTIVE. Plus, who reads newspaper ads? Who pays attention to radio ads? And direct mail is just too expensive.
Here is what we did:
It’s All About the Offer
To have a successful Facebook Advertising campaign, it’s crucial to have a compelling offer. This orthodontist came up with the can’t-resist offer of $1200 off braces.
I’ve done Facebook Advertising for other orthodontists with offers like, $400 off braces or other free giveaways and they worked amazingly with great ROI, but $1200 off? Woah! This offer was sure to be a success. And it was.
Why is a compelling offer so necessary with Facebook Advertising? Over 1.9 billion people are active on Facebook each month, but that doesn’t mean they want to be bombarded with ads. People are scrolling their Facebook feeds multiple times a day to see what their friends and family are up to, right? They want to see the latest news reports, viral videos, photos of their sister’s new baby, and so on.
It’s rare that people scroll Facebook to find new offers and ads. It’s getting more popular, but rare. This means that if your business is looking to generate revenue using Facebook Advertising, you must, I mean MUST, offer something of value. An offer that will stop your target customer’s thumb from scrolling and start clicking.
What is a good offer for your business or practice? Try searching Groupon to see what your competition is offering and let the market tell you what they want.
Hit a Home Run on Facebook with Video
If you want your Facebook Advertising campaign to hit a home run you need video. It’s as simple as that. If you’re satisfied with hitting singles and doubles, then static images will work fine.
Creating videos for your business doesn’t require an expensive crew flying a drone around your building. It can be as simple as recording yourself, staff, or patient testim
onials on a mobile phone. Most mobile devices record in HD and look amazing. Plus, people on Facebook love seeing natural videos with real people, versus overproduced videos with flashy graphics. Both work, but don’t be afraid of the grassroots video using a mobile phone.
Using a tripod and my Samsung Galaxy phone, we recorded the orthodontist talking about his new office, the upcoming grand opening, and of course, the offer of $1200 off braces. The community loved seeing someone they knew offering them something of value.
Video is simply what piques people’s interest the most. Facebook loves video and gives priority to video posts. Facebook even plays the video automatically in the feed with the sound off. So it’s a good idea to add captions to the video so viewers can have the option to read the text without volume. Over 80% of Facebook users watch videos with the volume muted. I mean who wants to get busted for scrolling Facebook at work only to have a video start blaring? Or who wants to disturb their partner in bed while scrolling Facebook late at night only to have a video play out loud and wake them up?
Hit a Bullseye with Facebook Targeting
So now you have a solid offer and a quality video to upload; we’re ready to build a target audience and advertise.
It’s essential to know your target audience and who will most likely click your offer. Facebook allows you to target like no other advertising platform. You can target audiences within 1 mile of your location to the entire zip code. Your business can target moms age 24-44 who drive SUVs, to people who recently purchased a new vehicle within the last 6 months. It can be as broad or as granular as you want. Just think of the interests and behaviors of your target audience and Facebook will place your ads in their laps. So powerful!
For this particular orthodontist, we decided to target an audience of around 150,000 living in three surrounding zip codes. This would give the ads a wide reach and allow us to retarget people that viewed our video with follow-up ads to move them further down the conversion funnel. Learn how to better use Facebook targeting here.
Follow Up is Essential
We set up the orthodontist’s Facebook ads to go to a custom built landing page where the prospect could fill out a simple form with their name and phone number. Once the form is filled and submitted, they could download or print a coupon for $1200 off braces.
Each time a landing page form gets filled and submitted, the orthodontics staff gets a notification email showing the lead’s name and phone number. We gave a phone script to the front desk staff and encouraged them to call each lead within 5 minutes of receiving the notification.
The follow-up call isn’t a sales call. It’s a courtesy call to make quick contact with the lead and to ensure the prospect’s questions are answered. It also makes for a great opportunity to close the deal and schedule a free consultative appointment. If the staff waits too long before making contact, the lead typically forgets or moves on to another orthodontist or provider.
In the case of this orthodontist, it was our job to drive leads and traffic to the practice. It is the responsibility of the orthodontics staff to follow up, answer questions, and schedule new patients.
Once the lead was contacted, the orthodontics staff would input the information into a simple Google Sheet shared by all of us. The staff would input the lead name, date contacted, and appointment schedule date. This allowed complete transparency and the ability for all involved to track and see the success of the campaign and incoming leads.
Without a plan to follow up and track the leads, the campaign would have floundered and eventually failed. This is a crucial piece to have in place before starting a Facebook Advertising campaign. Without follow-up and tracking, you are wasting money.
It’s All About ROI
At the end of one-month, the orthodontist’s Facebook Advertising campaign generated 33 warm leads after spending only $600 in Facebook Advertising.
If the orthodontist typically charges $4400 for a set of braces and gives each of the 33 a $1200 off coupon, that is still $3200 per new patient.
33 leads x $3200 – $600 FB ad budget = $105,000 in revenue
To earn a potential $105,000, after spending only $600 in Facebook Advertising, is amazing ROI and any business or practice would be crazy not to take advantage of it.
Facebook Advertising is cost effective and will only go up in cost as more and more businesses take advantage. Think about your best offer today and follow this case study for undeniable results and success. Contact Ollerton Marketing at 801-362-0691 for questions or assistance on your next Facebook Advertising campaign.
Why an Orthodontist Asked Us to Turn Off His Facebook Ads
The Holidays Were Slow for this Orthodontist
It was nearing the holiday season and the end of another year. You know, the time when most people save their money for presents and holiday parties. The last thing most people want to spend their income on is a new set of braces for junior.
At Ollerton Marketing, we typically notice a decrease in leads and overall business for orthodontists during the holidays and this year was no different. One of our orthodontist clients was getting nervous as his schedule was looking more and more bare and new bookings were coming slower and slower.
With a semi-panic tone to his voice, this orthodontist came to us and asked what we could do or what ideas we had. The answer was simple, take a break and enjoy your holidays. We recommended that he and his staff handle the orthodontics practice as usual and our team would create some simple brand awareness ads to run during the holiday season. We didn’t want to spend a lot of advertising dollars during this time because Facebook gets competitive and expensive during this time. Plus, nobody is paying attention to ads about braces and orthodontics. Consumers are focused on toys, deals, Black Friday, get-togethers, and overall holiday chaos.
Facebook Ads for Orthodontists Simply Work
Come first of the year however, people are ready to pounce! For this reason, we built a campaign with an attractive offer that would really make this orthodontist smile. We planned to start the campaign on January 1st and run it for two weeks as a flash sale. The orthodontist really wanted to bring in business and fill up the calendar with new patients. We knew it could be done.
Contact Ollerton Marketing About Facebook Advertising for Your Orthodontics or Dental Practice
The flash sale consisted of $1200 off braces for new full-treatment orthodontic patients only, valid for two weeks. We ran the ads for two weeks to targeted audiences based on geography and if people had shown interest in past posts or ads (retargeting or remarketing). The ads ran on Facebook and Instagram and linked to a custom landing page designed to capture contact information in exchange for the $1200-off coupon. Once people liked what they saw and gave us their contact info, immediately the orthodontics staff started receiving lead notifications.
New Patients Pour In from Facebook Advertising
After the two-weeks flash sale was over, the small-town orthodontics practice received over 35 leads. This obviously excited the formerly panic-stricken orthodontist, so he decided to run the ads and the same offer for another month. Boom! The leads poured in and so did the new appointments. In one month’s time, the once struggling orthodontics practice had 123 leads! These were people raising their hands saying, “We want this offer! Please call us!”
Hey Orthodontist, What a Great Problem to Have
The orthodontics staff was feeling overwhelmed and quickly saw their vacant schedule fill up. So much so, that there wasn’t anywhere to put new patients. They were booked 6 weeks out! People wanting to be seen were having to wait to get in. There was a magnetic sort of attraction happening, like people seeing others standing in a long line outside a night club and wanting to gain access even more. In a panic, the orthodontist called me and in a panic-stricken tone said, “We’ve got to turn off the Facebook and Instagram ads. We’re all booked up. We’re working more hours and I don’t know what to do!”
1.23 billion daily users on Facebook. Your customers and prospects are there.
Target Your Ideal Customers Quickly
Facebook knows a lot about its users. Everything from age and what pages users like,
to interests and job titles. It’s all there and advertisers can leverage this information to put specific offers in front of their ideal customers.
See Results Quickly
Advertisers can quickly know if their ads are working. Within 3-5 days.
Facebook Is Affordable
Most cost-effective form of advertising today. Compare to radio, TV, newspapers,
magazines, direct mail, Yelp, AdWords, etc.)
Facebook allows you to spend as little as you like and still get results.
Facebook’s Retargeting is Extremely Powerful
Retarget new advertising offers to visitors of your website, Business Facebook page, posts, and ads.
Engaging Ad Formats that People Love
Different engaging ad formats––video, images, slideshows, cinemagraphs, and more.
Call Buttons are Game Changers
Most Facebook users are on their mobile devices and calls to businesses are way more valuable than clicks on websites. That’s why Facebook’s Call Buttons are game changers.
Think about mobile Facebook users. They see an ad, click on the Call Now button, and the lead is captured. Amazing.
Quickly Test Your Ads and Use the Winner
A/B Testing. Quickly test ad A. versus ad B. and see which performs better. Results come quickly.
5 Ways Facebook Advertising Can Boost Your Dental Practice
Gone are the days of newspaper advertisements and expensive mailers. Where do people go for information? Simple, the Internet and social media. With over 1.6 billion users on Facebook you’re sure to reach new patients with advertisements about your dental practice.
Imagine a potential customer scrolling through Facebook as they lay in bed. A post featuring your dental practice appears naturally on their news feed with a video of you giving some tips and tricks on taking care of teeth with an offer for a free exam and teeth whitening. She clicks the ad, watches your video, and downloads your coupon. Upon downloading the coupon an email is sent to you and your staff with her contact information. The next day your front-office staff contacts her and schedules an exam and she is given the V.I.P. customer treatment that your practice is known for. That’s how it should work. Are you doing it?
If you’re not utilizing Facebook advertising to get more patients for your dental practice, your competitors are. Those potential patients, are being targeted this very moment by truly committed dentists with their own digital marketing strategies.
What’s your dental practice’s presence like on Facebook? Your team is most likely posting photos of the staff, patients, and local events to people that have already “Liked” your page, but what about those looking for a new dentist in the area? No matter how many “Likes” you have on your dental Facebook page, only 3% will ever see your posts. Yes, only 3%! Back in the day, when you posted on Facebook, the message went to your entire audience.
Times have changed. If you want your target audience to see your content and learn more about your great dental practice, you have to PAY TO PLAY. Remember, it’s the way Facebook monetizes their platform, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing for dentists. What’s the value of a new customer for your practice? Are you willing to spend a few hundred dollars to get 5 new patients? The answer should be, “Yes” because the return on your investment will be much higher.
When it comes to results for dental practices and other sectors of healthcare, Facebook advertising has huge potentialand is surprisingly affordable. Making that investment can quickly translate into a non-stop flow of new patients for your dental practice––something that’s always welcomed.
Here are 5 different ways Facebook advertising can boost your dental practice and make it grow beyond expectations:
1. Facebook Advertising Creates More With Less
If your budget for marketing is limited, don’t worry, in comparison with other popular advertising methods, Facebook offers more potential return in exchange for a smaller investment. Plus, you only pay when someone is interested enough in your offer and decides to click on your ad. Compare this to direct mail advertising, where a dentist pays a graphic designer to create an ad, then pays the cost of printing thousands of mail cards, and finally pays for postage to go out to hundreds of homes hoping someone will call. How expensive and ineffective is this method?
If you’ve never advertised your dental practice online, you may have doubts about the effectiveness of your efforts. I mean, it can be nerve-racking to send you hard-earned dollars out into cyberspace with little knowledge of what could happen.
Testing and experimenting in Facebook advertising can lead to quick returns and clear statistics about what works, who is clicking your ads, what time, where they live and more.
2. Facebook Advertising is Targeted and Precise
Most people looking for dentists will only travel within a 3-7 mile radius of their home or work. Do you want people living 40 miles away clicking on your ads? Of course not. It’s expensive and they aren’t your target audience.
Facebook advertising has powerful and precisesegmentation tools to ensure that your ads are showing up only to people within your target audience. The power doesn’t stop there. Facebook has so much data on its users that you can target your ads to audiences with specific interests and behaviors. You can even place your dental advertisements in front of people that have visited your website in the past, keeping your brand top-of-mind.
After you define your ideal customer or target audience, it’s easy to target your advertising efforts and maximize results by only showing ads to individuals with high potential of becoming patients.
3. Facebook Advertising Allows Great Use of Video
One of the most powerful ways to share content and engage your target audience is through video. Facebook gives priority to video because they are the most consumed, effective, and engaging medium. Video effects people’s behavior, captures attention for longer periods of times, and can deliver valuable content easily and quickly. Video doesn’t have to be a high-end expensive commercial. All you really need is a tripod and a smartphone. Most smartphones, these days record high definition video that rivals many professional cameras. In fact, viewers typically prefer authentic videos that feature people they can relate to or provide value-based content.
An example of value-based content could be a 60-second video of a dentist giving free advice to viewers. Answers to the top patient-questions is a great way to begin. People have questions, so press record and answer them. Easy, right?
4. Facebook Advertising Helps Establish Trust
People want to trust a dentist before spending time in their chair. Most will ask friends or family for a referral. Others will search Google for reviews. Facebook allows dentists the capability to provide advice, be social, show their staff, promote offers to new patients, and gain trust. Creating trust and a connection with the community should become a priority for dentists. By promoting free content and advice to new and larger audiences, dentists can leverage Facebook as a tool to forge a bond and solidify new relationships with people searching for a new dental provider.
Facebook advertising allows you to create an easier way to communicate with the potential patients. By adding contact buttons in the ads, the individual can be redirected to a chat room, contact page, landing page, or a phone number for the dental office.
5. Facebook Advertising Makes the Most of Your Content Marketing Efforts
Creating high-quality content that delivers value to the audience takes time and isn’t easy. That’s why it is can be frustrating when we create quality content but no one sees it. In this case, Facebook ads are often used to leverage or recycle existing content and attract new patients.
By using content and Facebook advertising, dentists are catching the audience’s attention in non-intrusive ways. While paid ads are, from time to time, disliked for offering nothing but a sales approach, using them along with free value-based content can result in an effective strategy.
Conclusion
I’ll say it again, gone are the days of traditional methods of advertising like newspapers, magazines, and mailers. They are expensive and difficult to track. People are forever on their mobile devices and computers searching for information, products, and services. Are you there? I bet you are, but how effective are your strategies.
Facebook advertising gives power to dentists and healthcare providers, allowing you to target and track where their money is going. So, where is your money going? How are your marketing dollars performing for your practice? Facebook advertising simply works and your potential customers are waiting to hear from you.
Engaging Ad Formats that People Love
